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#2475
1990 25c Plastic Flag
$1.50
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U.S. #2475
25¢ Plastic Flag
Issue Date: May 18, 1990
City: Seattle, WA
Quantity: 3,014,000
Printed By: Avery International Group
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: Die cut
Color: Dark red and dark blue
On May 18, 1990, the United States Postal Service began a six-month marketing test to sell stamps through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). For this test, the USPS developed a stamp that was radically different from any it had previously issued.
ATMs are built to dispense currency and rely on a very precise thickness to avoid feeding out two bills at once. Ordinary stamp paper couldn't hold that exact depth reliably, so the Postal Service turned to a specially formulated polyester film, an idea borrowed from pharmaceutical labels, which met the machines' engineering requirements and also took photogravure printing well.
The plastic stamps worked as intended, but they drew criticism from environmentalists, and recyclers warned that plastic stuck to paper envelopes would contaminate recycling streams. More importantly, the plastic was only ever a means of solving the ATM thickness problem, not a feature customers wanted for its own sake. Once ATM stamp sales proved popular, the Postal Service kept expanding self-adhesive, peel-and-stick stamps through ATMs and other channels, just printed on ordinary paper instead.
U.S. #2475
25¢ Plastic Flag
Issue Date: May 18, 1990
City: Seattle, WA
Quantity: 3,014,000
Printed By: Avery International Group
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: Die cut
Color: Dark red and dark blue
On May 18, 1990, the United States Postal Service began a six-month marketing test to sell stamps through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). For this test, the USPS developed a stamp that was radically different from any it had previously issued.
ATMs are built to dispense currency and rely on a very precise thickness to avoid feeding out two bills at once. Ordinary stamp paper couldn't hold that exact depth reliably, so the Postal Service turned to a specially formulated polyester film, an idea borrowed from pharmaceutical labels, which met the machines' engineering requirements and also took photogravure printing well.
The plastic stamps worked as intended, but they drew criticism from environmentalists, and recyclers warned that plastic stuck to paper envelopes would contaminate recycling streams. More importantly, the plastic was only ever a means of solving the ATM thickness problem, not a feature customers wanted for its own sake. Once ATM stamp sales proved popular, the Postal Service kept expanding self-adhesive, peel-and-stick stamps through ATMs and other channels, just printed on ordinary paper instead.
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