{"id":22205,"date":"2018-01-12T10:20:15","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T15:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=22205"},"modified":"2018-01-12T10:20:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T15:20:33","slug":"usps-celebrates-year-of-the-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2018\/01\/12\/usps-celebrates-year-of-the-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"USPS celebrates year of the dog"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Lunar New Year Stamp Rings in 2018<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

Year of the Dog Newest Addition to Stamp Series<\/h3>\n

\"Lunar<\/p>\n

HONOLULU \u2014 1\/11\/18 – The U.S. Postal Service today dedicated the Year of the Dog Forever stamp, the 11th of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0during a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.<\/p>\n

Considered the most important holiday of the year for many Asian communities around the world, the Lunar New Year is celebrated primarily by people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Mongolian heritage.<\/p>\n

In the United States and elsewhere, the occasion is marked in various ways, including parades featuring enormous and vibrantly painted papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 dragons, parties and other special events. Vendors at outdoor markets sell flowers, toys, food and other items. Musicians play drums to celebrate a time of renewed hope for the future. Many families present red envelopes\u00a0(hongbao)<\/em>\u00a0containing money to children and loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s event is important, not only because it\u2019s our first stamp dedication of the new calendar year, but also because it gives the Postal Service a chance to reinforce our commitment to celebrate America\u2019s great diversity through our stamps,\u201d said Larry Mu\u00f1oz, acting vice president, Pacific Area Operations, who dedicated the stamp. \u201cAs you use these beautiful stamps to mail your letters and packages, it is our wish that the \u201cYear of the Dog\u201d brings each of you good health, great joy and much prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1oz was joined at the stamp dedication by Douglas D.L. Chong, president, Hawaii Chinese History Center; and Pamela Young, \u201cMixed Plate,\u201d KHON2-TV.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service introduced this Celebrating Lunar New Year series in 2008 and will continue the series through 2019 with a stamp for the Year of the Boar. This is the second series honoring Lunar New Year.\u00a0 The first ran in 1992 to 2007. Year of the Dog is being issued as a souvenir sheet of 12 self-adhesive Forever stamps. The public is asked to share the news of the stamp using the hashtag\u00a0#LunarNewYear<\/strong><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Art director Ethel Kessler worked on the series with illustrator Kam Mak, a Hong Kong-born artist who grew up in New York City\u2019s Chinatown and now lives in Brooklyn. The artwork focuses on common ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday. The Year of the Dog illustration, originally created using oil paints on panel, depicts an arrangement of lucky bamboo\u00a0(Dracaena braunii)<\/em>. To the right is a lozenge-shaped piece of red paper with the Chinese character\u00a0fu<\/em>, meaning good fortune, rendered in calligraphy \u2014 a common decoration on doors and entryways during Lunar New Year festivities.<\/p>\n

Kessler\u2019s stamp design also incorporates two elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps: Clarence Lee\u2019s intricate cut-paper design of a dog and the Chinese character for \u201cdog,\u201d drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun.<\/p>\n

Customers may purchase the Year of the Dog Forever stamp at\u00a0usps.com\/stamps<\/a><\/em>, at The
\nPostal Store\u00a0usps.com\/shop<\/a><\/em>, by calling 800-STAMP24 (800-782-6724) and at Post Office facilities nationwide. A variety of stamps and collectibles also is available at\u00a0ebay.com\/stamps<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ordering First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks<\/strong>
\nCustomers have 60 days to obtain first-day-of-issue postmarks by mail. They may purchase new stamps at local Post Office facilities, at The Postal Store\u00a0usps.com\/shop<\/em><\/a>or by calling
\n800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others and place them in envelopes addressed to:<\/p>\n

FDOI – Year of the Dog
\nUSPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
\n8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
\nKansas City, MO\u00a0 64144-9900<\/p>\n

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for postmarks up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers are charged 5 cents each. All orders must be postmarked by March 11, 2018.<\/p>\n

Ordering First-Day Covers<\/strong>
\nThe Postal Service also offers first-day covers for new stamps and stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the\u00a0USA Philatelic Publication and online at usps.com\/shop.\u00a0<\/em>Customers may register to receive a free\u00a0USA Philatelic Publication<\/em>\u00a0online at\u00a0usps.com\/philatelic<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Philatelic Products<\/strong>
\nPhilatelic products for this stamp issue are as follows:
\n564806, Press Sheet with Die-cut, $35.28
\n564810, Digital Color Postmark Keepsake (2 panes), $13.95.
\n564816, First-Day Cover, $0.93.
\n564821, Digital Color Postmark, $1.64.
\n564824, Framed Art, $39.95.
\n564830, Ceremony Program, $6.95.<\/p>\n

Many of this year\u2019s other stamps may be viewed on Facebook at\u00a0facebook.com\/USPSStamps<\/a><\/em>\u00a0or via Twitter\u00a0@USPSstamps<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.<\/p>\n

\n

Please direct any questions or concerns to the U.S. Postal Service – 1-800-Ask-USPS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lunar New Year Stamp Rings in 2018 Year of the Dog Newest Addition to Stamp Series HONOLULU \u2014 1\/11\/18 – The U.S. Postal Service today dedicated the Year of the Dog Forever stamp, the 11th of 12 stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year\u00a0series\u00a0during a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza. Considered the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usps-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22209,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22205\/revisions\/22209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}