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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations 
May 11-12, 2002:


Love 'em or leave 'em.


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.


They're not exactly what you'd want to put on your bill payments, 
but Love stamps are big business for the Postal Service, 
especially this time of the year: Many brides and mothers-of-the-bride 
put them on wedding invitations and response cards. But this year, 
there's a rate increase right in the middle of wedding season -- 
postal rates go up June 30th, and August is the busiest month for 
weddings.


Rather than wait for February and Valentine's Day, the Postal Service 
this summer is issuing two new Love stamps -- one ounce for greeting 
cards and event response cards, two-ounce for those bulky invitation 
packets.


Instead of another lovebird or flower, this time the Postal Service 
is using a contemporary design that is getting VERY mixed reactions 
from those who've seen it. It's the letters L-O-V-E, arranged in a 
block, similar to the first Love stamp in 1973, based on Robert 
Indiana's sculpture.


You can see the new designs at virtual-stamp-club-dot-com and make 
up your own mind.

And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 


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