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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations January 18-19, 2003:    


Stamp-Buying Alternatives


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


If your local post office doesn't have the recent U-S stamps you want, the
Postal Service makes it fairly easy to get them: For a one dollar fee, you
can order directly from the national distribution center. There's an eight
hundred number -- STAMPS-24 -- and the Postal Service's own Web site,
shop-U-S-P-S-dot-com.


However, not all recent stamps are offered, and the site can be a little
difficult to navigate. For instance, I tried to find the Love stamps.
They're there, but you have to hunt for them. Three-cent stamps to use up
thirty-fours? I couldn't find them.


Several local postal clerks, though, are also providing a mail-order
service, and it can be MUCH easier to order from them, via e-mail. They also
have some of the older stamps that are officially off-sale, and their
service is often faster.


They're located in Providence, Tucson and a small Connecticut town. You can
find their e-mail addresses at Virtual-Stamp-Club-dot-com -- just click on
the microphone.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 


Providence: RIStamps@email.usps.gov
Tucson: Rfearonc@email.usps.gov
Oneco, Conn.: ctstampsoneco1@netzero.net


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