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The Caged Bird is getting a stamp.

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

In a surprise announcement, the U-S Postal Service says it will issue a stamp honoring
Maya Angelou, the African-American author, entertainer and activist. She died less than
a year ago at the age of 86.

There’s no word on when the stamp will be issued or what it will look like. It might not
even happen this year.

Her accomplishments are so many and so broad that it could almost be a SERIES of stamps.
That she’s deserving is unquestioned.

But the announcement is puzzling for a number of OTHER reasons. The Postal Service does
like to make surprise announcements for maximum publicity… but it usually has more
information to share when it does so. And such announcements are usually made in a live
event with a high-ranking postal official and/or a celebrity. This was just a press
release.

There’s still a requirement that people honored on U-S stamps have to be dead, but
there’s no longer a set waiting period. Still, if this stamp is issued this year, it will
be the shortest turnaround for the U-S in decades – other than for a U-S president. Why
the push?

There was an online petition for a Maya Angelou stamp that got 65-thousand signatures,
but not on a major site. There was a House resolution early this year that went nowhere.

So all the signs point to a “request” from someone powerful. The new postmaster general?
An important member of Congress? The White House?

We may know why the Caged Bird sings, but not why she’s getting a stamp.

The USPS now says the stamp will be issued “later this year.”

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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