How to Put Your Picture On A Real US Postage Stamp

Turn your photos into real postage with PhotoStamps.

If you haven't seen a personalized postage stamp yet, you may be surprised to learn about this extremely cool new concept developed by the US Postal Service. For many years now, printing companies have offered the ability to put your picture on a "stamp" just for fun. Those weren't real postage though, they were just stamps made to look like a postage stamps and of course you couldn't mail them. Well now you can put your picture on a real postage stamp and you can even mail it!

Creating your own stamps is a kick, and just wait until the lucky recipient receives an envelope, postcard or package with your face on the stamp. You could also use your kid's face, your dog, your nature photography, or almost anything you want!

Currently, there are seven denominations of stamps available including standard 37-cent envelope stamps and 23-cent postcard stamps. There are also ten border colors to choose from, so you can make the stamp aesthetically pleasing to match any photograph.

You can also easily crop, zoom, or rotate your picture to fit the stamp perfectly. Most retailers also offer volume discounts for multiple-sheet orders. The possibilities for customized stamps are endless, but here are a few to get you thinking...


- Photos of your kids
- Pet pictures
- New babies (great for birth announcements)
- Wedding invitations
- Family photos
- Artistic expressions
- Nature photography
- Direct mail attention-getter
- Birthday cards
- Give photo stamps as a gift
- Frame them as a keepsake

photo stamps are a great new way to add your personal touch to any type of mail, by turning your own photos into real US postage. The possibilities are almost limitless, and the new upload and customization tools make it a breeze to create your stamps in just a few minutes. There are still many online retailers selling non-postage personalized stamps, so please make sure to look for one with the USPS logo and approval. I hope you have fun with it!

Money and market share are two things the usps is losing its grip on.

THE ORGANIZATION IS CUTting staff furiously, lost more than $1.5 billion in 2001 alone and has run up $11 billion in debt. A dying dotcom? No--it's the U.S. Postal Service. Now, with the addition of anthrax to its woes, snail mail could slide into long-term decline, opening the door for entrepreneurs to offer alternatives.

With businesses increasingly using the Internet for external communications, need for the USPS' services is decreasing. The growing popularity of e-newsletters, for instance, is eating into traditional newsletter delivery. "The postal service can't compete in the newsletter market, since newsletter information has to be timely and sent out quickly," says Bill Densmore, founder of Clickshare Service Corp., a Williamstown, Massachusetts, developer of e-newsletter distribution platforms.

Several small private-delivery courier services have sprung up in the past five years to do battle with the postal service's Priority Mail service. And while customers will probably never accept reading magazines and catalogs solely online, some business experts suggest that, if the USPS fades into oblivion, businesses could make money providing specific magazine- and catalog-delivery services.

Perhaps the most exciting development among USPS alternatives is the potential for online banking and bill payment. TheBancorp.com, a small online banking service in Wilmington, Delaware, tailors banking services to certain professions; for instance, it created TheArtBiz.com, a bank for artists. And several small companies offering online bill payment already are reaching a critical mass of consumers.

"Anthrax is a catalyst leading people to rethink what we need most aspects of snail mail for," says Steven Schneider, an Internet and postal service expert at State University of New York Institute of Technology in Utica-Rome, New York. "Online bill payment will be Technologies Corp., a Vancouver, British Columbia, online bill payment company, says its online mortgage bill business has risen by as much as 25 percent since the anthrax scare.

The USPS offers limited online services, including online bill payment, but they haven't proved to be very popular. And while the USPS has discussed expanding its online services dramatically, it hasn't done so, and is not really a competitor in the online services market.

For small companies competing with the USPS, the going remains tough. But these companies have been emboldened by one key statistic: Leading research group IDC estimates that the number of e-mailboxes worldwide will grow by more than 130 percent in the next five years.

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USPS Click-N-Ship Software Provides Free Delivery Confirmation

Gone are the days of having to stand in line at the post office just to mail a package. These days, thanks to the advancement of the internet and technology, postal customers can now print postage from the convenience of their own home. Using a standard printer, along with USPS Click-N-Ship software, consumers can print shipping labels, postage stamps and even delivery confirmation numbers.

Many individuals, who make their living at online auction sites, are constantly in need of additional convenience relating to mailing and expenses. The software, which installs quickly, is one way to save shippers a bundle of time by allowing them to print postage directly from their printer. Using standard typing paper, the software enables the shipper to print a complete label featuring the return address, shipping address, barcode and a delivery confirmation.

Widely promoted as being a shipping convenience, the Click-N-Ship software often goes unrecognized for one of it's best features. If purchased at the post office, delivery confirmation is $0.45 per package but, with Click-N-Ship, it's free. Consider mailing 100 packages per month with delivery confirmation. At the post office, customers would pay $45.00 but, with the software, they save that amount of money. Over time, free delivery confirmation can add up to a bundle of cash and, if shipping is your business, it pays to save wherever possible. Before mailing the packages with delivery confirmation, it may be a good idea to keep a record of each shipment and it's corresponding tracking number. This will be very beneficial to any shipper who may later need to provide proof of shipment.

In order to properly use the Click-N-Ship software, customers must have some idea as to the weight of their package. Therefore, it may be a good investment to purchase a portable postage scale. In addition, customers will be prompted for the dimensions of their package prior to obtaining a total. With Click-N-Ship software, customers pay for their postage online before being able to print any labels. This eliminates the need to stand in line at the post office because the postage has already been calculated, printed and affixed to each package. In fact, many shippers simply take a box full of packages for mailing, which have been postage-paid using the Click-N-Ship software, into their post office and leave them for later processing.

The USPS Click-N-Ship software is available for free download at usps.com or included on selected AOL software CDs as a bonus. Otherwise, customers may be able to ask their postmaster for additional information on obtaining a copy of the Click-N-Ship software.