AUSTIN, TX - On Thursday, Aug. 16, the U.S. Postal Service will release the final ten stamp designs in the Flags of Our Nation series, featuring flags for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and a stamp depicting the Stars and Stripes. A first-day-of-sales stamp dedication ceremony, featuring the Texas flag stamp will take place that day at 1 p.m. CDT, in the Texas Spirit Theater of the Bullock Texas State History Museum, 1800 North Congress Ave., Austin, TX. The event is free and open to the public.

Stamp sales and first day of sale pictorial postmark cancellations will be available at the retail counter of the Austin Downtown Station Post Office, 510 Guadalupe St., during normal retail hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To obtain the Texas First Day of Sale Pictorial Postmark

People visiting the Austin Downtown Station Post Office, on Thursday, Aug. 16, may obtain the First Day of Sales pictorial postmark in person at the retail window during normal business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Those who cannot be there that day but who wish to obtain the first day of sales postmark may submit a mail order request to:

Texas Flag Stamp FDOS Postmark,
ATTN: Postmaster
8225 Cross Park Dr
Austin, TX 78710-9992.

The Texas first day of sale postmark is available only for the date indicated, and requests must be postmarked no later than Oct. 15, 2012, 60 days following the requested first day of issue postmark date (Aug. 16, 2012).

All requests must include a stamped envelope or postcard bearing at least one postage stamp with the minimum First-Class Mail® postage.

Items submitted for postmark may not include postage issued after the date of the requested postmark. Such items will be returned unserviced.

Customers wishing to obtain a postmark should affix stamps to any envelope or postcard of their choice, address the envelope or postcard to themselves or others, insert a card of postcard thickness in envelopes for sturdiness, and tuck in the flap. Place the envelope or postcard in a larger envelope and address listed above.

Customers can also send stamped envelopes and postcards without addresses for postmark, as long as they supply a larger envelope with adequate postage and their return address. After applying the pictorial postmark, the Postal Service will return the items (with or without addresses) under addressed protective cover.

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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