Stamp Announcement 20-03: Grand Island Ice Caves Stamp

©2019 USPS

On January 18, 2020, in Munising, MI, the United States Postal Service^® will issue the $26.35 Grand Island Ice Caves Priority Mail Express^® stamp in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of four stamps (Item 129100). The stamp will go on sale nationwide January 18, 2020, and must not be sold or canceled before the first-day-of-issue.

With this new Priority Mail Express stamp, the United States Postal Service celebrates the winter beauty of the Grand Island Ice Caves in Lake Superior. Located near Munising on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Grand Island is marked by massive sandstone bluffs. Impressive in any season, they are especially dramatic in winter when lake water seeps into the crevices and caverns, forming magnificent ice curtains and icicles that hang like stalactites from ceilings. The stamp art features a colorful illustration of how one of these ever-changing ice caves might appear from the inside looking out toward the west at sunset. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamp with original art by Dan Cosgrove.

Availability to Post Offices: Item 129100, $26.35 Grand Island Ice Caves Priority Mail Express PSA Pane of Four Stamps

Stamp Fulfillment Services will not make an automatic push distribution to Post Offices. Post Offices may begin ordering stamps before the first-day-of-issue through SFS Web at sfsweb.usps.gov.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark

Customers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™ or at The Postal Store^® website at usps.com/shop. They must affix the stamps to envelopes

of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

FDOI – Grand Island Ice Caves Stamp
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service™ will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by May 18, 2020.

How to Order First-Day Covers

The Postal Service also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the USA Philatelic publication and online at usps.com/shop. Customers may register to receive a free USA Philatelic publication online at usps.com/philatelic.

Locally produced items are not authorized. Only merchandise that has been approved and assigned an item number by Headquarters Retail Marketing may be produced and sold.

— Stamp Services, Marketing, 12-19-19