Stamp Announcement 23-3: Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit Stamp

©2022 USPS

On January 12, 2023, in San Francisco, CA, the United States Postal Service^® will issue the Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit stamp (Forever^® priced at the First-Class Mail^® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 482800). This stamp will go on sale nationwide January 12, 2023, and must not be sold or canceled before the first-day-of-issue. The Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit commemorative pane of 20 stamps must not be split and the stamps must not be sold individually.

In 2023, the Postal Service™ will issue the fourth of 12 stamps in its latest Lunar New Year series. The Year of the Rabbit begins January 22, 2023, and ends on February 9, 2024. Calling to mind the elaborately decorated masks used in the dragon or lion dances often performed in Lunar New Year parades, this 3-dimensional mask depicting a rabbit is a contemporary take on the long tradition of paper-cut folk-art crafts created during this auspicious time of year. Simplified illustrations of the 12 zodiac animals form columns on the left and right sides of the stamp pane. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed this stamp issuance with original artwork by Camille Chew.

Availability to Post Offices: Item 482800, Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit (Forever Priced at the First-Class Mail Rate) PSA Pane of 20 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/sfsweb.

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 store.usps.com/store/home. 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 – Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit 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 12, 2023.

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 catalog and online at store.usps.com/store/home. Customers may register to receive a free USA Philatelic catalog 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, 12-1-22