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Last updated on Friday, October 27, 2017
(WASHINGTON) - The U.S. Postal Service will issue two new stamps that raise money to fight post-traumatic stress disorder and Alzheimer’s disease — afflictions that affect U.S. military veterans and older Americans.
The Alzheimer's stamp will come first, scheduled for issuance in November.
Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, afflicts more than 5 million Americans.
The PTSD stamp will be released in 2019, the Postal Service announced Monday.
It will acknowledge a medical condition facing up to one in five U.S. military veterans coming home from recent battlefields.
The stamps bring in money because they cost more than a normal first-class stamp.
Currently, purchasers pay 60 cents for this category of stamp, which the Postal Service refers to as "semipostal." That's 11 cents more than for a regular first-class stamp.
The Alzheimer's money will be distributed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Semipostal Authorization Act, Pub. L. 106-253, grants the U.S. Postal Service discretionary authority to issue and sell semipostal stamps to advance such causes as it considers to be ''in the national public interest and appropriate.''
Under the semipostal discretionary program, the Postal Service will issue five stamps over a 10-year period, with each stamp to be sold for no more than two years.
The first stamp issued will be an Alzheimer's Semipostal Stamp, followed by a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Semipostal Stamp in 2019. The next three discretionary semipostal stamps have not yet been determined.
The Alzheimer's Semipostal Stamp will be issued during National Alzheimer's Awareness Month.
President Ronald Reagan designated November as National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month in 1983. At the time, fewer than two million Americans were diagnosed with Alzheimer's; today, that number has soared to nearly 5.4 million.
Under the Semipostal Authorization Act, the Postal Service will consider proposals for future semipostals until seven years after May 20, 2016. The Federal Register notice outlining this program can be found at the following url: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-04-20/pdf/2016-09081.pdf
Proposals will only be considered if they meet all submission requirements and selection criteria. They may be submitted by mail to the following address:
Office of Stamp Services
Attn: Semipostal Discretionary Program
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW., Room 3300
Washington, DC 20260-3501
Suggestions may also be submitted in a single Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file sent by email to semipostal@usps.gov. Indicate in the Subject Line: Semipostal Discretionary Program.
All postage stamps are available for purchase at Post Offices, online at usps.com, and by toll-free phone order at 1-800 STAMP-24.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
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