Post Office 250th Anniversary | Postcard 2 of 12

Celebrating 250 Years of the United States Postal Service Anniversary Collection

In 2025, the United States Postal Service celebrates a monumental milestone—250 years of connecting our nation.

This commemorative postcard collection captures our rich postal history through 12 unique designs. Each postcard reveals a pivotal moment in mail history, complete with fascinating facts and trivia.

Postcard 2 of 12: Postage Stamps
This postcard commemorates the first issuance of postage stamps by the U.S. Post Office in 1847, marking the beginning of prepaid postage in the United States.

Two stamps were introduced:

• A 5-cent stamp featuring Benjamin Franklin for letters weighing less than 1/2 ounce and traveling up to 300 miles.
• A 10-cent stamp depicting George Washington for deliveries to locations greater than 300 miles or for letters twice the weight of those covered by the 5-cent stamp.

Prior to the introduction of postage stamps, postage was paid in one of three ways:

1. Prepaid by the sender
2. Collected from the recipient upon delivery
3. Partially paid in advance and partially upon delivery

Collect All 12
A new postcard will be released each month. When you collect all 12, they will align to form a timeline spanning from 1775 to 2025—a visual story of how the Post Office has shaped America.

With the release of the second postcard, here is the current the layout:

Size: 4"x6"
Paper: 110lb card stock with a smooth matte finish

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99-08-02 | Postcard not officially affiliated with or endorsed by the USPS