MOUNT PLEASANT, IA. — You can now get Bart Simpson and his whole dysfunctional family on your United States postal stamps. So is this yet another sign of the demise of Western civilization as we know it? We have come a long way from Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, and The Cosby Show, to the longest-running family on a television comedy show being animated misfits.

So is this an example of our tax dollars at work? Well, not really. The United States Postal Service is an independent government agency which is funded almost entirely through the revenue it generates for itself through postage and fees charged for its services to its customers.

The Citizen Stamp Advisory Panel for the United States Postal Service is the body that approved The Simpsons stamp. David Failor, executive director of stamp services indicated in Roll Call that the intent is for the USPS stamps to be a mix of the contemporary…and a reflection of our culture. Since the character, Bart Simpson, is a stamp collector himself, Failor added that it would be a great opportunity to interest youngsters in stamp collecting.

“If we are asking the Postal Service to ‘pay their own way’ in the world and not be dependent on taxpayer revenue, then they need to use good marketing skills and create a product that will sell to the general public,” said Doug Stout, Research Analyst with Public Interest Institute in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Collectible stamps would seem to be a great money making idea for the Postal Service, and The Simpsons, while surely not being role models for a normal American suburban family…(or any other kind of American family for that matter) certainly have a broad and devoted following.

When the post office sells a stamp that is used to mail an envelope, they have to work to earn their 44 cents. However, when they sell a stamp that gets put into a “stamp collecting book,” the sale is almost all profit! There is no work or expense involved other than the printing of the stamp and the labor costs in selling the stamp.

Collectibles are a great way to make the free enterprise system work and help keep future postal costs from going through the roof. The extensive use of electronic mail and electronic bill paying has cut down on the volume of “snail mail” going through the system and thus costs keep rising. When we decided to stop funding the vast majority of Postal Service operations with tax dollars, we made the implicit decision that they should go into the business of marketing their products. This would seem to be a good marketing tool.

Public Interest Institute’s INSTITUTE BRIEF, “Woo-Hoo!…Bart Simpson on a postage stamp?,” is available at www.limitedgovernment.org.

For an interview or more information on this issue, contact Doug Stout, Public Interest Institute Research Analyst.