Alzheimer's Stamp Available Today

Today at 10 a.m., Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Megan J. Brennan will dedicate the Alzheimer’s semipostal stamp at Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center Atrium in Baltimore, MD.

The Alzheimer’s semipostal stamp, available nationwide November 30, will be sold for 60 cents, which includes the First-Class single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase plus an amount to fund Alzheimer’s research.         
   
The artwork is an illustration that first appeared on the 2008 42-cent Alzheimer’s Awareness stamp. It shows an older woman in profile with a caring hand on her shoulder with the suggestion of sunlight behind her and clouds in front of and below her. On the 2008 stamp, she was facing left; the artwork for this stamp shows her facing right to help differentiate between the two stamps.

The Semipostal Authorization Act, Pub. L. 106–253, grants the U.S. Postal Service discretionary authority to issue and sell semipostal fundraising stamps to advance such causes as it considers to be ‘‘in the national public interest and appropriate.’’ Under the program, the Postal Service intends to issue five semipostal fundraising stamps over a 10-year period, with each stamp to be sold for no more than two years. The Alzheimer’s semipostal stamp is the first and will be followed by a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) semipostal stamp to be issued in 2019. The following three discretionary semipostal stamps have not yet been determined. 

Under the Act, the Postal Service will consider proposals for future semipostals until May 20, 2023. The Federal Register notice is posted at 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 Office of Stamp Services, Attn: Semipostal Discretionary Program, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, RM 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.

There are currently two semipostal stamps available for sale that has been mandated by Congress. These are the Breast Cancer Research semipostal which has raised more than $86.1 million and the Save Vanishing Species semipostal which has raised more than $4.3 million as of September 2017.