Daily printout: March 12

The Postal Service recently celebrated a program that allows blind and disabled people to send and receive free reading materials.

This program ensures that customers who cannot read standard print because of sight issues or physical disabilities can send and receive reading materials and equipment.

The Postal Service delivers braille books, electronic audio cartridges and other materials through the Free Matter for the Blind or Physically Handicapped program, with the costs covered by Congress.

The Library of Congress’ National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, as well as other libraries, noncommercial organizations and individuals participate in the program, providing the free reading materials and equipment.

As part of the Postal Service’s 250th anniversary celebrations, the program was highlighted during an event at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, last month.

USPS Chief Customer and Marketing Officer Steve Monteith told attendees that the Postal Service, Library of Congress and National Library Service began working on the automation of packages sent to subscribers about three years ago — building on the organizations’ 90-year relationship.

“Newly designed barcoded labels, improved mail processing equipment, and USPS employees have helped move free matter for the blind seamlessly through the network,” said Monteith.

“This technology has made the delivery of NLS materials so much faster and more efficient,” said James Broughton, the National Library Service’s director, who called the Postal Service a “link between the seen and the unseen.”

In fiscal year 2025, the National Library Service sent more than 20 million large-print books, braille books, and eBraille books on cartridges and magazines on cartridges through the U.S. Mail, up from 13.2 million in 2024.

Articles mailed by the National Library Service now display a “Free Matter” logo, which is an image of blind person with a white cane. It can help postal workers more easily recognize that the contents are free matter.

Broughton also acknowledged the significant communication lifeline USPS employees provide to the library’s patrons, the majority of whom are age 65 and older.

“We know that social isolation and loneliness are significant issues for older adults even more for people with disabilities,” he said.

The Free Matter program began after President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation in 1904 authorizing free mailing for braille books and other embossed reading material sent to or from blind people and institutions that serve them.

Information about the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled can be found on the Library of Congress website.

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Last summer, USPS customers voted for their favorite stamps issued between 1997 and 2022.

The Postal Service will reissue the winning release — which will remain top secret until May — as part of the organization’s 250th anniversary celebration.

In the run-up to the big reveal at the Boston 2026 World Expo philatelic show, the USPS Stamps Forever website is exploring some of the 25 releases in the contest.

The third installment in the “Stamp Encore Celebration” series shines a light on a few of the innovative printing techniques that USPS used for some of the stamps in the contest:

• Scratch-and-sniff technology was employed for 2018’s Frozen Treats, the first — and so far, only — scratch-and-sniff stamps;

• Metallic foil was used for two releases: 2019’s Transcontinental Railroad, which used gold foil in a nod to the golden spike that marked the railroad’s completion in 1869, and 2020’s Let’s Celebrate, using festive foil in magenta, teal and orange;

• A proprietary, highly reflective rainbow holographic material was used for 2018’s Bioluminescent Life, making the deep-sea creatures on the stamps appear to glow;

• Textured coatings were used for 2017’s Have a Ball! stamps, which mimicked the textures of the balls they depicted; and

• Thermochromic ink was employed for the image on 2017’s Total Eclipse of the Sun. When someone touched the image of the black disk of the moon blocking the sun, the heat would reveal details of the moon’s surface.

Stamps using novel printing techniques “garner a lot of attention, even outside the philatelic world, and they sell really well,” said Bryan Duefrene, senior stamp development specialist for USPS.

But the organization is judicious in its use of such techniques, only applying them where “it makes sense,” he said.

The Stamps Forever website expects to run five installments in its “Stamp Encore Celebration” series — the fifth and final entry will entail in-depth coverage of the winner.

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