Friday, June 12, 2026
Sometimes stamps have ‘Easter eggs’
These images within an image tell a secondary story
Small, meaningful images within images — known as “Easter eggs” — are common in video games and digital media.
But they can be found in stamps, too.
Last year’s 250 Years of Delivering stamps are a prime example.
The pane is one overall design divided into 20 stamps, and while each stamp can stand alone, together they tell a broader story. This type of design is called se-tenant.
The effort was a collaboration between Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, and artist Chris Ware, a graphic novelist.
“I tried to give each stamp its own ‘gag’ — cartoonist parlance — which really only becomes apparent when the image is isolated,” Ware said in an article on the USPS Stamps Forever website.
One stamp includes a Pony Express statue in a nod to postal history; another shows a stamp collector, acknowledging the USPS role in philately; another shows a woman writing a letter; and both next-generation delivery vehicles and long-life vehicles are displayed, representing the current evolution of the USPS fleet.
Last year’s Betty White stamp also contains a memorable Easter egg: White sports a pawprint earring in the stamp portrait, an elegantly economical way to communicate the comedian’s ardent animal welfare advocacy.
“It’s hard to tell a story in a 1-inch-by-1-inch space,” said Claudia Daniels, stamp development manager. Easter eggs “expand the story beyond the stamp’s physical limitations.”
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Watch a video about American Icons
Fashion designer Ralph Lauren curated this set of stamps
The Postal Service has released a video about its new American Icons stamps as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
The collection marks the first time an individual was asked to curate a complete stamp issuance for USPS.
The 2 1/2-minute video features archival footage and interviews with Anthea M. Hartig of the National Museum of American History and Elvin Mercado, the Postal Service’s chief retail and delivery officer, who spoke at the June 9 dedication ceremony.
“For nearly six decades, Lauren has influenced American style and dedicated his career to preserving our nation’s cultural traditions,” Mercado says in the video.
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People
Employees offer lessons in leadership
A retail associate is honored by the Naval Academy and a pair of postal inspectors come to the rescue
Jack Brennan, an Annapolis, MD, retail associate, was named an honorary graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy last month.
“Nobody has touched more lives at the academy than Mr. Brennan,” Ensign Bryan Cevallos, president of the graduating class, said to cheers at the academy’s May commencement ceremony.
“He did a job above and beyond — memorizing names of every midshipman that sent and received letters and parcels. … Leadership is about people, and Mr. Brennan has modeled that for us.”
It was not the first time Brennan was treated to an outpouring of support at the military institution. A few weeks before, he was invited to dine at the military academy’s King Hall, where thousands of midshipmen eat at the same time.
To Brennan’s surprise, they made a similarly laudatory announcement, and the hall echoed with cheers.
“People came up to me and said they never heard the place so loud. I guess whatever I’m doing is working,” he said.
Emergency interventions
Postal Inspectors Brendan Donahue and Mike Ercolano found themselves on an unexpected assignment to render first aid during this year’s National Postal Forum in Phoenix.
Donahue, deputy chief postal inspector, was at the forum to moderate a session on “Delivering Trust: Protecting People, Mail, and Packages in a Connected World” and to give a presentation on Election Mail. Ercolano, a trained emergency medical technician, was at the event as a member of Postmaster General David Steiner’s protection detail.
During the postmaster general’s keynote address, two attendees had medical emergencies. While Ercolano and Donahue provided emergency care to one attendee, they were alerted to another person in distress.
Together, the two inspectors helped the second attendee leave out of the convention center ballroom and stayed with the attendee until paramedics arrived.
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News Quiz
Getting ready
How much do you know about hurricane preparedness for USPS employees?
“News Quiz” is a weekly feature that lets you test your knowledge of recent Link stories. The correct answers appear at the end.
1. If a hurricane is predicted, what should affected Postal Service employees do before the storm hits?
a) Learn their community’s hurricane plans, including evacuation routes
b) Create a disaster preparedness kit that includes first-aid items
c) Prepare their home for hurricane-force winds and flooding
d) All of the above
2. Which of the following cities is not in the top 10 for the most dog attacks upon Postal Service employees in 2025?
a) Chicago
b) Denver
c) Indianapolis
d) Seattle
3. After signing an exclusive last-mile contract with USPS, how many delivery points will DHL eCommerce now be able to access?
a) 150 million
b) 160 million
c) 170 million
d) 180 million
4. The Postcrossing stamps depict which of the following four images of mail delivery?
a) Horseback, motorcycle, outer space, underwater
b) Motorcycle, walking, ice skating, outer space
c) Outer space, running, flying, sailing
d) Sailing, walking, horseback, driving
5. How much prison time is a former Toledo, OH, letter carrier serving for his role in helping move illegal narcotics through the mail?
a) 6 months
b) 1 year
c) 2 years
d) 5 years
Answers: 1) d. 2) d. 3) c. 4) a. 5) c.
Postal Bulletin offers tips to avoid ransomware attacks
Postal Bulletin’s latest edition, published June 11, details how employees and contractors can reduce the risk of a ransomware attack.
Updates to the organization’s policies, procedures and forms are also included.
Employees can go to usps.com to read and download the latest Postal Bulletin, along with past issues.
View past printouts
Printout details
What's included
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Sometimes stamps have ‘Easter eggs’
These images within an image tell a secondary story
-
Watch a video about American Icons
Fashion designer Ralph Lauren curated this set of stamps
-
People
Employees offer lessons in leadership
A retail associate is honored by the Naval Academy and a pair of postal inspectors come to the rescue
-
News Quiz
Getting ready
How much do you know about hurricane preparedness for USPS employees?
-
Brief
Postal Bulletin offers tips to avoid ransomware attacks