U.S. Postal Service Should Help Ukraine By Issuing A Semipostal Stamp

During today’s public comment period before the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors, the Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler urged that a semipostal stamp be issued to benefit Ukraine. His remarks are below. A fuller proposal the Lexington Institute submitted for the semipostal stamp can be found here.

On Monday, November 7, the Lexington Institute submitted a proposal to the U.S. Postal Service to issue a semipostal stamp that would provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and help its postal service, Ukrposhta, rebuild from Russia’s barbarous attacks.

The Postal Service’s semipostal program enables customers to voluntarily pay a bit more for the stamp, with the added proceeds going to support important causes, such as Alzheimer’s and PTSD research.

A semipostal stamp for Ukraine is likely to generate at least $10 million in assistance annually while being a goodwill and no cost gesture from the Postal Service that will strengthen your brand. The only loser is the Kremlin.

We look forward to discussing this further with the Postal Service and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which would distribute the funds in Ukraine, and already has an excellent relationship with Ukrposhta. Your sister post Ukrposhta has also distributed massive amounts of humanitarian aid to Ukraine’s east and south, the hardest hit areas in the war.

Also, 15 other countries have already issued semipostal stamps to benefit Ukraine.

So, let’s stick it to Putin and his band of marauders – and issue this stamp! Thank you.