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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations 
March 24-25, 2001:


Fine Tuning


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.
 
The U-S Postal Service this past week revised the rules about 
what should and should not be on our country's stamps -- 
mostly to reflect decisions already made.


Now it's all right to use commercial products to illustrate 
"general concepts" of "American culture." Recent stamps in 
the Celebrate the Century series, for instance, featured the 
Barbie Doll, Crayola crayons, and the Ford Mustang, among 
others.


Until recently, the Postal Service skirted the prohibition 
on honoring colleges and universities by issuing "Historic 
Preservation" postal cards for significant buildings on 
campus. This year, the agency just ignored the rule...and 
now it says it's all right to honor the schools but ONLY on 
200th anniversaries. Only one of the five or six cards 
scheduled this year meets that requirement.


The new criteria also acknowledge that all bets are off 
when it comes to the subjects of the charity stamps that 
Congress has ordered...and that Congress is likely to have 
a say in. 


And that's stamp collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.


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