Brief Overview

Avery Dennison First Launch
        Avery Dennison, the adhesive products specialist with headquarters in Pasadena, California, entered the personalized stamp market with Avery Fun Stamps on April 1, 2004. The new on-line postage label design service at www.funstamps.com allowed anyone to personalize First Class Mail by selecting an official 37¢ postage stamp offered, attaching a personalized jpg or pdf file, and placing a request.

        Choices of USPS stamps were:
                 1) US Flag-Scott 3635 (Banknote Corporation of America - 2002)
                 2) Flowers-Scott 3836 (Ashton-Potter - 2004)
                 3) "I Love You" Heart Candies-Scott 3833 (Avery Dennison - 2004)

        Banned designs were advertisements, copyrighted images, pornographic pictures, or any image likely to cause offense. Each 11 x 8 1/2" sheet featured 20 professionally printed, high-quality images of the selected file on the left half of the label, and USPS self adhesive postage stamps affixed on the right portion. The cost of a sheet of 20 was $19.95; or almost $1/label (a surcharge of almost 63¢, the price of each personalized sticker, or only about 37% of the total price for postage). Orders were typically processed and shipped within 7 to 10 days via First Class Mail.

        Each label measured 66 x 39 mm, had 35 simulated die cut perforations on the top and bottom, 20 simulated die cut perforations on the left and right sides, 32 x 17 printed simulated die cut perforations in 2 mm from the edges, a slightly rectangular portrait design area of 32 x 34 mm with a 16:17 image aspect ratio, and MADE IN THE USA inscribed in blue letters reading from bottom to top at the right of the design area. The offering was completely private with no USPS authorization even though Avery was a supplier of paper and a printer of USPS postage stamps.

        Although Avery Fun Stamps sales were slow after being first made available April 1, 2004 due to the high cost and the product being nothing more than a regular self adhesive postage stamp affixed to a custom printed label with no USPS participation, selling all but stopped with the advent of Stamps.com PhotoStamps 3 1/2 months later on July 22 that allowed customers to insert custom images as part of the stamps. Another blow to Fun Stamps was that 20 labels cost $19.95, while a sheet of 20 PhotoStamps was $16.99.

Avery Dennison Second Launch
        When the USPS no longer authorized sales after less than 10 weeks on September 30th, Avery decided to launch Fun Stamps a second time about a month later with a press release on October 27th. Around Christmas, the third USPS stamp offering was changed from "I Love You" Heart Candies to:

        Choices of USPS stamps were:
                 4) Snowmen-Scott 3688/91 (Avery Dennison - 2002)

        Fun Stamps was withdrawn due to lackluster sales after PhotoStamps again became available starting April 26, 2005, and potential customers were directed to the site for Endicia PictureItPostage stamps. Avery Fun Stamps as well as Merrick Team Stamps were short term interesting stamp label variants.