Bugs Bunny Puts His Stamp on an Old Hobby

As kids’ hobbies go, stamp collecting once was wildly popular. But then came television and later video games, and stamps seemed to go the way of the radio and the decoder ring. But now, in the wake of the trading-card craze, stamp collecting seems to be bouncing back, and it is getting a boost from Bugs Bunny.

Newly minted, stamp-related trading cards--a ‘90s iteration of the old stamp album--have been available at local post offices for a while. But the announcement of a special stamp to appear next year bearing the likeness of the Burbank rabbit adds a special aspect to the U.S. Postal Service’s promotion of October as National Stamp Collecting Month.

Also, for kids who really get curious about what happens when they use a stamp, tours can be booked to go behind the scenes at post offices in their neighborhoods, or at the vast and super-high-tech processing center in Santa Clarita, where Valley mail goes through at 37,000 pieces per hour.

Today’s announcement of the “endorsement” of stamp collecting by the famous bunny is part of the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to make the hobby more attractive to youngsters.

“Warner Bros. is honored to be part of such an important undertaking. Collecting stamps is as American as mom, apple pie and Bugs Bunny,” said Dan Romanelli, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products.

The image of that fictional creature is but one of the animal likenesses being put on stamps to support this month’s theme. Responding to kids’ strong interest in animal pictures--especially those of endangered birds, butterflies, snakes, panthers and manatees--the postal service on Oct. 2 put on sale a quarter of a billion gorgeous 32-cent stick-ems devoted to endangered American species.

This effort, the postal service knows, can also serve to increase awareness of environmental issues among kids. A postal service kit, including teacher lesson plans and student guides, posters and stamp-collecting cards, has been sent to nearly 70,000 classrooms and libraries nationwide to aid educators in generating awareness of endangered species.

To promote stamp collecting, the postal service offers free subscriptions to “Stampers Cool-lectibles Magazine,” a glossy, kid-oriented compendium of facts, figures, games and puzzles, stamp-saver cards and other stamp-collecting tools.

Kids may subscribe by filling out a form at their local post office or by calling a special Stampers number, 1 (888)-782-6738 (STAMPFUN).

Also available to youngsters is a special Stamp Collectors Window at the Glendale Post Office (call [818] 265-9223 for hours)--and a Philatelic Center, a special stamp collectors’ advisory office, at the Van Nuys Post office (call [818] 908-6708 for hours).

Prospective “stampers” as young as second grade are being actively encouraged to go on group tours at local post offices, according to the postal service’s Terri Bouffiou.

To set up a tour for kids of any age, the group leader should contact the local postmaster to work out a mutually acceptable date and time. Valley folks unsure of where to find the nearest available post office may contact the “Call Center” for the Valley (serving communities from Calabasas to La Canada, from Toluca Lake to Tejon Pass) at (818) 778-1800.

For kids a little older, tours are available inside the 750,000-square-foot (that’s four contiguous football fields) U.S. Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center near the Golden State Freeway and California 126 in Santa Clarita.

“Kids don’t realize how mechanized the postal service is,” said Gene Beeh, a staff member who regularly volunteers to lead the tours. He has noticed that each age level of visitor is attracted to a different aspect of the huge operation.

Many kids become fascinated by the animal sounds faintly audible through the din of zillions of pieces of mail mechanically being postmarked and sorted. Yes, the postal service delivers baby chicks and crickets--even pigeons. Homing pigeons are still in use by some die-hards, Beeh said, and the postal service handles one leg, so to speak, of the journey.

You don’t have to be a kid to appreciate the strange idea of a pigeon in a perforated box (adorned with Bugs Bunny or the endangered Florida panther stamps) being airmailed to, say, Arizona, just so it can fly back to the Valley. It’s the kind of story, one suspects, that helps recruit new little Stampers.

DETAILS

* MAGAZINE: Marking National Stamp Collecting Month, the U.S. Postal Service has launched a kids’ magazine, “Stampers Cool-lectibles,” complete with stamp-collecting cards. A free subscription may be ordered at your local post office or by calling 1 (888)-782-6738 (STAMPFUN).

* TOURS: Group tours for children “behind the counter” at the local post office can be arranged by calling (818) 778-1800 or by contacting the local postmaster. For a visit to the huge, high-speed automated U.S. Postal Service Processing Center in Santa Clarita, which handles all the Valley’s mail, call Terry Laudermann at (805) 294-7635.