I apologize for the lateness of this issue. Additionally, I won't be able to publish next week due to my upcoming trip to Seattle. The next issue will appear in about ten days.

More details and analysis of the 2003 stamp program will be discussed in the next issue of this newsletter, but for now you can visit The Virtual Stamp Club to see what stamps are going to be issued in the United States next year.

Last week, I was at the mall, and saw a postage vending machine. I decided as usual to look at what stamps are available to the public, and was surprised to see the Heroes of 2001 available in a quantity of 10 stamps, for $4.50. This is a great way to get these stamps out to the general public. Upon opening the usual size package, I noticed that someone had cut down a sheet of 20 in half, and folded it up to fit in the small packaging. There was something else of interest though - A note that these stamps were tax deductible as a charitable donation - Well, at least the difference in price of fair market value, which is 37¢ - Thus, out of my $4.50 purchase, I could claim an 80¢ tax deduction. Besides this information sheet, there was a receipt from the USPS to use to show my charitable donation. Very interesting!

The pope arrives Friday on his ninth visit — but commemorative stamps printed for this trip call it the pope's seventh pilgrimage.

The Rev. Marek Glownia, one of the trip organizers, said the post office's count was defensible.

"It's something of a dispute whether in 1991 when the pope came on a pilgrimage in July and then in August for World Youth Days it was one trip in two stages or two separate trips," Glownia said.

In addition, the pope popped over to say a Mass in the border village of Skoczowo in 1995 during a trip to neighboring Czech Republic — not even spending the night in Poland.

"Before printing, we consulted with the church officials," Marek Switalski of the post office marketing department told the PAP news agency. "It's the seventh official visit, organized at the invitation of the Polish authorities. This is where the number comes from."

The "mistake" has made the stamps popular with collectors, who are snatching them up.

"I'm not an authority to say whether it's a mistake or not but those stamps definitely sell well," said Beata Wierzbicka, a postal employee in Krakow.

Tue Aug 13, 2:56 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Post Office has gone batty. America's flying mammals are about to be featured on postage stamps.

Four stamps illustrated with bats found in the United States will go on sale Sept. 13, the post office said Tuesday.

First day ceremonies will be held at Austin, Texas' famous Congress Avenue Bridge, which houses the largest urban bat colony in the world.

Some 1.5 million bats emerge each evening at dusk to devour insects. The stamp ceremony has been scheduled for that time so the bats will be included.

The 37-cent stamps will go on sale across the United States the following day.

Though feared by some people, bats perform a useful service by eating millions of pounds of insects, including mosquitoes and many farm pests. They also pollinate desert plants and disperse seeds.

Featured on the stamps are:

_The red bat, found throughout much of North America. The red bat is solitary, roosting alone in dense foliage. When it hangs upside down by one foot, its predators may be fooled by its resemblance to a dead leaf.

_The pallid bat is found in western North America, where its pale, sandy color allows it to blend with its desert surroundings.

_The spotted bat, which lives in the western United States, British Columbia and Mexico where the staple of its diet is believed to be moths. Its ears, the largest of any bat on the continent, measure nearly two inches.

_The leaf-nosed bat, a resident primarily of caves or abandoned mines in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico. Its large ears allow it to hear the extremely faint sounds of insects such as grasshoppers and caterpillars walking amid dense foliage, and its large eyes provide excellent night vision.

Mon Aug 12,10:41 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - Stamps honoring Muslim, Jewish and African-American holidays will be reissued this fall, the Postal Service said Monday.

The stamps commemorating Eid, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa will be reissued at the new 37-cent rate on Oct. 10.

The Eid stamp commemorates the two most important festivals — or eids — in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

Eid al-Fitr signifies the feast of breaking the fast, marking the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. Eid al-Adha comes at the end of the hajj — the annual period of pilgrimage to Mecca. This year, Eid al-Adha was celebrated on Feb. 23 and Eid al-Fitr will be celebrated on Dec. 6.

The Hanukkah stamp recalls the Jewish festival of lights, which this year begins on Nov. 30.

Kwanzaa is the African-American historical and cultural holiday first celebrated in 1966. Traditionally it begins Dec. 26.

Thanks for reading, see you next week.

Alan Cohen