Forever stamps forever?

I buy the same stamps all the time.

I go to the post office and I ask for a book of the forever stamps. I've been doing that, well, forever ... or at least as long as the forever stamps have been offered.

It's a typical case of me playing it safe, me being rational, me being pragmatic.

By purchasing forever stamps, I don't have the potential of getting caught with 42 cent stamps when the price increases to 44 cents, which will happen in May. I don't have to worry about having a stamp worth 42 cents then scrounging around trying to find and buying a 1 cent stamp somewhere ... way too much of a hassle.

But, as a result of my caution, my mailed letters are boring, utterly, totally and completely without personality.

I realized this the other day when I went to the post office and purchased my most recent book of forever stamps. The stamp has an image of the Liberty Bell, a significant enough icon to be sure but pedestrian in the overall scheme of things.

I saw on display stamps to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln and the Chinese New Year and Edgar Alan Poe. What fun, I thought, but I wasn't willing to take the financial gamble.

A legitimate question is why bother with stamps at all? I can email more easily than mail, and I can make all my bill payments online. I'd save a few trees, reduce my carbon footprint.

But as much as I love technology I still need the tactile functionality of maintaining a checkbook, writing checks and sending bill payments out by mail, dutifully stamped with my forever stamp. It's a process that, in a way, makes me more careful about my spending. The money isn't automatically deducted or sent away with the click of a mouse. I physically do the math of watching where the dollars and cents go each month.

My hope is that someday, the United States Postal Service will offer of forever stamps in something other than the Liberty Bell.

Maybe the presidents? Or comic book super heroes? Classic cars? Dead rock stars?

Anything, please, anything. My image needs an extreme makeover.