USPS introduces new Star Trek stamp, via email
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
This is how Star Trek has long introduced itself (with some changes over the years for political correctness). As it turns out, Star Trek is going on another voyage, this time through the ever-diminishing universe where every home is a planet and warp drive is time spent on a postal truck.
Star Trek is getting its own US stamp.
Star Trek, of course, has had a nearly universal influence on us all, especially those of us who grew up watching it and were inspired to go into the technology business.
Star Trek, the original series, debuted in 1966. Back then, the USPS carried about 40 billion pieces of First Class mail, or about 204 letters sent for every man, woman, and child in America. Today, the USPS carries more than 96 billion pieces of First Class mail, which interestingly enough is just about 203 letters per person.
So while we've often talked about email overtaking the post office, it turns out that actual, per-capita First Class letter traffic has remained virtually unchanged during the entire lifetime of Star Trek, from 1966 until now.
That said, when the USPS reached out to me about doing this article, they did so via email.
The new Star Trek stamp will be made available to the public sometime in 2016. If they're smart, they'll boldly go into our mail boxes right about the time the new movie comes out.
- See also: New Star Trek series photon torpedoes traditional cable TV
- See also: Why the future of Science Fiction will be in the Clouds
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UPDATE: Fixed "96 million" and changed to "96 billion."