CITY/REGION: San Francisco, California, USA
MEETUP PLACE: Anaheim meeting room, WESTPEX Stamp Show, held at San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront
1800 Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame , CA 94010
DATE: April 26th 2024
TIME: 11AM-1PM PST
MEETUP PLAN:
Hello everyone!
The USPS will be holding a dedication ceremony for the new $1 Floral Geometry stamp at the WESTPEX stamp show, held at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront, 1800 Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA 94010.
The meetup will be held in the Anaheim Meeting Room
This is what the new stamp looks like, the stuff that is white in the image will be silver foil on the real stamp.
This is what the first day of issue postmarks will look like:
The Black and White postmark will be available at the dedication ceremony, but the color one will not. In order to receive the color one, you will have to send your cards in to USPS cancellation services, and the USPS charges $0.50 per postmark for the colored ink. For normal Forever stamps, the USPS requires you to submit a minimum of 10 items to receive the color postmark, but there is no minimum requirement for stamps worth $1 or more, so you can send as many or as few as you like for this stamp issue. I will be happy to assist anyone who wants the color postmark.
There will also be some black and white pictorial postmarks themed for the show, but those have not been announced yet. I will add an image here as soon as I get one!
The USPS ceremony starts at 10:30 AM local time and is scheduled to last 30 minutes. The stamp dedication will be held in the Bayside 1 meeting room. The Postcrossing Meetup will take place immediately following this dedication, and the meetup will be in the Anaheim meeting room.
WESTPEX charges $5 for admission, which is valid for attending the stamp show all 3 days (April 26-28)
More info about the WESTPEX stamp show can be found on their website- Home
The meetup cards will be 5x7" and feature a beautiful illustration from @cookiedoe that plays into the floral and geometric aspects of the stamp theme.
The part in the middle that says “suggested postage space” in this image will be blank on the actual postcard, but it is there as a space where you can place the stamp to make a maxicard in a way that allows the stamp to fit in with the card design nicely. This is totally optional, but it’s there for the people who like to collect maxicards.
Meetup cards will be $0.50 each, please leave a reply to this thread with the number of cards you would like to reserve, please reserve in multiples of 5 to keep the math easy. (5, 10, 15, 20, etc) There is no limit on how many cards you can order, but we may need to limit how many each person has signed depending on how many people are in attendance. I will order the meetup cards closer to the meetup date, and you can reimburse me with cash/venmo/zelle at the event or in advance.
FAQ Section
What should I expect from attending a stamp show?
There will be exhibits on display where people talk about interesting things related to collecting stamps. There will also be a “Dealer’s Bourse”, which is a fancy term to say there will be stamp dealers selling stamps. This is a great place to visit because you can buy all sorts of cool stamps to use on postcards, in many cases priced at or slightly below face value. The full schedule for the show is available on the WESTPEX website here- Schedule
There is also a helpful forum thread on this topic- What to expect at a stamp expo?
What should I expect from a stamp dedication ceremony?
The USPS will have some individuals speaking briefly about the new stamp, then they will do a curtain drop to reveal the new stamp, and then special first day of issue postmarks will be available. Attendees usually receive a “Ceremony Program” listing the speakers and a lapel pin showing an image of the new stamp. The people speaking about the stamp are not yet known, but there will likely be someone from WESTPEX, someone from USPS headquarters, someone with some sort of connection to the stamp design process, and someone with a connection to the topic of the stamp.
I AM local to San Francisco, how do I get there?
There is a free shuttle from SFO international airport to the hotel that WESTPEX is being held at, you can ride the BART to SFO and then ride the shuttle to the hotel.
If you are driving, you can park in the hotel parking lot, the WESTPEX parking rate is $10 for the day but you’ll need to pick up a WESTPEX parking validation from the second floor of the show in order to use the discounted rate when you pay while leaving the parking lot.
Apr 25th update regarding the Hotel Shuttle from SFO Airport:
Whether you are flying in or arriving via the BART at SFO Airport, go to Level 2 and then there are signs that direct you to the hotel shuttle area. The shuttle is a black bus and will have a white sign on the side that says “Marriott 1800 Old Bayshore HWY, Burlingame” and “Hyatt Regency” on it. The shuttle runs every 15 minutes, the first stop after the airport is the Hyatt Regency, don’t get off the bus there, ride it to the next stop, the Marriott Waterfront.
I AM NOT local to San Francisco, can I attend?
Yes! Postcrossers from all over are welcome!
The show is being held at the San Francisco Airport Bayfront Marriott Hotel, which offers a free shuttle to and from the San Francisco international airport (SFO) and there is a WESTPEX special room rate at the hotel if you’d like to stay overnight. Information about the hotel can be found at the WESTPEX website here- Hotel
