Do you want to send a Valentine card to your sweetie that has an envelope as exciting as the card? Or, do you have a wedding coming up and want to make the envelopes special? You can get a special “love-themed” postmark from several post offices around the USA. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, but you still have time (just barely) to add some pizzazz to the card for your sweetheart. All it will cost you is postage. For the postmasters in these romantic towns, this is truly a labor of love.
The United States Postal Service has a full list of the towns with post offices that will cancel your stamp with a “heartfelt” postmark. They include Valentine (TX and NE), Romance (AR), Loving (TX and NM), Loveville (MD), Loves Park (IL), Loveland (CO), Kissimmee (FL), Hartville (WY), Bliss (NY), and Romeo (MI) and many more! These post offices get thousands of cards from around the world which they postmark (for free) and then send on to their destinations. How sweet is that deal?
Simply prepare your card(s) with proper addresses and postage (because these postmasters don’t love you enough to pay for your mailings!). Then pop those into a larger envelope (or Priority Mail envelope at this late date) addressed to:
Valentine Remailing
City, State ZIP Code (see listing at the link above)
My personal favorite is Valentine, Texas. That’s only because I’m a Texas gal, myself. Valentine is a tiny burg in west Texas that got its name when the Southern Pacific Railroad came through in 1882, and that is probably the most exciting thing that has ever happened there.
The population of Valentine in 2000 was 187, but I imagine that it has dropped since then, because there isn’t much to do out that way … except put postmarks on Valentines. Or design the postmark! The children at the local school have a contest each year to design the new Valentine postmark, so it changes yearly.
Postmaster Maria Carrasco even got declared “The Cupid of Valentine” by Governor Rick Perry because a couple drove from 700 miles away so he could propose in that little post office. He had contacted Carrasco ahead of time and she even decorated the lobby for the occasion.
Some of the postmarks are rather plain, but if I had wedding invitations to send, I believe I’d choose a postmark from Loves Park, IL. That would pretty much ensure that no one ever threw away the envelope!
Kudos to all the post offices where they help the cause of romance. Love does “make the world go ’round,” and they help send love all around the world.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That is truly sweet. The romantics need all the help they can get.
Hmmm. I’d have taken you for a romantic, but I guess I’m wrong.