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Strategy

Last Week Tonight’s Branded Stamps to Aid USPS

The talk show is donating $11 from every $14 stamp sheet sale to the United States Postal Service.

John Oliver wants to help save the United States Postal Service.

And now, the host of Last Week Tonight is using branded stamps to fuel the effort.

Oliver teamed up with Stamps.com to release a special limited-edition collection of stamps themed around Last Week Tonight, a late-night talk show and news satire program that airs on HBO.

The stamps feature quirky characters that have appeared on the show. They include a free-spirited otter mascot named Chiijohn, a giant squirrel named Mr. Nutterbutter, and a zebra mascot who directs traffic in Bolivia. All are valid stamps. Each sheet sells for $14; $11 of that goes to support the USPS.

Last Week Tonight stamps

Last Week Tonight stamps are available here.

On the May 10th Last Week Tonight, John Oliver focused on what he described as the financial trouble the USPS is facing. The coronavirus pandemic has had a strong negative effect on the financial stability of the agency, he said. Even before the COVID-caused issues, the USPS was experiencing significant financial difficulty, Oliver maintained. That, in part, is the result of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which mandated that the Postal Service prepay healthcare benefits to retirees over a 50-year time period, with $5 billion being set aside annually through the first 10 years.

“What they badly need is an infusion of funding as soon as possible,” Oliver opined. “And not only should we be demanding that they get that, Congress should also take a look at undoing some of the more onerous terms in that 2006 law.”

Oliver’s stamps won’t solve the USPS’s reported financial woes, but the talk show host intends for them to help. The stamps are available until June 15 or as long as supplies last.