Is it just me, or is the USPS is issuing more stamps with very dark colors? If the USPS is worried about stamp reuse, why issue so many stamps that are impossible to tell if they’ve ever been cancelled or not?

Take the recent Edgar Allen Poe issue for example. I like the stamp design. The dark colors personify the type of poetry he wrote. But the stamp is so dark, unless the cancel goes though the center of the stamp, you can’t tell if it was used or not. Do people reuse them? How would a postal clerk tell? Does the USPS consider that so few commemorative stamps are actually used to pay postage that stamp reuse is a non-issue?

There are other dark stamps which I think look nice, but still show a cancel. Scott #1862 (Harry Truman) and Scott #1053 (Alexander Hamilton) are two such stamps. There is sufficient white space to tell if the stamp was used or not.

Several issues over the last few years have been printed in very dark colors. Many of these stamps would be difficult to tell if they were ever used or not unless the cancel covered just the right spot.

I’m not suggesting that every new issue be yellow, pale blue, and light red. However, the USPS should lighten up a little bit in its choice of colors for new stamp issues. It would prevent reuse and make for more attractive issues.