Here is hoping everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July weekend! Enjoy family and friends, picnics, fireworks, swimming, parades and all the activities associated with this national holiday! Celebrate our country’s independence and don’t forget our troops currently overseas fighting to preserve them.

From CardsDirect.com, All the Best!
The CardsDirect Team

Times are tough but don’t take it out on your co-workers. Here are some suggestions to help keep a positive attitude going in the workplace.

Empathize. You aren’t the only one suffering. Lend a sympathetic ear and know that as a team, you and your co-workers will get through this together.

Encourage. Without funds for bonuses or raises, monetary rewards will need to be replaced by something else that offers encouragement for a job well done. Recognition from management can be just such a replacement. Remember to thank those who have helped to reach company goals. Success at any level helps to secure jobs. Celebrate milestones. Birthday cards or Anniversary cards can be awarded to employees and customers to generate smiles. The minimal cost will result in immeasurable goodwill, encouraging continued business efforts.

Be flexible. Change is hard but remaining flexible will make it easier to take. Keep your eye on the goal and be ready to adjust to reach it effectively. Be willing to take on new responsibilities and work as a team to achieve goals even if it means giving up some of your presumed power. At times like these, it is the company good that matters most.

Focus. It is natural to want to hold on to your position at all costs when downsizing and layoffs threaten. However, you may miss the opportunity to shine if you lose track of your focus. Do the best you can possibility do in the tasks you are given even if it means letting go of some activities you may not be as well suited for.

Perform. Honor your commitments and meet deadlines. Make a difference now when it counts more than ever. Be the best you can be and your company, and ultimately your job, will be secured.

Give back. You spend the majority of your waking hours at work. Make it a pleasant experience by getting to know your co-workers better. Consider teambuilding opportunities such as volunteer or charitable activities you can do together. In touch times, remember to give back to those less fortunate.

Just remember to hang in there and hang together. As the saying goes, “All for one and one for all”!

I recently asked my husband to pick up some first class stamps when he was out and about, and this is what came home!

Who knew The Simpsons would be immortalized on U.S. Postage Stamps! I certainly hadn’t heard and now I have Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and Bart to deal with whenever I send out greeting cards, bill payments or anything through the mail! I’m not sure how I missed this important new stamp launch, but in case you did too, here is a recap.

Launched on May 7, 2009, the 44¢ first class stamps are quite bright and bold and sure to be noticed! They launched with quite a bit of fanfare including a poll to vote for your favorite Simpson character, which was won by Maggie with 29.7% of the 916,000 ballots cast. Homer, who was favored initially, came in with 28.8% of the vote with Bart at 18.9%. The television series launched in 1990 is the longest running primetime comedy in television history.
“Ay, Carumba!” is all I can say!

In response to the recent blog posting regarding a Michael Jackson Commemorative Stamp, we received this interesting comment from a CardsDirect Blog reader:

Although previously the waiting period for a person to be on a postage stamp after their death was 15 years (Ex. Elvis Presley’s stamp came out in 1992, 15 years after his death), exceptions have been made. Commemorative stamps were made for President John F. Kennedy after his assassination in 1963, and Roberto Clemente, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, after he was killed in a plane crash in 1973 while delivering supplies from his native Puerto Rico to Nicaragua after the country was struck by an earthquake.
Although many people may or may not have liked Michael, I would not be surprised if President Barack Obama waives the rule for deceased people to be on postage stamps and commissions a stamp or a series of stamps to honor the memory of Michael Jackson. My proposal would be four stamps, representing the various stages of his career (as a youth in the late 1960s/early 1970s, the teenage years of the late 1970s/early 1980s, the “Thriller” album era [the most successful pop album of all time], and either the “Bad” album era or the later years). However, some people still have ill feelings of Michael Jackson after the child molestation charges he faced (although he was found not guilty).

Be it this year, 2014, or whenever, I believe there will be a stamp honoring “The King of Pop”, Michael Jackson.

In years past the waiting period for a commemorative stamp following someone’s death (other than a U.S. President) was 15 years. It was then changed to 10 and is currently at five years. Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule and perhaps this individual will prompt such an exception as our reader suggests. What do you think?

I imagine a proposal for a Michael Jackson commemorative stamp is already in the works but the earliest we’ll be able to see it is 2014. Here is why.

Many love to add interesting commemorative stamps to their greeting cards and first class letters. Ever wonder how the postal department decides what new stamp designs to add each year? The decision is made by the Postmaster General with input from the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, a group of individuals with varying backgrounds appointed by the Postmaster General to review and offer recommendations.

The Committee is composed of a maximum of 15 members who all share an interest in stamps and the needs of the mailing public. They come from areas of expertise in education, art, history and other professions. Current members include a former Postmaster General, TV Sports Commentator and Olympic Swimming Champion, Donna De Varona, Actor, Karl Malden and Former VP First Lady, Joan Mondale, among 9 others.

Each year the American public sends in thousands of letters proposing stamp subjects and approximately 25 new commemorative stamps are recommended. Subjects must be proposed three years in advance of date of issue. There are 12 major criteria guidelines considered during the selection process. Among them, no individual may be honored until at least 5 years following their death. See the complete criteria list and instructions for submitting a proposal here.

Any predictions on who might be remembered with a stamp in 2010?