Help save USPS!

Recently it was brought to my attention that the United States Postal Service is in danger. I have always been aware that it was struggling to a degree but I have never really paid attention to what exactly is happening. Getting my mail is something that I just always expect to happen because I’ve never lived in a world where I couldn’t easily mail or receive a letter.

However, a little over a week ago, several news outlets were reporting on the fact that our USPS system is on the brink of extinction. At that time, our most recent stimulus package did not do enough to protect the USPS. In fact, because they didn’t receive enough funding (all they got was a loan) they are currently at risk of going under within a few short months due to Covid-19.

With the little bit of research I’ve done since hearing about all of this, I’ve learned the following key takeaways:

1. Having a United States Postal Service is written into our constitution.
   • Our founding fathers knew the importance of having postal services.
2. Our postal services make it possible for every single address in this country to be serviced no matter how rural or isolated it may be.
3. Many providers, especially Amazon, utilize USPS to deliver the “last mile,” this is especially true for deliveries that are particularly far or remote.
4. USPS employs approximately 630,000 people.

If the United States Postal Service were to suddenly stop operating it could cause significant issues for the American people. Most notably:

1. Mail services wouldn’t be as easily accessible for everyone in this country.
2. Private corporations would have no reason not to charge whatever they deemed appropriate.
3. A significant number of American citizens would become unemployed
4. We wouldn’t be able to participate in mail-in voting.

A movement has been started to help our USPS system by giving them more money through stamp purchases. Because of this, I decided to make some stamp cakes to help spread the word.

I decided it was time to Educake!

After visiting http://USPS.com, I was able to browse through their stamp collection and decided my favorite ones were the Hearts Blossom, Earth Day (commemorating the 50th anniversary as of yesterday), and the Global: Chrysanthemum. However, if you take a minute and look through their website you’ll see that they have so many different options–from American flags to historical figures to fun holidays–that anyone could find something they like.

I gathered my ingredients and got to work making a few vanilla cakes and some vanilla Italian Meringue buttercream.

Once my cakes were cooled I began decorating. I rolled out some thin pieces of fondant in the same shape as my stamps and made sure to trace the scalloped edges with an X-Acto knife.

Then came the fun part!

I started drawing on my cakes to create my stamps but halfway into it, my edible markers started to die. =(

So I quickly switched over to painting with food coloring and it came together perfectly. My Heart Blossom and Earth Day stamps ended up so cute!

If you look for them on the USPS website you’ll see that you can get sets of 20 for each stamp for $11. These would make a fun little addition to any letters you might want to send.

For the sides of the cakes, I ran one of my fondant tools down the side to create grooves that mimicked the scalloped edges. The next time I do this project I’ll most likely use fondant instead of doing it directly on the buttercream.

The stamp I was most excited to make, however, was the Chrysanthemum. Not only was the stamp itself really cool, it’s a Global Forever stamp meaning that it will always hold it’s value for sending one ounce first-class letters to any country that accepts first-class mail, but it was also just extremely pretty. If you have any international pen pals or family abroad, this would be a great stamp to include on your letters. It cost $12 for 10.

I was excited to try my hand at my first 3D buttercream flower as well.

After rolling out my fondant and writing out the words along the edges, I created my buttercream flower and let it set.

Once my flower was set, I placed it on my cake, created my grooves, and couldn’t be happier with the final result. Yes, there were some imperfections but that’s what makes baking fun, it’s possible to continue growing and developing your craft. And if you’re up for the challenge, you could create your own stamp cake to help spread the news about supporting USPS. If you do, please tag @TimetoEducake so I can see your awesome creations!

I’m proud to present my USPS stamp cakes and hope that they’ll inspire you to go to http://USPS.com to purchase some stamps and help protect one of the foundational institutions of this country. We benefit so greatly from having this service and it would be a shame to see it disappear. As a united country we can help give them the support they need so please consider purchasing stamps, sharing the word, or speaking to your representatives.

#SaveUSPS #SaveThePostOffice #SaveTheUSPS #TimetoEducake