Businesses aren't stuck on customized stamps

Madison Avenue used to have high hopes for the lowly postage stamp.

For decades, advertisers imagined that if only the legal barriers against commercial images on postage stamps came down, they could do great things on envelopes.

Those obstacles went away last year, when Congress swept aside a law against advertising on stamps and the United States Postal Service authorized businesses to use postage for marketing purposes. The Postal Service renewed the program on May 16, but has yet to see a great deal of revenue from the stamps, which have so far been little more than a niche product.