Postmarks, Passports, and a Giant Soccer Ball

I had another successful day at the Boston 2026 World Expo stamp show.

My day started at the United States Postal Service area, where I stopped by to have my postcards postmarked. One of the fun things about the show is the variety of postmarks available. There are special daily show cancellations, First Day of Issue postmarks, and commemorative date postmarks.

The night before, I had prepared all of my postcards using cards I received at the various meetups. I mailed postcards to friends, pen pals, and my Postcrossing recipients. I had about 18 postcards ready to send through Postcrossing alone.

Of course, I wanted the perfect stamps on each card.

I had purchased the new Postcrossing stamps, the Bison stamp, the International Peace stamp, and the new Mister Rogers stamp. The Postcrossing stamps are my favorites, but because they are international-rate stamps, I save them for postcards traveling overseas. For postcards staying within the United States, I used the Bison and International Peace stamps. A few of my postcards were going to Pennsylvania, so I used the Mister Rogers stamps. It seemed fitting since Mister Rogers was from Pittsburgh.

After finishing my postcard mailing mission, I turned my attention to another popular activity at the show: the passport program.

Scott Stamp LLC created a special passport booklet with pages for participating postal administrations. Visitors could travel from booth to booth collecting stamps and special postmarks from postal services around the world. It felt a little like taking a trip around the globe without ever leaving the convention center.

I started my morning in the Asia/Pacific and Middle East/Africa Pavilion.

I stopped by the India Post booth and had a wonderful conversation with the staff there. Naturally, we ended up talking about addresses. Anyone who exchanges postcards internationally knows that some addresses from India can be remarkably descriptive. I’ve received addresses that sound more like directions than addresses: “the pink house behind the large tree” kind of descriptions. I’m always amazed that the mail finds its destination.they wanted to know how many postcards I had sent to India. I checked My Postcrossing stats and found out I mailed 21 postcards to India and received 62 postcards from India.

India Post was featuring beautiful puppet-themed stamps, and each day had a different postmark design. The day’s postmark featured yoga, which was a fun addition to my passport.

Next, I visited Fiji Post. The staff there were equally friendly, and I enjoyed chatting with them while collecting my stamp and postmark.

The Fiji stamp I selected may be the most unusual stamp in my collection so far. It featured a giant coconut crab. The stamp itself was enormous, almost like a miniature souvenir sheet. To me, the crab looked a little bit like a tarantula, which is exactly why I chose it. Everyone was talking about it, and it was simply too interesting to pass up.

After my international stamp tour, I headed back to the USPS event area for the First Day of Issue ceremony for the North American Soccer stamp.

This stamp was created to celebrate the upcoming World Cup, with matches being hosted in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Boston will host several games, so there was a lot of excitement in the room.

There were soccer fans everywhere, many wearing their favorite team kits. Even the master of ceremonies was wearing a USA jersey.

The stamp design is particularly fun because it spells “GOOOOOAL” with extra O’s, capturing the chant that echoes through stadiums after a score.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was a giant inflatable soccer ball that was tossed into the audience. People batted it around the room while waiting for the program to begin, and it created a playful atmosphere that perfectly matched the theme of the stamp. Another highlight happened while I standing in line to get my program signed. I was behind a family whose son loved soccer and stamps. He was so excited to be there and it was his first stamp show. 

The speakers talked about the role sports play in building communities. A youth soccer game may last only an hour, but it takes coaches, referees, volunteers, parents, and organizers working together to make it happen. Sports teach teamwork, perseverance, and how to handle both victory and defeat. They bring people together and create a sense of belonging.

Of course, after the ceremony I had to buy more stamps.

The day ended with another Postcrossing meetup. This meetup was a little smaller than some of the others, which gave me more time to chat with people and collect signatures on postcards.

My self-inking stamp needed another refill of ink, but I think it will survive one more meetup before the show ends.

The postcard for today’s meetup featured a soccer theme, which was perfect. A lot of Postcrossers request football postcards, and for most of the world, football means soccer, not American football.