USPS to unveil scratch-n-sniff stamp scents

You may have heard the U.S. Postal Service has suffered a few financial setbacks, what with the Internet making communication by paper an embarrassing waste of time.

It’s to the point where I’ve seen younger people mistaking use those blue mailboxes for trash bins (and where exactly do you deliver unaddressed Skittle wrappers?).

But don’t worry, the USPS may have found the answer thanks to technology just slightly more innovative than its business model: scratch-and-sniff stamps.

Stamps that smell like popsicles

On June 20, the lords of letters will unveil a series of stamps boasting pictures and scents of various ice pops, from mango and orange to root beer and cola. And you thought such stickers were relegated to air-freshener labels and cologne ads.

While such a fragrant addition would have been pretty cool when saliva was part of the attachment process (lick-and-taste stamps, anyone?), hard to see how scents released by fingernail will rescue the postal service.

But at least it’s trying, unlike the rotary-phone or mail-order-catalog industries.