Address Stamp

It makes sense to shave even seconds off our busy days, eliminating unnecessary steps wherever possible. The time we waste is not only money lost, it is exhaustion added to our already weary working souls. In the waitperson’s world, for instance, the head waiter or waitress will teach them to “save their steps” by always having something in hand when returning to the kitchen or re-entering the dining area, always picking up a breadbasket or plates on the way to the kitchen or bringing the coffeepot along when returning to the tables. Otherwise, waiters and waitresses would have doubly sore feet and muscles at the end of a shift.

The same goes, of course, for our detail work at home or in the office. That’s why here we will honor the address stamp. Sure, decades ago, the personalized return address might have been endearing. Today, the address stamp—either in sticker form or made by a rubber address stamp contraption—gives packages, missives, and any other correspondence a neater and/or more professional appearance.

The rubber address stamp machine, if you will, is a godsend. For under twenty bucks, you can access an online provider, go to a postal annex, or visit any facility that will custom-make an address stamp for you. With three lines of text, a built-in ink pad, and a spring action that is kinda fun, really, the rubber address stamp is ideal (especially if you don’t want to drag out the address labels, boot up the computer, and print a whole batch of addresses.

And what I found especially convenient was the fact that the raised rubber information can be, to a degree, modified: when your return address once read Susie Q and Joe Blow in the first line, after the divorce you can take razor blade in hand, shave off the divorced person’s name, and still use the stamp for your own personal and/or business correspondence!

Now that’s shaving more than time away, isn’t it?