SpongeBob and friends are USPS stamps: You can snail-mail any pineapple under the sea

SpongeBob SquarePants would, successful theory, person small usage for stamps. They would get soggy successful that pineapple nether the sea.

Neither would Patrick Star (no fingers connected the ends of those arms), Mr. Crabs (claws) oregon Squidward Tentacles (his sanction says it all). One could reason that adjacent the fans of “SpongeBob SquarePants” wouldn’t person overmuch usage for stamps. That assemblage doesn’t spell successful for snail message — though Gary the Snail might.

Nevertheless, the full pack from Nickelodeon’s long-running animated amusement — adjacent Sandy Cheeks, the squirrel successful the diving suit — is featured connected a caller acceptable of commemorative Forever stamps, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

But the constituent isn’t to usage them but to cod them, and possibly look astatine the yellow, smiling, gap-toothed look of SpongeBob erstwhile you request a speedy pick-me-up.

If you hap to beryllium successful New York City’s Times Square connected Aug. 1 from 8 to 10 a.m. Eastern, you tin get your hands connected the caller stamps. The lawsuit is free, but the stamps you’ll person to wage for. (A expanse of 16 volition outgo you $12.48. They’re 78 cents apiece.)

That’s 40 cents much than each stamp would person outgo erstwhile “SpongeBob” premiered 26 years ago.

The USPS creation director, Greg Breeding, designed the stamps with Nickelodeon artwork to usher him, according to the Postal Service. He’ll beryllium connected manus for autographs.

The satellite of Bikini Bottom was introduced successful May 1999, and the amusement began a afloat tally 2 months later. Creator Stephen Hillenburg, who died successful 2018 astatine property 57 aft battling Lou Gehrig’s disease, was — appropriately — a teacher of marine biology successful Southern California earlier switching to animation. He created colorful teaching tools arsenic good arsenic wrote and illustrated stories with the characters who came to populate the show, arsenic The Times wrote successful Hillenburg’s obituary.

To acceptable the grounds straight, stamps have, successful fact, been utilized successful Bikini Bottom.

One example: In the Season 13 occurrence “Patrick the Mailman,” the starfish delivers a missive to SpongeBob and asks him, “Do you cognize wherever this Spon-gee-Boob Squir-pa-Nants lives?” He past makes SpongeBob his postal pal.