The 40¢ Red Fox stamp that the United States Postal Service is planning to issue in 2023 has an unusual pedigree.

It is the product of a lobbying campaign by bulk mailers who convinced postal executives that the new stamp could boost first-class mail volume.

Stephen Kearney, a former USPS stamp executive who led the campaign, told Linn’s Stamp News that bulk mailers will use the new 40¢ Red Fox stamp in combination with other stamps on their postage-paid return envelopes that will be franked with enough postage to meet the new 63¢ letter rate that goes into effect Jan. 22.

An exact 63¢ franking would not be easy with most of the current low-denomination Fruits stamps that mailers typically use, Kearney said.

The new 40¢ stamp will make smaller combinations of stamps adding up to 63¢ much easier, he said.

In fact, the USPS has calculated a number of ways the 40¢ Red Fox stamp can be combined with existing stamps to meet the current 60¢ first-class rate.

Before the 40¢ Red Fox stamp and other 2023 U.S. stamp subjects were announced Oct. 24, Kearney had explained the usefulness of the new stamp to members of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, which he heads.

“Quite a few nonprofit mailers use multiple postage stamps on response envelopes to provide First-Class postage and boost response rates from donors,” Kearney said.

“We have been urging the Postal Service to ensure an adequate supply of lower-denomination stamps to enable the use of several that add up to First-Class postage, now 60 cents and soon to be 63 cents.”

“Not too long ago, USPS responded by deciding to add 40-cent stamps to its offerings of large coils,” he said.

Coil stamps in the Fruits series printed in large rolls of 3,000 and 10,000 have been highly popular with mailers because they can be mechanically affixed to envelopes.

Mailers say they get higher returns from mail that has stamps than with envelopes bearing a printed stamp indicium or postage meter, and they are expecting the same results from envelopes bearing the 40¢ Red Fox in combination with other stamps.

Kearney said he was not aware of the 40¢ Red Fox stamp’s design until the USPS announced the stamp as part of its planned 2023 U.S. stamp program.

The USPS said the self-adhesive stamp will be sold in panes of 20 and coil rolls of 3,000 and 10,000. The stamp “is intended for use by bulk mailers for items such as circulars, newsletters and catalogs,” according to the USPS.

The stamp features a pencil-and-watercolor illustration based on the work of Dugald Stermer, an illustrator from San Francisco who died in 2011.

In addition to Stermer’s drawing of the red fox, the stamp will carry Stermer’s calligraphy of the animal’s common name, red fox, and its scientific classification, Vulpes vulpes.

Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS, is credited with the stamp’s design.

According to USPS spokeswoman Kim Frum, the service changes won't affect about 60% of first-class mail and nearly all periodicals. Within a local area, standard delivery time for single-piece, first-class mail will remain at two days.

However, mail traveling longer distances will take longer to arrive in some cases, due to the USPS increasing transit time.

"These changes would position us to leverage more cost-effective means to transport First-Class packages via ground rather than using costly air transportation, which is also less reliable due to weather, flight traffic, availability constraints, competition for space, and the added hand-offs involved," Frum said.

Many Democrats have called for the ouster of DeJoy, a major donor to the GOP and former President Donald Trump.

A Controversial Plan

The USPS' sweeping plan, titled "Delivering for America," promises to make the Postal Service more competitive and more modern -- including a new energy-friendly fleet of delivery vehicles. In March, DeJoy, a Trump administration holdover, told reporters in a news briefing that it "takes a holistic view of the organization and is meant to elevate our business, competitiveness and our ability to meet the needs of the nation."

But several senior Democrats blasted the plan, with House Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of New York criticizing what she called the "unacceptable decision to make permanent slower mail delivery," and Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, who has taken on DeJoy in congressional hearings, calling it "a draconian plan that guarantees the death spiral of the United States Postal Service."

Michigan Sen. Gary Peters said he was concerned the service changes would hurt people "who rely on the Postal Service for prescription drugs, financial documents, running their small businesses and more."
Amid mail slowdowns during summer 2020, Democratic lawmakers linked DeJoy to then-President Trump's anti-mail-in voting rhetoric. The party accused DeJoy of attempting to sabotage the Postal Service just as now-President Joe Biden was relying on mailed ballots to deliver him the White House.

During congressional hearings at the time, DeJoy sparred with Democratic lawmakers over the slow delivery rates, the 2020 election and his forthcoming 10-year plan.

In February, DeJoy apologized for slow mail during the peak holiday season, telling the Democratic-controlled House Oversight and Reform Committee that it was "unacceptable."

Also in February, Biden nominated three people to the agency's Board of Governors, a move some lawmakers hoped would eventually lead to DeJoy's ouster and that fulfilled a promise the administration would make the board and the agency a priority in the early days of his presidency. The trio of nominees said in April during a congressional hearing that they had not made any commitments or been pressured about the potential firing of DeJoy.

The president cannot remove the postmaster general. Only the Postal Service Board of Governors -- which is composed of members nominated by the president and confirmed in the Senate -- has the power to do so.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN's Liz Stark contributed to this report.