Video report from NBC 11

To honor the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars movie, R2-D2 has appeared in major American cities. From KCBS:

A dozen Bay Area street corner post office boxes were transformed into a Star Wars character this morning.

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This was no prank. R2D2 is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the “Star Wars'’ movie franchise by taking a job with the Postal Service.

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The droid will be showing up on street corners in a number of United States cities; not just San Francisco but in Los Angeles and Orange Counties as well. Some 200 cities nationwide will have the specially covered R2D2 mailboxes.

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It’s all part of a promotion for a new stamp to be announced later this month.

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But don’t try flying away with these droids in an X-wing fighter. Postal officials warn that tampering with these mailboxes is still a crime.

KCBS - Mailboxes Are Out of This World.

But more is coming. On March 28 the US Postal Service and the Star Wars universe will apparently join forces.

So far the USPS is being coy about what will happen then. From the press release:

The R2-D2 collection boxes will temporarily replace boxes in highly visible locations across the country. Customers can, of course drop mail into them just like any other of our 280,000 collection boxes, but there’s a striking difference visually.

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Not only do the R2-D2 boxes look like the ever-popular Star Wars character, they feature the address of a website that gives clues about the real meaning behind this unprecedented promotion - uspsjedimaster.com.

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More details about the promotion will be announced March 28. Look for the R2-D2 mailbox near you… until then, “May the Force be with you.”

It seems likely that Star Wars stamps are on the way. MSNBC reports:

It’s part of a promotion for a new stamp to be announced March 28, said Anita Bizzotto, the post office’s chief marketing officer.

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“It’s a little teaser for the upcoming announcement, and we decided to have a little fun with it,” she said.