USPS R2D2 Mailboxes

Engadget reported, Friday, that for the upcoming 30th anniversary of Star Wars, the US Postal Service will be outfitting post office across the nation with Star Wars themed mailboxes. These new mailboxes are cleverly made to look like everyone’s favorite droid, R2-D2. Personally, I’ve got to say, I think it’s pretty cool.

What I wonder, however, is who exactly is footing this bill, and in which direction is money being given? In one case, Lucas and company could be paying the USPS money to have these little marketers installed across the country. On the other hand, the USPS could be paying George Lucas tuck loads of money to license the likeness of the droid. In this case, I’m no so sure if the tax dollars spent on this are worth the “oh cool” factor. It just gets me thinking, if it is indeed the postal service paying for all of these shiny new drop boxes, is that really the best use of money? Did they really need to go crazy replacing standard blue mailboxes with the, no doubt, more expensive, R2-D2 ones?