The ALA testing caught the philatelic community completely by surprise.  It turns out that the ALA had tested two designs in 1979 but never reported this until 1980.  No one has ever reported tied covers with any of the two1979 test seal designs.  A few produced by non-collectors should exist.  The seal community became aware of both test year programs at the end of 1980 and most collectors did not receive mint seals of both types until mid 1981.  The 1979 test program was inconclusive or more likely, not professionally conducted (remember the ALA is a charity organization and not a Fortune 500 corporation).  However, by 1980,the ALA had hired a statistician.  The statistician could show that the average contribution by the public was higher for what they perceived as a better ( tasteful, artistic, beautiful, pleasing) design.

In 1980, those people in the sample who received the Rockwell design, gave more on the average that the other two design averages.  Based on this test, and the desire to receive the maximum revenue possible, the test Rockwell design became the 1981 seal with just the date changed.  This has prompted the creation of a new type of tied cover each year, called a predecessor cover.  The homepage of this site shows the 1981 (and first) predecessor cover with the two Rockwell design seals of 1980 (test) and 1981 (regular).  That site and this one show a Christmas card of the same design that reproduces the Saturday Evening Post cover of December 16, 1933 painted by the renowned Norman Rockwell. I accidentally ran across a box of this design which was quite lucky as Christmas seal collecting is not popular enough to generate the printing of commercial maxi-card's showing the current seal design each year (Some local ALA chapters, however, do have some Christmas card notes with the seal design available on the front).

Since 1980, the ALA has tested two to four designs (usually three) one of which becomes the following year's regular seal.   In 1998, there were four test designs.   The Toy Design Test was the winner (that design had four different seals, shown is the drum, not shown are the doll, train, and rocking horse. Additionally, the NTA conducted other tests in the following years to see if the public would appreciate other ideas besides designs as more desirable.  Collectors can capture each of these additional test seal concepts tied to cover.  The ALA compares the average test seal donation to the regular seal donation to see which seal collects more revenue.  The ALA only examines nationwide tendencies even though regional and age groups might have different tastes.   The test seal concept is easy to understand, but this simplicity has eluded the Scott Publishing Company who has not updated their Christmas seal section since the start of the test seal program.  Fortunately, the Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society reports and lists each year all new regular and test seals with their varieties and printers.

The ALA completed additional tests starting in 1981, some are successful and some were not.   The table below shows these tests and my covers capture both successful and unsuccessful test results.