Sad to see

fishguts

No posts here. I know collecting and message boards are two different things, but if this isn't a sign.....

delistamps

I agree with this. I do think there are more active stamp forums. This is not it.

That said, the USPS killed the golden goose with it's high value issues, difficult to buy releases (not distributed at all post offices) and most of all, self-adhesives. They were just too tough to store.

LochNESS

I thought USPS had killed it by over-producing. US Mint has done the same thing. Find something folks like to collect, and make a ton of them to maximize sales profits. Meanwhile collector value goes down because of high mintage. My dad used to collect stamps and relayed this perspective to me.

The e-mail revolution didn't help, either. Your thoughts?

I can't speak for my entire generation (I'm 30) but personally I'm more interested in general paper / scrip, not stamps per se. For example I have an album of WWII bus tickets and opera tickets that my grandfather brought back from Europe but no stamps. I have some postcards from a Russian penpal, stamps on them, but they aren't stored or saved in a way that a true stamp collector would. Opinions vary of course, and I'm sure there are many stamp collectors my age, but I don't know any of them.

I'm sorry to leave such a depressing post but perhaps this is a past-time. I expect no less from the coin market over the next 20-30 years.

SDSportsFan

In my view, there are several reasons for the decline of stamp collecting. Here are the top three in my opinion:

First is the massive overproduction of commemoratives beginning in the early 1990's. My dad was a life-long stamp collector, having begun in the 1940s. He lost interest in the early 1990s for the reason I mentioned, as well as the next one below.

Second, is the move away from single-stamp sales. It used to be that a collector could go to their local post office and buy one of each new stamp. Beginning in the 1990s, the USPS began issuing the self-adhesive stamps, and you could no longer buy just one. You had to buy a whole sheet of 20 or whatever number of stamps was on a sheet. So, instead of paying 25 cents for the stamp you wanted, you had to pay $5 or so for a whole sheet. Sure, you could use the extras for postage, but as more and more stamps came out, the number of extra stamps you had to buy also increased exponentially. Heck, my dad passed away in 2001, and I inherited his stamp collection. I STILL haven't used up all the extra stamps he had (and I sold between $1,000 and $1,500 face value in sheets to a dealer back in 2002 or so).

Third is the move away from first-class mail being used by people to pay their bills and just sending letters. With the rise of the internet, email and being able to pay bills online, people no longer need stamps. Even when you go to the post office to mail something, you just pay the USPS and the counter clerk sticks a meter on the package...it never even gets an actual postage stamp.

I just looked at my Scott Pocket Stamp Catalogue, and over half the book is just for stamps issued since 1990. It takes less than half the book to cover all the stamps from 1847 -1989.

It's very similar to sports cards. The advantage sports cards have is that sports are still popular and they have a strong fan base. With stamps, as the population of people who never have to use, or even see a postage stamp increases, I'm afraid it will just continue to fall in popularity. I think you'll still have a segment of people who collect the older classics, but the run-of-the-mill stamps from now and into the future, will struggle for interest.

Personally, I still have my dad's main US stamp collection, and am trying to fill it in (very slowly). I've recently picked up used examples of Scott #1 and #2, along with unused examples of the Zeppelins (C13-C15).

Steve

Senex

I once collected stamps as a kid but gave it up 50 years ago.
Still have my stamp album from those days and the stamps are worth LESS now than I paid for the all those years ago.
Catalog values are meaningless, at least if you look on eBay, where stamps are mostly selling for a small fraction of catalog prices.
IMO the PO killed the goose by issuing way too many stamps.
Just my 2¢

covers

LochNESS

Just keep drinkin your beers and enjoying your hobby whilst you still can, and don't worry about what the future holds!

Unless of course these stamps are your retirement plan, in which case, you should worry.

Cakes

My Dad is looking to cash in on his child hood stamp collection, collected in the 40's early 50's. One large brown grocery bag, yikes, how should I begin, is there a redbook for stamps?

Thanks,

Spacelord

gonna be tough to sell the whole collection--I have been trying to sell mine--but if you get 10 percent of the catalog value then you are doing good--the best catalog for values is a "scott catalog"

Cakes

<< <i>gonna be tough to sell the whole collection--I have been trying to sell mine--but if you get 10 percent of the catalog value then you are doing good--the best catalog for values is a "scott catalog" >>



10 percent, wow................just wow. I had figured 50%, thank you for replying.

dougwtx

<< <i>My Dad is looking to cash in on his child hood stamp collection, collected in the 40's early 50's. One large brown grocery bag, yikes, how should I begin, is there a redbook for stamps?

Thanks, >>



There are the Scott catalogs which can be costly for a one-time deal and there is a black book for US stamps which is cheaper. Catalog values do not reflect real world prices when selling; unless better material. If it is a generic collection, a dealer will just pay by how many stamps or the weight. One tenth of cat is normal for general collections. One third is normal for ave-better US material. Dealers have to resell and make a profit and they usually sell at below cat value. Rare/better material or graded/certified material is where selling/buying is above cat values. Condition is one of the main factors in evaluating.

rrpb76

I wanted to add my 2 cent. I believe the decline of interest by the young collectors [who spend too much time on i-pods anyway] is the adhesive backed stamps. As akid I remember soaking the stamps off envelopes and drying them on newspapers.
And I remember the one cent postcards and the 3 cent commemoratives

LochNESS

Heck, I'm only 30 and even I remember the sponges at the post office in those plastic ramekins!

I'm not surprised by the 10% quote since the BST forum is empty with zero threads ... but I'm more concerned about all those stamps in the paper grocery bag. Could take hours or days just to sort them and learn their values. Hope you enjoy stamps as much as your dad, or you're going to by the time it's emptied