Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
On one hand I feel sorry but on the other hand they deserve some kind of lesson for being DESPOTIC and INEPT in the handling of one segment of the postal business: Philatelists.
Have written two letters to the Postmaster in Hoboken PO, no nswer and things continue the same way "WE DON'T SELL COMMEMORATIVES"!
When the guy asked if I wanted the Simpson's I told her "No thank you!
hope everybody is in good health and busy with the stamps of the World or the US stamps of ten years ago.
Avi
APS#104143
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It is not the first time that I read this, and I still don't understand it: what is the problem with the Simpsons stamps? Why do so many people react so hostile? There have been science-fiction stamps, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Muppets, seamonsters, dinosaurs, scary insects etc. Many of those topics were far less interesting or significant than the Simpsons stamps.
OK, perhaps I should not have responded to troll fodder, but I just have done so... 
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I understand Jansimon, it takes a while to digest the profound psychology behind the Simpsons. No problem, some day you'll see.
One thing you can be sure is a pure waste of paper by a government body in bankrupcy.
Philatelically,
Avi
APS#104140
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Well, I disagree with you on that point. I like the Simpsons very much and think it's great that there are now stamps commemorating them. They deserve it much more than the topics I mentioned or even some of the dead people that get celebrated on stamps because they have good lobbyists on their behalf.
I realize that I am now attracting flames and have put on the asbestos jacket, but the Simpsons are to me the ultimate satire of American modern culture and Matt Groening is the modern Mark Twain
Jan-Simon
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You are attracting NOTHING! you are a member of this Club and you are in a free country so you can say whatever you like/dislike.
The problem is far more complex, people and philatelist in particular are quite un-happy with the Postal "authority".
I will not point out some of the problems since most philatelists are feeling the same way I do (Linn's latest edition and the monthly APS) are example of the discontent felt all across the many ideologies.
So don't feel "on fire" is just a free way we have here at SOR since its foundation.
Philatelically,
Avi
APS#104143
Something to finish in a rather humorus note, a friend was listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony and a guy just passing by felt it was a lot of noise!
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Can anyone remember when the USPS was not in the red??????
Like most businesses,they show a loss or gain in a quarterly report,and compare that to previous years,and an annual report, finalized to show,at no surprise to us, a loss of revenue.
They have been trying to please all apects of society by issueing stamps honoring just about anyone or any topic.I'd say they are leaning toward satisfying even the most die hard stamp collector,organization,ethnic,religious,and age bracket.
The Simpsons is yet another carton(animated) that favors the young,and a special group of adults that seem to understand the true meanings,the message, behind each episode.
It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out the messages portayed and the dual sides to each story that are simply implied.Warning,people with thin skin,or are easily slighted,should not watch this program.
The stamp is not honoring the Simpsons,but a milestone in longest continuously running animated cartoon series.Ten years and counting.
The Simpsons family reminds me of Archie Bunker ,and his/their version of how life really works.A lot of people didnt like that show either,because they told it,showed it,like it was in reality.
Stamps like these are a revenue maker for the USPS, not only for the stamp collector,but the younger crowd,the memorabilia collector,and the older folks that use commemoratives because they can't manage those little bitty pieces of paper,with arthritis in the hands and fingers.
USPS should apply for some of that stimulas "bail out" money. Why should all the crooks get bonus bailout ,tax payer paid, funding from Uncle Obama.
BTW, they arent looseing money on stamps.if they only sold half of what they print,they have a good profit there.
It's the cost of service,and federaly forced pension plans that cant be reckoned with.
TOM
APS# 210302-- formerly # 178820
(Message edited by HARLEY on May 19, 2009)
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08:36:25pm
Doh!!! I like the Simpsons Stamps...
Bob
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i like the Simpsons, too, and it's intelligent TV. And if we will honor Marvel comics and mohagany speed boats, it seems the Simpsons are at least their equals. And, as with everything else, collect what you like. Luckily, I'm betting they don't come out in coils, so, Tom, you can pass on these guys.
But that's half the discussion, and it's essentially unrelated to the other half: USPS's bottom line, which has little to do with philatelists. Yes, if they catered to our biggest groups (PNCs, FDCs, PBs, definitive series of note) more assiduously, they'd make more money from stamp retention, but not much. Remember, their biggest chunk remains staff, and until they can divest themselves of all those people, well.... But they've also made some poor choices, like ceding PM and EM to UPS and FedX and DHL. Those are huge profit centers and USPS allowed that boat to sail. So, instead of delivering $25.00 overnight packages, they're delivering 44c letters to the same address. Hmmmm. I find their stamp issuing policies absurd, but that's not where the red ink comes from. And not all their woes are self-inflicted. Remember the Bush Administration saddled them with the pensions of all USPS workers who had previously served in the military. Note: it made the military look leaner, but didn't help the PO's bottom line. In fact, the rise from 39c to 41c was soley to make up that penion expense.
David
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David,
nope, Simpsons not on my "To collect" list.But will purcgase a couple panes for mailings and save any used that come my way,for sending to others who do collect them.They may be useful trade material.
TOM
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09:19:22am
While I like the Simpsons issue, I'm a bit confused by the PO's policies. They cancelled the issuance of a few stamps for this year. One of them being the 4th State Flag coils issue. I was under the impression that this was supposed to be the philatelic equivalent of the State Quarters program aimed to get these stamps on regular mail so that non-philatelists may get interested in stamp collecting. In my opinion this issue has been a total failure. The coil format forces people to buy 50 stamps instead of 20 stamps. Every post office I have gone to never has them in stock. Unlike coins you won't get one as change when you buy a coke from the coke machine. Perhaps the USPS has realized that this issue is not working out as planned and replaced this issue with an unannounced Simpsons issue.
Bob
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Well, everybody's casted a vote of "yes" or 'NO!" so it is settled, the Simpsons are a representation of a very DYSFUNCTIONAL family, I am going to start a campaign for an issue of "BEVIS AND BUTHEAD" anyone seconds me?
Boy are we having fun!
Hugs in general, nothng personal just...killing time writing from my bed since I can't get up for a few days.
Hugs in general
Avi
APS#104143
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The FON issue has been widely criticized for the very failures you bring out, Bob, especially that its promotion has been limited and its availability scattered at best. The initial issue seems to have been a particular logistical embarassment. That said, I'm impressed with the numbers i see on incoming mail, far more than I ever figured, given its ungainly packaging and its limited distribution.
this is the first i'm hearing of the planned cancellation (delay, i'm hoping) of the fourth issue. Does that mean that only 1 set of 10 will be issued this year? And the USPS will stretch out the series even longer? If so, I suspect that will relegate it even further into the dustbin, as we collectors will seek it out, but conventional users will forget about it.
I think USPS keeps trying to replicate the US mint's success with the state quarters, always forgetting that quarters, once used, are still good, in fact their very use brings them into the hands of others, while stamps, once used are, well, worthless EXCEPT to collectors, and given USPS's disdain for collectors (see: soaking), one wonders what they expect to happen.
I am a fan of the issue, incidentally, and think it might spur a few collectors, although, as a mint stamp, it poses immense challenges to all traditional approaches.
David
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and now a message from our sponsor. "Doh"
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12:57:00pm
David,
It was reported in Linn's a few weeks back. The 44c Edward Hopper and the holiday 44c Angel with Lute have also been cancelled for this year. Supposedly to save money.
Bob
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01:04:30pm
Luis,
Feel better... Bevis and Butthead, Ren & Stimpy and South Park and Family Guy get my vote... Sounds like a great series. :^)
Bob
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Hey, what about the Flinstones or the Jetsons? Certainly they are due their philatelic day in the sun as well??!! To quote Fred Flinstone: "Yabba DabbaDo!"
Steve Scheibner
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Personally, I will never forgive the USPS for not honoring this intellectually superior, vastly more amusing, and highly respected character:
(oops, is my prejudice showing?)
Bob
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Perhaps we need a "Re-usable" Stamp.... And as I tell my wife, don't ask me for detail - I just come up with the big ideas....
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06:15:18pm
Funny looking back 3 years later that the Simpson's Stamps cost the PO about $1,000,000 as only about three hundred million of the billion printed were purchased.
Bob
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Down-trodden American taxpayers:
The foregoing comments make Canada Post, a founding inhabitant of Loserville,
appear in comparison as a bedrock of postal sanity.
Commiserations,
Johnny Canuck
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Bob, if that's true, then the more stamps the USPS produces, the greater its losses because there is declining volume and, as any collector can attest, they no longer give a ratatatatat'sass about philatelists, who would be the only ones likely to positively affect that equation.
David
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USPS doesn't have any consistent marketing strategy when it comes to selling stamps to collectors. They shut down the philatelic counters, they limit distribution of stamps to post offices, they don't advertise their stamps, they don't want stamps on the mail. Out of sight, out of mind, but they think that they are back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when people bought whatever stamps were issued, and in quantities.
What started the down slide in sales? They got greedy and went from single plate blocks to multiple plate number blocks. People would have to buy 20 stamps to get a plate block. They tired of that quickly, but USPS continued pumping them out.
USPS can't make up its mind what it wants to do regarding issuing and selling stamps. Now it is reported that honoring a live person on a stamp is on hold. Too bad there isn't a Postal Service Rescue like the Bar Rescue show.
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09:14:32am
It is a curious day when I have to disagree with one of Michael's comments. 
".... USPS doesn't have any consistent marketing strategy when it comes to selling stamps to collectors. ...."
They have a consistent policy, it is consistently boneheaded.
That they can deliver an envelope from anywhere in the world to the correct address, often with an almost incomprehensible scribbled address, among 160,000,000 homes and a similar number of businesses with an accuracy rate that is a wonder of consistency, but are so out of touch in just about every other aspect of their core business is an amazing achievement in negative consistency.
In addition to that they have an often ill-informed politically motivated Congress imposing consistently unworkable rules atop their business plan.
They achieve consistency though inconsistency.
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Now, Charlie, how can I argue with that?!
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John, US taxpayers do not pay anything to the USPS. Many of its oversights are provided by US Congress or President, sometimes through Postal Rate Commission and the Postal Board of Governors, and sometimes through legislation. For a good precis of how the USPS works, financially and administratively within the government, see http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/ESS-WP-09-001.pdf.
As to marketing, it's odd that they look like they want to encourage collectors, but then they frustrate the big pocket collectors who would follow a specialty area forever, until the USPS does something stupid like Michael's increase of Plate Block sizes by 150% or more, or the destruction of meaning to Plate Numbers on coils or even the lack of meaning in the legends printed in selvege indicating what should be the pane position on a sheet. They drove away collectors from PB collecting by increasing the cost of a PB from 32c to $1.60 (back in the 70s); drove more of us away with the change in policy of PNCs, where a PN no longer had any meaning. I can understand, but don't like, the switch to self-adhesives, but at least this serves a purpose.
And, finally, one must still marvel at the USPS's ability to successfully accomplish its primary mission: delivering mail quickly, safely, and securely. Kudos to the people who wear the eagle.
David
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It's also worth noting that roughly 85% of the USPS's red ink derives from a congressional mandate that the post office fund benefits for I think it's 75 years into the future. No other enterprise, government or private sector, is placed under such a burden.
The remaining 15% shortfall could be made up by providing some services the post office currently doesn't offer. Naturally, catering at least somewhat to collectors would be beneficial but so too would be adding greeting cards into the post office. I'm sure Hallmark would love a contract like that. Why not provide passport photo and renewal services at the post office? How about an internet cafe to provide high speed service to rural areas? Why don't they sell packing materials and offer packing services? Where's the photocopy and fax services - heck, self-services. Just how much room does it take up to provide notary services? Why isn't there an ATM at the post office?
There's a lot that could make the USPS again a black ink non-government entity - an entity that has played a key and vital role in building and maintaining our nation.
Stepping off my soapbox now.
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Ronnie, you are right about the congressional mandate. Making it worse is the other congressional mandate taking the portion of pensions that HAD BEEN the responsibility of Department of Defense and transferring them to the USPS (it makes fighting wars cheaper when you don't have to pick up the soldiers' pensions).
As to Hallmark, unless you were being tongue in cheek, there already is a contract between the two, although i don't think it's produced much. You'll see that the non-standard size monarch stamps were produced expressly for Hallmark cards.
And the USPS does handle passports, including processing them, photographs, mailings, etc. They just don't approve them. And, all passport mail is done via the most expensive option: express mail.
you might be right about other office-like services, although the maintenance expense may be more than the profits might be worth.
David
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My post office has greeting cards, gift mailing boxes, gift wrapping and a passport office.
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Man... my post office is in BFE, Louisiana. I'm impressed with the paved parking lot. The only other things there - a gas station/auto parts store/salvage yard and a church are all gravel lots. Heck even the abandoned high school around the corner has an unpaved parking lot.
The services are... well... minimal.
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Being a supply chain engineer in the logistics industry for over 30 years and very familiar with the USPS I can't help but share my 2 (or more) cents. Unless you have worked for the USPS or similar company you would have no idea how complicated it is to move a letter across the globe to the right address, cheaply and in a reasonable amount of time.
If the post office were privatized (nobody wants the business) there wouldn't be stamps, post offices or mail delivery most days of week. 10 years from now post offices will only be in large cities, 20 years from now I really doubt there will be stamps as we know them today. I know for a fact the USPS is seriously looking at centralizing mail delivery rather than delivering mail to the mail box at your door step. You will have to pay extra for that service.
Also I am sure the vast revenue generated by stamp collectors (being sarcastic) is a top priority for the USPS. As a collector and consumer I appreciate they still sell stamps no matter whom or what is on them, have post offices and deliver the mail most days of the week. A good solution for preventing the USPS from over printing and spending on stamps would be to print one forever stamp and sell it at the going rate forever.
Take the entire USPS loss divide it by the number of people that use the service then ask yourself if the service worth it. If you still want to complain I will take your letters on one of my brown trucks for about $8.00 each.
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Before I retired, I was a contract manager for a mail center. We spent between $500,000 and $600,000 a month on postage. I saw the operations of the USPS and Pitney Bowes sorting facilities, and they are quite impressive. If you ever get a chance to tour one or more of those facilities, do so. It will amaze you.
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Similarly visit a UPS Mail Innovations Center or even better the UPS World Port hub in Louisville at midnight. (Mad Money aired the World Port last week)
The advantage private industry has is they can create new business opportunities. UPS's largest customers are UPS divisions such as Mail Innovations, Supply Cain Solutions and UPS Capital, UPS Freight etc. Not to mention we move a lot of mail and packages for the USPS.
Unleash the USPS from the government and watch out UPS and Fed Ex.
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Michael C,
competition with UPS and FedX couldn't be started now. That shipped sailed a quarter century ago. The delivery service world is contracting, with fewer and fewer players, not more. Worse, the entire customer service mindset at most big POs would have to be revised. The USPS can deliver things, but they're not set up to take them. At the GPO in Manhattan, i routinely wait in line half an hour to face clerks who don't know what they're doing. No business would put up with that when they're giving their high value shipments.
I do think that the USPS unshackled from congressional oversight would be more competitive and leaner, but unless the mandate for universal delivery were maintained, the animal would be unrecognizable
David
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One idea that has been floating around for years is for the USPS to manage the most expensive last mile of delivery for UPS, FedEx and to a lesser extent DHL. None of these companies wants to drive 5 miles out of town to deliver a package let a lone an envelope.
I know what you mean about the lack of knowledge and professionalism. My rural carrier refused to pick up letters because the stamps were old . Then she told me I had too many stamps on the envelopes.
Sad to say but the way we get our mail today going to change sooner then later.
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12:30:53am
Returning to the original question.
Yes, I read the online edition, and it takes only a few minutes.
Being interested in postally used stamps and history both philatelic a well as general history I find that there are less and less articles that catch my interest.
Forty years ago I subscribed to Linn's, Western Stamp Collector (Which came twice a week ) The Canadian Stamp News, sometimes Meekels, that APS journal and several philatelic club bulletins.
And I read them all in great detail, saving interesting articles, some of which O ran through a copy machine so that once three holes were punched they could be kept in different binders by subject matter.
Oh and for many years Global Stamp News should be included. Each month it took hours to read all the interesting articles and tear out what I thought worthwhile.
Gradually over tie they stopped printing of my interest waned until I am down to the essential Linn's Stamps and the time it takes most weeks is less than thirty minutes.
Part of the problem is that Linn's seems to have chosen to devote far too much column space to new issues and uncancelled stamps. Many articles might as well be discussing barbed wire collections or ways to bake a cake while driving a golf cart.
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Charlie, have you thought about writing an article for Linns about how you collect used Machins?
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The Sept 3rd issue almost led to me canceling my subscription. There were less than 3 pages of editorial space that interested me. The Sept. 10th issue contained far more of interest, so I didn't cancel. But with prices seemingly skyrocketing and editorial content rapidly diminishing I don't know what I'm going to do at next year's renewal time. I don't collect new issues, and specifically am uninterested in US and UN, so the monthly mashup of Linn's & Scott's holds virtually no interest so an online subscription seems meaningless in spades. I too used to enjoy Canadian Stamp News, Stamp Collector & Global Stamp News. Even if the articles didn't cover my specific areas of interest, I learned a lot. I hate to see another stamp publication disappear, but Linn's has almost vanished with a vague shadow hanging about.
Roger
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Remember when Linn's was about as big as a Sunday newspaper?
Also, does anyone remember STAMPS magazine?
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08:49:50pm
Yes,Michael,
and Yes again.
I remember when there was at least a small stamp store in almost every moderate sized town in the country where you were greeted with a welcome smile, could sit and sift through albums and card files for hours. And in many you might be invited to share a cup of coffee.
I remember revisiting 116 Nassau Street in the early 1960s, where my father had taken me on an occasional Saturday morning fifteen years earlier and climbing the stairs from floor to floor to find dozens of stamp dealers all in one place..
I once found a Stamp store on To Do Street in Saigon, near the Caravelle Hotel,another in a back street in Istanbul that barely had room for the owner, a translator, the desk, the piles of albums and me with the door closed, and in a storefront in Agana, Guam, that was run Gene Fullner, a Navy petty officer who was stationed there, who later moved to Virginia after retirement, as well as shops in most major European cities.
I have very fond memories of the months I spent in Rotterdam and rode the trolley along Niew Binnenweg stopping in one stamp shop after another seeking Dutch East Indies stamps to grace the pages behind the Wilhelmina sets that I filled from start to end, and the several friendships I made in a city where just about everyone collected stamps.
I bet not a one is left in business.
Even the 29¢ cloth bags of genuine World Wide stamps that were once a fixture of every Woolworth's and Kresge's Five and Dime stores.
I remember when adding the fact that you were a stamp collector to a college application was considered to be a big point in your favor as it implied interest and knowledge in History, Geography and World Affairs in the eyes of the college interviewers.
There was also the 1954 issue of Life Magazine that was covered with montage of colorful postage stamps, I have a copy packed away somewhere, the only stamp shown not available at a minimal price being one from the Falklands of an Emperor Penguin.
Don't get me started with the "Do you remember game, ...... ? " or this post will last all night.
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Huge deficit in the Postal Administration claim BILLIONS!
On one hand I feel sorry but on the other hand they deserve some kind of lesson for being DESPOTIC and INEPT in the handling of one segment of the postal business: Philatelists.
Have written two letters to the Postmaster in Hoboken PO, no nswer and things continue the same way "WE DON'T SELL COMMEMORATIVES"!
When the guy asked if I wanted the Simpson's I told her "No thank you!
hope everybody is in good health and busy with the stamps of the World or the US stamps of ten years ago.
Avi
APS#104143
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Approvals
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
It is not the first time that I read this, and I still don't understand it: what is the problem with the Simpsons stamps? Why do so many people react so hostile? There have been science-fiction stamps, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Muppets, seamonsters, dinosaurs, scary insects etc. Many of those topics were far less interesting or significant than the Simpsons stamps.
OK, perhaps I should not have responded to troll fodder, but I just have done so...
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
I understand Jansimon, it takes a while to digest the profound psychology behind the Simpsons. No problem, some day you'll see.
One thing you can be sure is a pure waste of paper by a government body in bankrupcy.
Philatelically,
Avi
APS#104140
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Well, I disagree with you on that point. I like the Simpsons very much and think it's great that there are now stamps commemorating them. They deserve it much more than the topics I mentioned or even some of the dead people that get celebrated on stamps because they have good lobbyists on their behalf.
I realize that I am now attracting flames and have put on the asbestos jacket, but the Simpsons are to me the ultimate satire of American modern culture and Matt Groening is the modern Mark Twain
Jan-Simon
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
You are attracting NOTHING! you are a member of this Club and you are in a free country so you can say whatever you like/dislike.
The problem is far more complex, people and philatelist in particular are quite un-happy with the Postal "authority".
I will not point out some of the problems since most philatelists are feeling the same way I do (Linn's latest edition and the monthly APS) are example of the discontent felt all across the many ideologies.
So don't feel "on fire" is just a free way we have here at SOR since its foundation.
Philatelically,
Avi
APS#104143
Something to finish in a rather humorus note, a friend was listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony and a guy just passing by felt it was a lot of noise!
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07:41:22pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Can anyone remember when the USPS was not in the red??????
Like most businesses,they show a loss or gain in a quarterly report,and compare that to previous years,and an annual report, finalized to show,at no surprise to us, a loss of revenue.
They have been trying to please all apects of society by issueing stamps honoring just about anyone or any topic.I'd say they are leaning toward satisfying even the most die hard stamp collector,organization,ethnic,religious,and age bracket.
The Simpsons is yet another carton(animated) that favors the young,and a special group of adults that seem to understand the true meanings,the message, behind each episode.
It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out the messages portayed and the dual sides to each story that are simply implied.Warning,people with thin skin,or are easily slighted,should not watch this program.
The stamp is not honoring the Simpsons,but a milestone in longest continuously running animated cartoon series.Ten years and counting.
The Simpsons family reminds me of Archie Bunker ,and his/their version of how life really works.A lot of people didnt like that show either,because they told it,showed it,like it was in reality.
Stamps like these are a revenue maker for the USPS, not only for the stamp collector,but the younger crowd,the memorabilia collector,and the older folks that use commemoratives because they can't manage those little bitty pieces of paper,with arthritis in the hands and fingers.
USPS should apply for some of that stimulas "bail out" money. Why should all the crooks get bonus bailout ,tax payer paid, funding from Uncle Obama.
BTW, they arent looseing money on stamps.if they only sold half of what they print,they have a good profit there.
It's the cost of service,and federaly forced pension plans that cant be reckoned with.
TOM
APS# 210302-- formerly # 178820
(Message edited by HARLEY on May 19, 2009)
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
19 May 2009
08:36:25pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Doh!!! I like the Simpsons Stamps...
Bob
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
i like the Simpsons, too, and it's intelligent TV. And if we will honor Marvel comics and mohagany speed boats, it seems the Simpsons are at least their equals. And, as with everything else, collect what you like. Luckily, I'm betting they don't come out in coils, so, Tom, you can pass on these guys.
But that's half the discussion, and it's essentially unrelated to the other half: USPS's bottom line, which has little to do with philatelists. Yes, if they catered to our biggest groups (PNCs, FDCs, PBs, definitive series of note) more assiduously, they'd make more money from stamp retention, but not much. Remember, their biggest chunk remains staff, and until they can divest themselves of all those people, well.... But they've also made some poor choices, like ceding PM and EM to UPS and FedX and DHL. Those are huge profit centers and USPS allowed that boat to sail. So, instead of delivering $25.00 overnight packages, they're delivering 44c letters to the same address. Hmmmm. I find their stamp issuing policies absurd, but that's not where the red ink comes from. And not all their woes are self-inflicted. Remember the Bush Administration saddled them with the pensions of all USPS workers who had previously served in the military. Note: it made the military look leaner, but didn't help the PO's bottom line. In fact, the rise from 39c to 41c was soley to make up that penion expense.
David
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07:48:26am
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
David,
nope, Simpsons not on my "To collect" list.But will purcgase a couple panes for mailings and save any used that come my way,for sending to others who do collect them.They may be useful trade material.
TOM
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
20 May 2009
09:19:22am
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
While I like the Simpsons issue, I'm a bit confused by the PO's policies. They cancelled the issuance of a few stamps for this year. One of them being the 4th State Flag coils issue. I was under the impression that this was supposed to be the philatelic equivalent of the State Quarters program aimed to get these stamps on regular mail so that non-philatelists may get interested in stamp collecting. In my opinion this issue has been a total failure. The coil format forces people to buy 50 stamps instead of 20 stamps. Every post office I have gone to never has them in stock. Unlike coins you won't get one as change when you buy a coke from the coke machine. Perhaps the USPS has realized that this issue is not working out as planned and replaced this issue with an unannounced Simpsons issue.
Bob
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Well, everybody's casted a vote of "yes" or 'NO!" so it is settled, the Simpsons are a representation of a very DYSFUNCTIONAL family, I am going to start a campaign for an issue of "BEVIS AND BUTHEAD" anyone seconds me?
Boy are we having fun!
Hugs in general, nothng personal just...killing time writing from my bed since I can't get up for a few days.
Hugs in general
Avi
APS#104143
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
The FON issue has been widely criticized for the very failures you bring out, Bob, especially that its promotion has been limited and its availability scattered at best. The initial issue seems to have been a particular logistical embarassment. That said, I'm impressed with the numbers i see on incoming mail, far more than I ever figured, given its ungainly packaging and its limited distribution.
this is the first i'm hearing of the planned cancellation (delay, i'm hoping) of the fourth issue. Does that mean that only 1 set of 10 will be issued this year? And the USPS will stretch out the series even longer? If so, I suspect that will relegate it even further into the dustbin, as we collectors will seek it out, but conventional users will forget about it.
I think USPS keeps trying to replicate the US mint's success with the state quarters, always forgetting that quarters, once used, are still good, in fact their very use brings them into the hands of others, while stamps, once used are, well, worthless EXCEPT to collectors, and given USPS's disdain for collectors (see: soaking), one wonders what they expect to happen.
I am a fan of the issue, incidentally, and think it might spur a few collectors, although, as a mint stamp, it poses immense challenges to all traditional approaches.
David
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
and now a message from our sponsor. "Doh"
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
20 May 2009
12:57:00pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
David,
It was reported in Linn's a few weeks back. The 44c Edward Hopper and the holiday 44c Angel with Lute have also been cancelled for this year. Supposedly to save money.
Bob
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
20 May 2009
01:04:30pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Luis,
Feel better... Bevis and Butthead, Ren & Stimpy and South Park and Family Guy get my vote... Sounds like a great series. :^)
Bob
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11:10:27am
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Hey, what about the Flinstones or the Jetsons? Certainly they are due their philatelic day in the sun as well??!! To quote Fred Flinstone: "Yabba DabbaDo!"
Steve Scheibner
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12:02:09pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Personally, I will never forgive the USPS for not honoring this intellectually superior, vastly more amusing, and highly respected character:
(oops, is my prejudice showing?)
Bob
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Perhaps we need a "Re-usable" Stamp.... And as I tell my wife, don't ask me for detail - I just come up with the big ideas....
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
04 Sep 2012
06:15:18pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Funny looking back 3 years later that the Simpson's Stamps cost the PO about $1,000,000 as only about three hundred million of the billion printed were purchased.
Bob
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
04 Sep 2012
06:54:34pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Down-trodden American taxpayers:
The foregoing comments make Canada Post, a founding inhabitant of Loserville,
appear in comparison as a bedrock of postal sanity.
Commiserations,
Johnny Canuck
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Bob, if that's true, then the more stamps the USPS produces, the greater its losses because there is declining volume and, as any collector can attest, they no longer give a ratatatatat'sass about philatelists, who would be the only ones likely to positively affect that equation.
David
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01:35:00am
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
USPS doesn't have any consistent marketing strategy when it comes to selling stamps to collectors. They shut down the philatelic counters, they limit distribution of stamps to post offices, they don't advertise their stamps, they don't want stamps on the mail. Out of sight, out of mind, but they think that they are back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when people bought whatever stamps were issued, and in quantities.
What started the down slide in sales? They got greedy and went from single plate blocks to multiple plate number blocks. People would have to buy 20 stamps to get a plate block. They tired of that quickly, but USPS continued pumping them out.
USPS can't make up its mind what it wants to do regarding issuing and selling stamps. Now it is reported that honoring a live person on a stamp is on hold. Too bad there isn't a Postal Service Rescue like the Bar Rescue show.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
05 Sep 2012
09:14:32am
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
It is a curious day when I have to disagree with one of Michael's comments.
".... USPS doesn't have any consistent marketing strategy when it comes to selling stamps to collectors. ...."
They have a consistent policy, it is consistently boneheaded.
That they can deliver an envelope from anywhere in the world to the correct address, often with an almost incomprehensible scribbled address, among 160,000,000 homes and a similar number of businesses with an accuracy rate that is a wonder of consistency, but are so out of touch in just about every other aspect of their core business is an amazing achievement in negative consistency.
In addition to that they have an often ill-informed politically motivated Congress imposing consistently unworkable rules atop their business plan.
They achieve consistency though inconsistency.
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12:43:57pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Now, Charlie, how can I argue with that?!
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
John, US taxpayers do not pay anything to the USPS. Many of its oversights are provided by US Congress or President, sometimes through Postal Rate Commission and the Postal Board of Governors, and sometimes through legislation. For a good precis of how the USPS works, financially and administratively within the government, see http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/ESS-WP-09-001.pdf.
As to marketing, it's odd that they look like they want to encourage collectors, but then they frustrate the big pocket collectors who would follow a specialty area forever, until the USPS does something stupid like Michael's increase of Plate Block sizes by 150% or more, or the destruction of meaning to Plate Numbers on coils or even the lack of meaning in the legends printed in selvege indicating what should be the pane position on a sheet. They drove away collectors from PB collecting by increasing the cost of a PB from 32c to $1.60 (back in the 70s); drove more of us away with the change in policy of PNCs, where a PN no longer had any meaning. I can understand, but don't like, the switch to self-adhesives, but at least this serves a purpose.
And, finally, one must still marvel at the USPS's ability to successfully accomplish its primary mission: delivering mail quickly, safely, and securely. Kudos to the people who wear the eagle.
David
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
It's also worth noting that roughly 85% of the USPS's red ink derives from a congressional mandate that the post office fund benefits for I think it's 75 years into the future. No other enterprise, government or private sector, is placed under such a burden.
The remaining 15% shortfall could be made up by providing some services the post office currently doesn't offer. Naturally, catering at least somewhat to collectors would be beneficial but so too would be adding greeting cards into the post office. I'm sure Hallmark would love a contract like that. Why not provide passport photo and renewal services at the post office? How about an internet cafe to provide high speed service to rural areas? Why don't they sell packing materials and offer packing services? Where's the photocopy and fax services - heck, self-services. Just how much room does it take up to provide notary services? Why isn't there an ATM at the post office?
There's a lot that could make the USPS again a black ink non-government entity - an entity that has played a key and vital role in building and maintaining our nation.
Stepping off my soapbox now.
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Ronnie, you are right about the congressional mandate. Making it worse is the other congressional mandate taking the portion of pensions that HAD BEEN the responsibility of Department of Defense and transferring them to the USPS (it makes fighting wars cheaper when you don't have to pick up the soldiers' pensions).
As to Hallmark, unless you were being tongue in cheek, there already is a contract between the two, although i don't think it's produced much. You'll see that the non-standard size monarch stamps were produced expressly for Hallmark cards.
And the USPS does handle passports, including processing them, photographs, mailings, etc. They just don't approve them. And, all passport mail is done via the most expensive option: express mail.
you might be right about other office-like services, although the maintenance expense may be more than the profits might be worth.
David
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03:06:25pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
My post office has greeting cards, gift mailing boxes, gift wrapping and a passport office.
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Man... my post office is in BFE, Louisiana. I'm impressed with the paved parking lot. The only other things there - a gas station/auto parts store/salvage yard and a church are all gravel lots. Heck even the abandoned high school around the corner has an unpaved parking lot.
The services are... well... minimal.
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Being a supply chain engineer in the logistics industry for over 30 years and very familiar with the USPS I can't help but share my 2 (or more) cents. Unless you have worked for the USPS or similar company you would have no idea how complicated it is to move a letter across the globe to the right address, cheaply and in a reasonable amount of time.
If the post office were privatized (nobody wants the business) there wouldn't be stamps, post offices or mail delivery most days of week. 10 years from now post offices will only be in large cities, 20 years from now I really doubt there will be stamps as we know them today. I know for a fact the USPS is seriously looking at centralizing mail delivery rather than delivering mail to the mail box at your door step. You will have to pay extra for that service.
Also I am sure the vast revenue generated by stamp collectors (being sarcastic) is a top priority for the USPS. As a collector and consumer I appreciate they still sell stamps no matter whom or what is on them, have post offices and deliver the mail most days of the week. A good solution for preventing the USPS from over printing and spending on stamps would be to print one forever stamp and sell it at the going rate forever.
Take the entire USPS loss divide it by the number of people that use the service then ask yourself if the service worth it. If you still want to complain I will take your letters on one of my brown trucks for about $8.00 each.
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11:45:54pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Before I retired, I was a contract manager for a mail center. We spent between $500,000 and $600,000 a month on postage. I saw the operations of the USPS and Pitney Bowes sorting facilities, and they are quite impressive. If you ever get a chance to tour one or more of those facilities, do so. It will amaze you.
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Similarly visit a UPS Mail Innovations Center or even better the UPS World Port hub in Louisville at midnight. (Mad Money aired the World Port last week)
The advantage private industry has is they can create new business opportunities. UPS's largest customers are UPS divisions such as Mail Innovations, Supply Cain Solutions and UPS Capital, UPS Freight etc. Not to mention we move a lot of mail and packages for the USPS.
Unleash the USPS from the government and watch out UPS and Fed Ex.
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Michael C,
competition with UPS and FedX couldn't be started now. That shipped sailed a quarter century ago. The delivery service world is contracting, with fewer and fewer players, not more. Worse, the entire customer service mindset at most big POs would have to be revised. The USPS can deliver things, but they're not set up to take them. At the GPO in Manhattan, i routinely wait in line half an hour to face clerks who don't know what they're doing. No business would put up with that when they're giving their high value shipments.
I do think that the USPS unshackled from congressional oversight would be more competitive and leaner, but unless the mandate for universal delivery were maintained, the animal would be unrecognizable
David
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
One idea that has been floating around for years is for the USPS to manage the most expensive last mile of delivery for UPS, FedEx and to a lesser extent DHL. None of these companies wants to drive 5 miles out of town to deliver a package let a lone an envelope.
I know what you mean about the lack of knowledge and professionalism. My rural carrier refused to pick up letters because the stamps were old . Then she told me I had too many stamps on the envelopes.
Sad to say but the way we get our mail today going to change sooner then later.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
10 Sep 2012
12:30:53am
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Returning to the original question.
Yes, I read the online edition, and it takes only a few minutes.
Being interested in postally used stamps and history both philatelic a well as general history I find that there are less and less articles that catch my interest.
Forty years ago I subscribed to Linn's, Western Stamp Collector (Which came twice a week ) The Canadian Stamp News, sometimes Meekels, that APS journal and several philatelic club bulletins.
And I read them all in great detail, saving interesting articles, some of which O ran through a copy machine so that once three holes were punched they could be kept in different binders by subject matter.
Oh and for many years Global Stamp News should be included. Each month it took hours to read all the interesting articles and tear out what I thought worthwhile.
Gradually over tie they stopped printing of my interest waned until I am down to the essential Linn's Stamps and the time it takes most weeks is less than thirty minutes.
Part of the problem is that Linn's seems to have chosen to devote far too much column space to new issues and uncancelled stamps. Many articles might as well be discussing barbed wire collections or ways to bake a cake while driving a golf cart.
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02:16:10am
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Charlie, have you thought about writing an article for Linns about how you collect used Machins?
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re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
The Sept 3rd issue almost led to me canceling my subscription. There were less than 3 pages of editorial space that interested me. The Sept. 10th issue contained far more of interest, so I didn't cancel. But with prices seemingly skyrocketing and editorial content rapidly diminishing I don't know what I'm going to do at next year's renewal time. I don't collect new issues, and specifically am uninterested in US and UN, so the monthly mashup of Linn's & Scott's holds virtually no interest so an online subscription seems meaningless in spades. I too used to enjoy Canadian Stamp News, Stamp Collector & Global Stamp News. Even if the articles didn't cover my specific areas of interest, I learned a lot. I hate to see another stamp publication disappear, but Linn's has almost vanished with a vague shadow hanging about.
Roger
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07:48:37pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Remember when Linn's was about as big as a Sunday newspaper?
Also, does anyone remember STAMPS magazine?
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
10 Sep 2012
08:49:50pm
re: Simpsons, FONs, stamp-issuing policies at USPS, and where does the money go?
Yes,Michael,
and Yes again.
I remember when there was at least a small stamp store in almost every moderate sized town in the country where you were greeted with a welcome smile, could sit and sift through albums and card files for hours. And in many you might be invited to share a cup of coffee.
I remember revisiting 116 Nassau Street in the early 1960s, where my father had taken me on an occasional Saturday morning fifteen years earlier and climbing the stairs from floor to floor to find dozens of stamp dealers all in one place..
I once found a Stamp store on To Do Street in Saigon, near the Caravelle Hotel,another in a back street in Istanbul that barely had room for the owner, a translator, the desk, the piles of albums and me with the door closed, and in a storefront in Agana, Guam, that was run Gene Fullner, a Navy petty officer who was stationed there, who later moved to Virginia after retirement, as well as shops in most major European cities.
I have very fond memories of the months I spent in Rotterdam and rode the trolley along Niew Binnenweg stopping in one stamp shop after another seeking Dutch East Indies stamps to grace the pages behind the Wilhelmina sets that I filled from start to end, and the several friendships I made in a city where just about everyone collected stamps.
I bet not a one is left in business.
Even the 29¢ cloth bags of genuine World Wide stamps that were once a fixture of every Woolworth's and Kresge's Five and Dime stores.
I remember when adding the fact that you were a stamp collector to a college application was considered to be a big point in your favor as it implied interest and knowledge in History, Geography and World Affairs in the eyes of the college interviewers.
There was also the 1954 issue of Life Magazine that was covered with montage of colorful postage stamps, I have a copy packed away somewhere, the only stamp shown not available at a minimal price being one from the Falklands of an Emperor Penguin.
Don't get me started with the "Do you remember game, ...... ? " or this post will last all night.
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