Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I was disheartened to see that the 2014 catalogs come with a 20% price increase in their retail price. With the Amos Advantage price it is an almost 30% increase in price. Scott/Amos is pricing itself out of the catalog marketplace.
I also am a model railroader. There is a catalog published each year by Wm. Walthers Company that lists about 90% everything that is available in my scale. Years ago their catalog had edged up to the almost $30 range, and wasn't selling much anymore. Their solution was to cut the price of their next year's catalog to $9.95. Even several years later, the price of their catalog has been holding at just $15.98, and selling quite well from my understanding.
I realize that there are apples and oranges in this comparison as Walthers also sells what's in the catalog like Scott used to do and Gibbons does. However, it comes down to one thing: the hobbyist has to make a decision to either spend money that is in short supply on a catalog, or spend it on adding to the collection?
In stamp collecting (and model railroading), there is a continuous dwindling of the traditional dealer. In the area I live there used to be quite a few traditional stamp dealers. Now there is only one, and he is open from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Tuesday only. Scott cannot continue to raise prices at 20%, 30% per year on its catalog and remain a viable option in philately. Scott stamp albums also are no longer looked upon as a relevant option to most collectors due to pricing. One can get access to an inventory of well over 50,000 print on demand album pages for just a $20.00 per year fee, and the pages are more complete than Scott pages.
The rising high price of the catalog will make it inaccessible to a growing number of collectors (and selling countries at $20 a pop won't cut it either). Eventually a different marketplace will appear that will make the Scott catalogs irrelevant just as the internet has made the traditional dealer irrelevant. If you don't think that will happen, well, how many former stamp dealers had to close shop, because they refused to recognize the changes coming to their industry?
Stamps are being sold now on the internet with prices that do not even address catalog values. Scott with its future title year with pricing that is one and a half to two years old just provides a product that is obsolete before it is even printed.
I don't own Scott, nor do I work there, but it seems to me that a change is necessitated in many things to keep collectors looking towards Scott as a factor in the hobby.
Charles Snee's email address:
csnee@amospress.com
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If you do send an email to Scott, please post here that you did so. Don't post the letter, but say you did send it. Thanks!
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I have received a response from Scott (Mr. Snee). Here is the primary text:
The challenges for Amos Press/Scott Publishing during the Internet age have been, and will continue to be, substantial. The development and launch in February 2012 of Scott Catalogue Mobile for the Apple devices is our first effort toward bringing the catalogues to the wider audience of collectors who pursue the hobby via digital means. The ultimate goal is to bring to fruition an online catalog, available via subscription, that would be updated in real time, both for market data (values) and for editorial content. Doing this, as you can appreciate, requires a substantial investment of personnel and finances.
At present, Amos Press is focusing on digital initiatives for our coin publications and website. Once these efforts are fully functional and running smoothly, those much-needed resources can be brought to bear on the stamp-hobby publications and website.
I understand your frustration regarding the price increase for the Scott catalogs, and I will try to get some feedback from company management regarding the reasons behind the increase.
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...and I just received a follow-up regarding the costs:
As you might know, libraries are among the biggest purchasers of our catalogues. For a number of years now, they have scaled back their order quantities. This, in turn, causes us to reduce our print runs, which drives up our production costs. And we have seen significant increases in the cost of paper, printing ink, delivery costs (via increases in fuel costs, freight charges, etc.). Even with the increases, our margins will be lower than last year. Simply put, the bleak economic realities of producing traditional print publications are forcing these price increases.
One bright spot: the pricing of the catalogues via the Scott Catalogue Mobile app will remain the same for the 2014 titles.
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01:45:40pm
Just sent the following:
Mr. Charles Snee, editor
Amos Press/Scott Publishing
Dear Mr. Snee
I love this wonderful hobby of Stamp Collecting, and cannot imagine it to be as joyful to me as it is without the Scott family of philatelic tools I have utilized for over 50 years. Yet, without a realistic look at the future, I do not see it happening. Scott has done some things in the past few years which appeared to mark an enlightened attitude and recognition of the collector of the 21st century, but it may be too little, too late.
I love the idea of an online catalog, but not on a 4 inch screen, subscribing to one country at a time (and certainly not with the limitation of utilizing Apple - I have an Android device and function quite well in an non-Apple environment). Also, if a full catalog is ever published online the subscription price has to be realistic. As it is now, I purchase the Scott Classic catalog every 3 or 4 years, yet if the full catalog were available online, I would gladly subscribe and pay $100/year for the opportunity.
Technology is advancing to the point where anyone, regardless of physical or mental handicap, can access information on the “world wide web.†I have little patience with persons of my generation who refuse to move on with the times; to not fully embrace the technology available to us in this wonderful era is to me tantamount to “burying your head in the sand.â€
Many publications have died in the past few years because they refused to recognize the “new world†and fought a losing battle to preserve the old. Yet many are thriving because, through enlightened leadership, they moved on into the information age with alacrity and style.
I understand that currently numismatics is Amos’ bread and butter, and is prioritized (which, I understand and think is to Amos Press/Scott Publishing ’s advantage), but to neglect the philatelic world is a huge mistake. Most of the preparation for an online catalog is already in place as the basic data was published via software as recently as 2009. And if Amos is able to publish online philatelic material for the Apple world, it must be a simple matter to expand on that and get the same material available to the rest of the philatelic world via the Windows platform.
I hope there is a Scott catalog system available to me in the future as I do not plan to quit playing with these little pieces of paper any time soon.
Respectfully,
Bobby Barnhart, Esq.
Damn, but I LOVE email!
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02:29:04pm
I quickly received the following reply, which is nothing more than, "too bad, so sad, but we really don't give a damn":
Thank you for your thoughtful letter.
You certainly aren't the first to bring such views to our attention, and rest assured that we are listening. Amos Press is engaged in a significant effort to rebrand its coin products for the digital age. The Coin World Next weekly e-newsletter and Coin World Collector are among the more visible outcomes of this effort.
It is our intent to do something similar for the stamp products, including Linn's Stamp News and the Scott catalogues. But we first have to get the new coin initiatives to a stable point, so that they will contribute acceptable revenue streams and continue to increase the visibility of our editorial content and products in the marketplace.
The Scott Catalogue Mobile app for the Apple devices represents the first step in our efforts to bring the catalogues to a growing audience of collectors who pursue the hobby in the digital world. In the not-too-distant future, we hope to produce an online version of the catalogues that would be available via subscription. I am sure you understand the substantial costs involved to do this in terms of resource-allocation and finances.
In the meantime, enjoy your collecting pursuits.
I doubt there is anything we can do or say to sway the party line. The marketplace will have to do its own correcting. Unfortunately, this probably means Scott catalog's days are limited as I doubt most collectors have iPhones.
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Working at a school that is moving to a digital environment as quickly as possible has opened my eyes to a lot of the shenanigans going own in the publishing world.
Scott Publishing is like a lot of other publishers out there. They are not too keen on changing with the times. They do not want to move into the digital age because it will mean a major loss in revenue for them. See, they know that they can get away with charging what ever they want for the analog (paper) product because they can come up with the B.S. lines about costs, etc.
With the creation of The Kindle, The Nook, and Apple iBooks, they can no longer use the excuse of people taking their product for free, as did happen with the Scott Catalog 2008 and 2009 editions. Which means, they really don't have an excuse for not producing a digital version. And I have news for you, they already have a digital version. What do you think they put the books together on? An etch-a-sketch? No, they did all of their layouts on a computer. I would say that most authors type their books up on the computer these days. Well, that typed product is just a few key-stroked away from publishing in the above mentioned formats.
Like I said, Scott isn't alone. A lot of text book publishers are playing the same game. Unfortunately for these publishers, time is running out quickly. People can now afford to go elsewhere for their information. We are encouraging our teachers to actually create their own curriculum. We are asking the teachers to go outside of a textbook and find other alternatives to teaching the material. We have one history teacher who uses source material entirely from the internet now for his class. And one of our classics teachers has created his own textbook. Our history of arts and music (or HAM Class) has gone completely digital, with pictures and music samples available off of our eLearning website. That's three paper textbooks that have gone bye bye simply because the publishers have tried to retain a monopoly on publishing.
Scott will eventually have to play ball, get in the game with with the publishers that already embrace digital publishing, or they will have to close their doors. That would be a shame. I actually do like their product, or at least the digital version of their product. But until they do see the light, you guys are going to continue to get B.S. responses back from them.
---Pat
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Pat you 100% nailed it. Our local community college is aggressively moving away from the use of textbooks due to the high costs. One example given by the school was a new Algebra book cost each student $340.00. When the student sold his used book at the end of the semester to the on campus bookstore he received back $110.00. Additionally the on campus bookstores which are primarily owed by textbook distributors are facing stiff competition from online resellers and textbook rental companies like Amazon.com, Chegg and EBay. My sons rented their college textbooks all 4 years for about 20% of the cost of purchasing them. The new online algebra module at our local community college is $30.00/student and includes tutorials, unlimited use of practice exercises and online quizzes. The added benefit has been improved retention of the information being taught and higher in class test scores
Scott should heed the old adage the dinosaurs ignored, adapt or parish. Other publishing companies like Kelly Blue Book are now on line. I do have to give Scott some credit for at least testing the iPhone application, perhaps there is hope for them after all.
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01:22:36pm
I'd write also, but honestly I haven't bought a new Scott in thirty years.
Occasionally a new Gibbons or Facit might be bought, but Scotts are only bought used.
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Not just that it i expensive, but also policy of delivery abroad are very-very destructive!
Cost to delivery will be more valued that all 4 book together, they deliver just by UPS or FedEx if I'm correct.
And next what made me angry, is that Scott classified and valued all kind of "phantom", "dunes" and not-recognized countries (kosovo), but still refuse to have it listed for Republika Srpska Krajina (short lived Serbian part of Croatia), by way, this "country" till today have Gov't in Exile.
This few fact made me very unhappy, and I decided to avoid Scott at all.
best regards to all
Milco
http://picasaweb.google.com/balkanstamp
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Scott cat apps for iPad
I have bought a few of parts of the 2013 Scott cat for my ipad.
What I like about it is you can buy parts of the catalog.
As postage costs her in Canada is very expensive, I do like to use them on my iPad for sorting and cataloging.
But I do like the convenience of the app,even though I am not a Scott fan.
Lee
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Lee:
You and some other members of Stamporama are not Scott "fans". I take it to mean you are not a fan of the company and its business practices. Am I correct?
I have so many Scott stamp catalogues that I am a fire hazard. Personally, I find their world catalogue to be top notch for my stamp collecting purposes. Moreover, the international ubiquity of their stamp numbering system is a huge convenience for stamp collectors and sellers alike.
Thanks for bringing me up to speed on the Scott "iPad" application.
John Derry
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John, about the international ubiquity of the numbering system, as you call it beautifully: I am not so sure about it and would love to see numerical proof, because as far as I know Scott is only the most used catalogue in Northern America. Great Britain and the commonwealth prefer Stanley Gibbons, the Francophone world (as well as many Spanish speaking nations and even here in the Netherlands) use Yvert & Tellier, Germany and Scandinavia use Michel (and the popularity of that catalogue is growing even in the English speaking parts of the world it seems) and then there are countless specialized country catalogues.
OK, I use Scott as well, but that is mostly out of necessity when one wants to communicate with North-American collectors. Not because it has the most useful information or is the easiest to use...
Jan-Simon
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Jan-Simon:
Apologies to you and other stamp collectors who do not reach for Scott stamp catalogues as first choice.
Overspoke myself because I wasn't wearing my eurocentric vêtments with my Stamporama spectacles when I wrote those comments. I agree with you (the first time I've agreed with anyone this month). For the record, I prefer Stanley Gibbons, perhaps because of the physical feel and weight of their print volumes. In terms of overall quality, Michel is the best that I've encountered, but there are many catalogues I have not. Mexico is an inseparable part of North America and my limited experiences indicate Scott is not necessarily the stamp bible in that country.
Hindsight indicates that I should have said that the Scott stamp-numbering system is the most convenient for me, and me alone. Where I have encountered communication difficulties with other "stampers", it has served as a useful translator. Most of my Scott volumes were obtained inexpensively from Canadian and American public libraries, an important consideration as I am permanently unemployed.
Considerable splenetic invective, directed at Scott, has been spilled on these discussion pages by some Stamporama members and I am at a loss to explain why the publishers of that catalogue have not hired them as managers.
Please forgive my New World transgressions.
John Derry
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John, because they won't hire me, that's why I have to buy them out. 
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I haven't bought a "real" Scott catalogue in years and years. I do sometimes buy the loose "by country pages" on eBay-- there are a couple of sellers who buy the whole catalogs, cut them up, and parcel out the pages. I can get most countries for somewhere between $6 and maybe $10-12 for a "fat" country like France or Germany.
~Peter
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I personally like 
Scott just fine. I have more gripes with Linn's Stamp News than Scott. I can hardly make heads or tails out of SG catalogs. As to cost have replaced all but my Unitrade anywhere from $5.00 -$22.00. Got a 2011 A-B for $22.00 incl. Free S&h by priority mail. I don't like the disc things , can't record anything on them. i keep track of what I have by marking Sc.# with pink marker.
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There are now at least two of us who harbour no ill will against Scott.
John Derry
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I have no problem with the Scott Catalog System. What I have a problem with is the people running Scott who are unwilling to fix the problems and inconsistencies that have cropped up in the catalogs over the years. That's what makes using their catalogs difficult.
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I use the Scott catalogs only because they are conveniently provided by my local library and I haven't learned to read German well enough. I have moved to Michel for central Europe, Unitrade for Canada and starting to use Stanley Gibbons for UK.
I dislike a few things about Scott: the whole "back of the book" thing where semi-postals, airmails, dues etc. have their own numbering system, the fact the stamps are not listed/numbered chronologically, the advertisements in the catalogs and the enormous price now for 2013 of $129.99.
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The separate numbering systems for semis and airs is one of the things I like about Scott. When collecting some countries(in particular Latin American ones), it provides a convenient way to manage your collecting requirements, by limiting yourself to regular issues, which are usually a much smaller number of issues than the airs.
For collecting USA, the converse applies: I ignore front-of-book issues, for the most part, but maintain a US Airmail collection.
Tedski
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"the enormous price now for 2013 of $129.99."
The quoted price is actually for the 2014 edition of the catalog. The 2013 catalogs sold for $99.99 each. I talked to Scott about their justification for the 30% price increase in one year. Scott cited increase printing costs and the fact that few libraries are buying the catalogs anymore. Duh. With tight budgets, libraries can't put that much into an annual set anymore, just like the rest of us. Same tactics as the post office. Post office - Income from First Class Mail is dropping, so let's raise the price of first class mail so that even less people will use it. Scott - sales of the catalogs are dropping quickly, so let's jack up the price by 30% in one year so that we can sell even less.
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i haven't been following used sets much, but the specialized retains value well. i bid on and lost two Specialized: 2011 for $40 and 2010 for $20, both before normal $7 shipping costs are added. all numbers are rounded.
not bad for a catalogue outdated by three and four years.
David
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Michael said:
"increase printing costs and the fact that few libraries are buying the catalogs anymore"
fact is, printing costs are not going up significantly, but declining library sales are certainly driving up the unit production cost. If libraries are a significant buyer, and i suspect that they are not, then Scott needs to cater to their needs. They prefer online or electronic material, as they are constantly culling their shelves. Further, libraries are enormously price sensitive, and they are always looking for things to cut from their regular subscriptions. As a publisher, I can tell you the fastest way to get cut is to raise your prices significantly; that's a red flag that leads to a pink slip.
David
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That seems to be the same problem with most businesses today. Some companies forget they have items that are mostly for people that have extra "disposable" income for their items, so every time they boost the price, down goes the demand. Just imagine how much Scott has raised the advertising rates over the years, plus the cost of the catalogs and they are still crying "poor me". Like a lot of the other SOR members, I also buy used catalogs and find they provide the very same information, as they new ones, but the value of the stamps may be a little different. At my level of buying and selling, price's are pretty constant anyway, so I don't need new catalog's at all.
Mike
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It is not easy to publish books for a profit and postage stamp catalogues are no exception.
Our library system - Greater Victoria Public Library, 19 municipalities with vote control - is no longer a library in the traditional sense. It is now a cost-driven, price-sensitive organization influenced by the same economic pressures exerted on private entities such as Scott Publishing. Its organization chart is probably similar to Scott's!
We no longer have a Head Librarian in the wheelhouse. That appointed has been superseded by (you guessed it) a Chief Executive Officer, assisted by a "Strategic Planning Officer" (sic). Believe me these people are not stamp collectors. Even though we rid ourselves of copper coins, these people are paid huge salaries to be penny-pinchers.
Our local branch of the GVPL used to have two book shelves of stamp catalogues and other philatelic references; now down to a quarter-shelf and, I suspect, soon to be relegated to door-stop status before ignominiously disappearing altogether.
It's easy to criticize Scott's business practices and portray them as predators upon the pocketbooks of a defenceless public, much more difficult to propose constructive remedies. The print media's metamorphosis in this digital age is incomplete. and publishing firms are confronting difficult challenges in a rapidly shifting environment. My SWAG (guess) is that even if Scott halved the price of its print stamp catalogues, sales would not be significantly altered.
Consider this one simple factor affecting many libraries and all print publishers: my local library is physically small and, a few years ago, had insufficient shelving for its inventory. Question: build an extension or new library, or reduce the library's inventory? I've heard no more talk of building an extension to our library but, yes, our e-book inventory has increased and the real-book inventory is on hold.
If I'm the typical stamp collector then, by the very nature of the hobby, I'm stuck in a time warp. When not immersed in my hobby, I enjoy today's world.
John Derry
P.S. My written request for a copy of the job description of the GVPL' s "Strategic Planning Officer" is unfulfilled as of this date. This job title is a classic example of obfuscatory language the American CIA is addicted to using when deploying its covert agents abroad. According to Stamporama member "Stampaholic", the CIA isn't big on stamp collectors either.
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"i haven't been following used sets much, but the specialized retains value well. i bid on and lost two Specialized: 2011 for $40 and 2010 for $20, both before normal $7 shipping costs are added. all numbers are rounded.
not bad for a catalogue outdated by three and four years.
David "
In June on Ebay, the price for 2012 US specialized has ranged from roughly $29 to $49, so bargains can be had for sure.
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I think by the pricing of used catalogs posted by others that Scott is creating a lucrative aftermarket. Supplies of older catalogs that are only a couple of years old will be getting smaller as less and less people buy them. That will raise demand in a market that is small.
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09:48:17am
In light of the large 20% to 30% increase in the price of the 2014 catalogs, I have sent a letter to the editor of the catalog, voicing my opinion of the way that Scott is becoming irrelevant in the hobby. The text follows as does the email address of Charles Snee, the catalog's editor. I don't know how much of a say he has in the pricing of the catalogs, but let's send Scott a ton of emails to let them know that we're not happy with the direction that Scott is going. Be nice about it. If you want to use some of my language, you are welcome to do so, but change it to your own words so they don't think they are simply getting "cut and paste" messages.
I was disheartened to see that the 2014 catalogs come with a 20% price increase in their retail price. With the Amos Advantage price it is an almost 30% increase in price. Scott/Amos is pricing itself out of the catalog marketplace.
I also am a model railroader. There is a catalog published each year by Wm. Walthers Company that lists about 90% everything that is available in my scale. Years ago their catalog had edged up to the almost $30 range, and wasn't selling much anymore. Their solution was to cut the price of their next year's catalog to $9.95. Even several years later, the price of their catalog has been holding at just $15.98, and selling quite well from my understanding.
I realize that there are apples and oranges in this comparison as Walthers also sells what's in the catalog like Scott used to do and Gibbons does. However, it comes down to one thing: the hobbyist has to make a decision to either spend money that is in short supply on a catalog, or spend it on adding to the collection?
In stamp collecting (and model railroading), there is a continuous dwindling of the traditional dealer. In the area I live there used to be quite a few traditional stamp dealers. Now there is only one, and he is open from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Tuesday only. Scott cannot continue to raise prices at 20%, 30% per year on its catalog and remain a viable option in philately. Scott stamp albums also are no longer looked upon as a relevant option to most collectors due to pricing. One can get access to an inventory of well over 50,000 print on demand album pages for just a $20.00 per year fee, and the pages are more complete than Scott pages.
The rising high price of the catalog will make it inaccessible to a growing number of collectors (and selling countries at $20 a pop won't cut it either). Eventually a different marketplace will appear that will make the Scott catalogs irrelevant just as the internet has made the traditional dealer irrelevant. If you don't think that will happen, well, how many former stamp dealers had to close shop, because they refused to recognize the changes coming to their industry?
Stamps are being sold now on the internet with prices that do not even address catalog values. Scott with its future title year with pricing that is one and a half to two years old just provides a product that is obsolete before it is even printed.
I don't own Scott, nor do I work there, but it seems to me that a change is necessitated in many things to keep collectors looking towards Scott as a factor in the hobby.
Charles Snee's email address:
csnee@amospress.com
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09:51:05am
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
If you do send an email to Scott, please post here that you did so. Don't post the letter, but say you did send it. Thanks!
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11:43:16am
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I have received a response from Scott (Mr. Snee). Here is the primary text:
The challenges for Amos Press/Scott Publishing during the Internet age have been, and will continue to be, substantial. The development and launch in February 2012 of Scott Catalogue Mobile for the Apple devices is our first effort toward bringing the catalogues to the wider audience of collectors who pursue the hobby via digital means. The ultimate goal is to bring to fruition an online catalog, available via subscription, that would be updated in real time, both for market data (values) and for editorial content. Doing this, as you can appreciate, requires a substantial investment of personnel and finances.
At present, Amos Press is focusing on digital initiatives for our coin publications and website. Once these efforts are fully functional and running smoothly, those much-needed resources can be brought to bear on the stamp-hobby publications and website.
I understand your frustration regarding the price increase for the Scott catalogs, and I will try to get some feedback from company management regarding the reasons behind the increase.
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01:20:47pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
...and I just received a follow-up regarding the costs:
As you might know, libraries are among the biggest purchasers of our catalogues. For a number of years now, they have scaled back their order quantities. This, in turn, causes us to reduce our print runs, which drives up our production costs. And we have seen significant increases in the cost of paper, printing ink, delivery costs (via increases in fuel costs, freight charges, etc.). Even with the increases, our margins will be lower than last year. Simply put, the bleak economic realities of producing traditional print publications are forcing these price increases.
One bright spot: the pricing of the catalogues via the Scott Catalogue Mobile app will remain the same for the 2014 titles.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
25 Mar 2013
01:45:40pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Just sent the following:
Mr. Charles Snee, editor
Amos Press/Scott Publishing
Dear Mr. Snee
I love this wonderful hobby of Stamp Collecting, and cannot imagine it to be as joyful to me as it is without the Scott family of philatelic tools I have utilized for over 50 years. Yet, without a realistic look at the future, I do not see it happening. Scott has done some things in the past few years which appeared to mark an enlightened attitude and recognition of the collector of the 21st century, but it may be too little, too late.
I love the idea of an online catalog, but not on a 4 inch screen, subscribing to one country at a time (and certainly not with the limitation of utilizing Apple - I have an Android device and function quite well in an non-Apple environment). Also, if a full catalog is ever published online the subscription price has to be realistic. As it is now, I purchase the Scott Classic catalog every 3 or 4 years, yet if the full catalog were available online, I would gladly subscribe and pay $100/year for the opportunity.
Technology is advancing to the point where anyone, regardless of physical or mental handicap, can access information on the “world wide web.†I have little patience with persons of my generation who refuse to move on with the times; to not fully embrace the technology available to us in this wonderful era is to me tantamount to “burying your head in the sand.â€
Many publications have died in the past few years because they refused to recognize the “new world†and fought a losing battle to preserve the old. Yet many are thriving because, through enlightened leadership, they moved on into the information age with alacrity and style.
I understand that currently numismatics is Amos’ bread and butter, and is prioritized (which, I understand and think is to Amos Press/Scott Publishing ’s advantage), but to neglect the philatelic world is a huge mistake. Most of the preparation for an online catalog is already in place as the basic data was published via software as recently as 2009. And if Amos is able to publish online philatelic material for the Apple world, it must be a simple matter to expand on that and get the same material available to the rest of the philatelic world via the Windows platform.
I hope there is a Scott catalog system available to me in the future as I do not plan to quit playing with these little pieces of paper any time soon.
Respectfully,
Bobby Barnhart, Esq.
Damn, but I LOVE email!
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
25 Mar 2013
02:29:04pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I quickly received the following reply, which is nothing more than, "too bad, so sad, but we really don't give a damn":
Thank you for your thoughtful letter.
You certainly aren't the first to bring such views to our attention, and rest assured that we are listening. Amos Press is engaged in a significant effort to rebrand its coin products for the digital age. The Coin World Next weekly e-newsletter and Coin World Collector are among the more visible outcomes of this effort.
It is our intent to do something similar for the stamp products, including Linn's Stamp News and the Scott catalogues. But we first have to get the new coin initiatives to a stable point, so that they will contribute acceptable revenue streams and continue to increase the visibility of our editorial content and products in the marketplace.
The Scott Catalogue Mobile app for the Apple devices represents the first step in our efforts to bring the catalogues to a growing audience of collectors who pursue the hobby in the digital world. In the not-too-distant future, we hope to produce an online version of the catalogues that would be available via subscription. I am sure you understand the substantial costs involved to do this in terms of resource-allocation and finances.
In the meantime, enjoy your collecting pursuits.
I doubt there is anything we can do or say to sway the party line. The marketplace will have to do its own correcting. Unfortunately, this probably means Scott catalog's days are limited as I doubt most collectors have iPhones.
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Working at a school that is moving to a digital environment as quickly as possible has opened my eyes to a lot of the shenanigans going own in the publishing world.
Scott Publishing is like a lot of other publishers out there. They are not too keen on changing with the times. They do not want to move into the digital age because it will mean a major loss in revenue for them. See, they know that they can get away with charging what ever they want for the analog (paper) product because they can come up with the B.S. lines about costs, etc.
With the creation of The Kindle, The Nook, and Apple iBooks, they can no longer use the excuse of people taking their product for free, as did happen with the Scott Catalog 2008 and 2009 editions. Which means, they really don't have an excuse for not producing a digital version. And I have news for you, they already have a digital version. What do you think they put the books together on? An etch-a-sketch? No, they did all of their layouts on a computer. I would say that most authors type their books up on the computer these days. Well, that typed product is just a few key-stroked away from publishing in the above mentioned formats.
Like I said, Scott isn't alone. A lot of text book publishers are playing the same game. Unfortunately for these publishers, time is running out quickly. People can now afford to go elsewhere for their information. We are encouraging our teachers to actually create their own curriculum. We are asking the teachers to go outside of a textbook and find other alternatives to teaching the material. We have one history teacher who uses source material entirely from the internet now for his class. And one of our classics teachers has created his own textbook. Our history of arts and music (or HAM Class) has gone completely digital, with pictures and music samples available off of our eLearning website. That's three paper textbooks that have gone bye bye simply because the publishers have tried to retain a monopoly on publishing.
Scott will eventually have to play ball, get in the game with with the publishers that already embrace digital publishing, or they will have to close their doors. That would be a shame. I actually do like their product, or at least the digital version of their product. But until they do see the light, you guys are going to continue to get B.S. responses back from them.
---Pat
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Pat you 100% nailed it. Our local community college is aggressively moving away from the use of textbooks due to the high costs. One example given by the school was a new Algebra book cost each student $340.00. When the student sold his used book at the end of the semester to the on campus bookstore he received back $110.00. Additionally the on campus bookstores which are primarily owed by textbook distributors are facing stiff competition from online resellers and textbook rental companies like Amazon.com, Chegg and EBay. My sons rented their college textbooks all 4 years for about 20% of the cost of purchasing them. The new online algebra module at our local community college is $30.00/student and includes tutorials, unlimited use of practice exercises and online quizzes. The added benefit has been improved retention of the information being taught and higher in class test scores
Scott should heed the old adage the dinosaurs ignored, adapt or parish. Other publishing companies like Kelly Blue Book are now on line. I do have to give Scott some credit for at least testing the iPhone application, perhaps there is hope for them after all.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
27 Mar 2013
01:22:36pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I'd write also, but honestly I haven't bought a new Scott in thirty years.
Occasionally a new Gibbons or Facit might be bought, but Scotts are only bought used.
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Not just that it i expensive, but also policy of delivery abroad are very-very destructive!
Cost to delivery will be more valued that all 4 book together, they deliver just by UPS or FedEx if I'm correct.
And next what made me angry, is that Scott classified and valued all kind of "phantom", "dunes" and not-recognized countries (kosovo), but still refuse to have it listed for Republika Srpska Krajina (short lived Serbian part of Croatia), by way, this "country" till today have Gov't in Exile.
This few fact made me very unhappy, and I decided to avoid Scott at all.
best regards to all
Milco
http://picasaweb.google.com/balkanstamp
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Scott cat apps for iPad
I have bought a few of parts of the 2013 Scott cat for my ipad.
What I like about it is you can buy parts of the catalog.
As postage costs her in Canada is very expensive, I do like to use them on my iPad for sorting and cataloging.
But I do like the convenience of the app,even though I am not a Scott fan.
Lee
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
27 May 2013
09:29:27pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Lee:
You and some other members of Stamporama are not Scott "fans". I take it to mean you are not a fan of the company and its business practices. Am I correct?
I have so many Scott stamp catalogues that I am a fire hazard. Personally, I find their world catalogue to be top notch for my stamp collecting purposes. Moreover, the international ubiquity of their stamp numbering system is a huge convenience for stamp collectors and sellers alike.
Thanks for bringing me up to speed on the Scott "iPad" application.
John Derry
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Approvals
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
John, about the international ubiquity of the numbering system, as you call it beautifully: I am not so sure about it and would love to see numerical proof, because as far as I know Scott is only the most used catalogue in Northern America. Great Britain and the commonwealth prefer Stanley Gibbons, the Francophone world (as well as many Spanish speaking nations and even here in the Netherlands) use Yvert & Tellier, Germany and Scandinavia use Michel (and the popularity of that catalogue is growing even in the English speaking parts of the world it seems) and then there are countless specialized country catalogues.
OK, I use Scott as well, but that is mostly out of necessity when one wants to communicate with North-American collectors. Not because it has the most useful information or is the easiest to use...
Jan-Simon
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
28 May 2013
01:01:07pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Jan-Simon:
Apologies to you and other stamp collectors who do not reach for Scott stamp catalogues as first choice.
Overspoke myself because I wasn't wearing my eurocentric vêtments with my Stamporama spectacles when I wrote those comments. I agree with you (the first time I've agreed with anyone this month). For the record, I prefer Stanley Gibbons, perhaps because of the physical feel and weight of their print volumes. In terms of overall quality, Michel is the best that I've encountered, but there are many catalogues I have not. Mexico is an inseparable part of North America and my limited experiences indicate Scott is not necessarily the stamp bible in that country.
Hindsight indicates that I should have said that the Scott stamp-numbering system is the most convenient for me, and me alone. Where I have encountered communication difficulties with other "stampers", it has served as a useful translator. Most of my Scott volumes were obtained inexpensively from Canadian and American public libraries, an important consideration as I am permanently unemployed.
Considerable splenetic invective, directed at Scott, has been spilled on these discussion pages by some Stamporama members and I am at a loss to explain why the publishers of that catalogue have not hired them as managers.
Please forgive my New World transgressions.
John Derry
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01:05:53pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
John, because they won't hire me, that's why I have to buy them out.
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I haven't bought a "real" Scott catalogue in years and years. I do sometimes buy the loose "by country pages" on eBay-- there are a couple of sellers who buy the whole catalogs, cut them up, and parcel out the pages. I can get most countries for somewhere between $6 and maybe $10-12 for a "fat" country like France or Germany.
~Peter
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I personally like Scott just fine. I have more gripes with Linn's Stamp News than Scott. I can hardly make heads or tails out of SG catalogs. As to cost have replaced all but my Unitrade anywhere from $5.00 -$22.00. Got a 2011 A-B for $22.00 incl. Free S&h by priority mail. I don't like the disc things , can't record anything on them. i keep track of what I have by marking Sc.# with pink marker.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
16 Jun 2013
11:23:53pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
There are now at least two of us who harbour no ill will against Scott.
John Derry
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03:33:42am
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I have no problem with the Scott Catalog System. What I have a problem with is the people running Scott who are unwilling to fix the problems and inconsistencies that have cropped up in the catalogs over the years. That's what makes using their catalogs difficult.
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I use the Scott catalogs only because they are conveniently provided by my local library and I haven't learned to read German well enough. I have moved to Michel for central Europe, Unitrade for Canada and starting to use Stanley Gibbons for UK.
I dislike a few things about Scott: the whole "back of the book" thing where semi-postals, airmails, dues etc. have their own numbering system, the fact the stamps are not listed/numbered chronologically, the advertisements in the catalogs and the enormous price now for 2013 of $129.99.
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
The separate numbering systems for semis and airs is one of the things I like about Scott. When collecting some countries(in particular Latin American ones), it provides a convenient way to manage your collecting requirements, by limiting yourself to regular issues, which are usually a much smaller number of issues than the airs.
For collecting USA, the converse applies: I ignore front-of-book issues, for the most part, but maintain a US Airmail collection.
Tedski
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02:36:01am
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
"the enormous price now for 2013 of $129.99."
The quoted price is actually for the 2014 edition of the catalog. The 2013 catalogs sold for $99.99 each. I talked to Scott about their justification for the 30% price increase in one year. Scott cited increase printing costs and the fact that few libraries are buying the catalogs anymore. Duh. With tight budgets, libraries can't put that much into an annual set anymore, just like the rest of us. Same tactics as the post office. Post office - Income from First Class Mail is dropping, so let's raise the price of first class mail so that even less people will use it. Scott - sales of the catalogs are dropping quickly, so let's jack up the price by 30% in one year so that we can sell even less.
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
i haven't been following used sets much, but the specialized retains value well. i bid on and lost two Specialized: 2011 for $40 and 2010 for $20, both before normal $7 shipping costs are added. all numbers are rounded.
not bad for a catalogue outdated by three and four years.
David
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
Michael said:
"increase printing costs and the fact that few libraries are buying the catalogs anymore"
fact is, printing costs are not going up significantly, but declining library sales are certainly driving up the unit production cost. If libraries are a significant buyer, and i suspect that they are not, then Scott needs to cater to their needs. They prefer online or electronic material, as they are constantly culling their shelves. Further, libraries are enormously price sensitive, and they are always looking for things to cut from their regular subscriptions. As a publisher, I can tell you the fastest way to get cut is to raise your prices significantly; that's a red flag that leads to a pink slip.
David
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
That seems to be the same problem with most businesses today. Some companies forget they have items that are mostly for people that have extra "disposable" income for their items, so every time they boost the price, down goes the demand. Just imagine how much Scott has raised the advertising rates over the years, plus the cost of the catalogs and they are still crying "poor me". Like a lot of the other SOR members, I also buy used catalogs and find they provide the very same information, as they new ones, but the value of the stamps may be a little different. At my level of buying and selling, price's are pretty constant anyway, so I don't need new catalog's at all.
Mike
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
20 Jun 2013
04:05:14pm
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
It is not easy to publish books for a profit and postage stamp catalogues are no exception.
Our library system - Greater Victoria Public Library, 19 municipalities with vote control - is no longer a library in the traditional sense. It is now a cost-driven, price-sensitive organization influenced by the same economic pressures exerted on private entities such as Scott Publishing. Its organization chart is probably similar to Scott's!
We no longer have a Head Librarian in the wheelhouse. That appointed has been superseded by (you guessed it) a Chief Executive Officer, assisted by a "Strategic Planning Officer" (sic). Believe me these people are not stamp collectors. Even though we rid ourselves of copper coins, these people are paid huge salaries to be penny-pinchers.
Our local branch of the GVPL used to have two book shelves of stamp catalogues and other philatelic references; now down to a quarter-shelf and, I suspect, soon to be relegated to door-stop status before ignominiously disappearing altogether.
It's easy to criticize Scott's business practices and portray them as predators upon the pocketbooks of a defenceless public, much more difficult to propose constructive remedies. The print media's metamorphosis in this digital age is incomplete. and publishing firms are confronting difficult challenges in a rapidly shifting environment. My SWAG (guess) is that even if Scott halved the price of its print stamp catalogues, sales would not be significantly altered.
Consider this one simple factor affecting many libraries and all print publishers: my local library is physically small and, a few years ago, had insufficient shelving for its inventory. Question: build an extension or new library, or reduce the library's inventory? I've heard no more talk of building an extension to our library but, yes, our e-book inventory has increased and the real-book inventory is on hold.
If I'm the typical stamp collector then, by the very nature of the hobby, I'm stuck in a time warp. When not immersed in my hobby, I enjoy today's world.
John Derry
P.S. My written request for a copy of the job description of the GVPL' s "Strategic Planning Officer" is unfulfilled as of this date. This job title is a classic example of obfuscatory language the American CIA is addicted to using when deploying its covert agents abroad. According to Stamporama member "Stampaholic", the CIA isn't big on stamp collectors either.
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re: Letter to Scott Publishing
"i haven't been following used sets much, but the specialized retains value well. i bid on and lost two Specialized: 2011 for $40 and 2010 for $20, both before normal $7 shipping costs are added. all numbers are rounded.
not bad for a catalogue outdated by three and four years.
David "
In June on Ebay, the price for 2012 US specialized has ranged from roughly $29 to $49, so bargains can be had for sure.
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02:38:07am
re: Letter to Scott Publishing
I think by the pricing of used catalogs posted by others that Scott is creating a lucrative aftermarket. Supplies of older catalogs that are only a couple of years old will be getting smaller as less and less people buy them. That will raise demand in a market that is small.
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