New Baseball Imperf Press Sheets

I just heard that the USA is coming out with a set of press sheets in July that will be IMPERF. Hello? does anybody at the USPS remember the fiasco of the Sylvester and Tweety series of a over 15 years ago? Let's do the math here. They are printing 1000 press sheets Imperf. How long do they figure that one will last before a sellout. The public is usually a bit slow to catch on, but when word gets out that there are going to be special Imperf sets, only way to get them is from the press sheet and only 1000 printed? Here we go again!

See these previous discussion links on the very topic:

http://goscf.com/t/24988

http://goscf.com/t/25105

Since collectors have been offered the opportunity to "pre-order" these press sheets for a few weeks now, I suspect that there is going to be more demand than product to go around. Either the US Postal Service is going to have to increase their "limited edition" quantity of 1000 (of 4 player press sheets) and 2500 (of each individual press sheet) or else they will disappoint a lot of collectors by not filling pre-orders that exceed the limited quantity being offered. Either way, some collectors are sure to be disappointed by the final outcome.

the scary part for me in all this is that they are only making 1000. Since there are no die cuts, they are philatelically unique and collectors will want them. So I expect all 1000 sheets to sell out long before release date.

The USPS will then think that the non-diecut press sheets were a HUGE success, and I can see more issues coming out with uncut press sheets.

Glad to see a few more folks are becoming aware of this USPS ripoff. Now about the amounts that will be produced. I believe the Linn's announcement said that those were the numbers that USPS "planned" to produce. Now, of course, I'm paranoid, but I'd bet that what will happen is that the initial production will be grabbed up immediately. In the spirit of being fair to all those who didn't get in early, the USPS will then magnanimously turn the printing presses on again in a completely altruistic move to satisfy all customers. This strategy will guarantee that the initial print gets sold and allows for the raking in of more profits should the second printing become necessary. For those who think that by purchasing the initial printing that they are certain to possess a somewhat unique philatelic treasure, they will probably find that the reprinting will seriously dilute the potential value of the imperf press sheets. I truly hope I'm wrong but this whole thing is so smarmy that I can see us all played as suckers. I keep thinking about that old adage "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!" Should USPS pull this baloney again, the community of collectors should boycott these products.

Linns is claiming they will absolutely not print more. But I agree with your logic. I think this will turn into another Farley's Follies.

I doubt this solidly confirms much of anything, but the last time I checked the USPS Store website (the other day) for the MLB Uncut Press Sheets it clearly confirmed they would be produced in a "limited edition" of 1000 (for the 4 players) and 2500 (for the individual players).

I just checked the USPS store website today (06/13/2012) and find that the USPS has "quietly" removed all references to the limited edition numbers previously announced. In fact, the USPS has gone so far as to edit their May 2012 news release to remove any reference to the limited edition numbers, as well. (EDIT: I misread this and the news release of 05/31/2012 was not changed and still refers to the limited editions of 1000 and 2500, however, the limited edition quantity references have been removed from the ordering section.)

So it seems that now that the USPS has suckered collectors into pre-ordering their press sheets under the assumption that they would be produced in very limited quantities has now been eliminated and potentially the USPS is ready, willing and able to provide as many of these things as collectors may demand.

It seems as though anyone who was looking to make a quick profit by buying these "limited edition" uncut press sheets has lost their profit making potential, since it would now seem anyone can buy them without regard to quantity limitations.

Perhaps I should cancel my order now...

You'd think that this kind of flim-flam game would enrage enough collectors that the outcry against USPS in every philatelic publication would be absolutely overwhelming. Sadly, outside of a very few voices on SCF, the silence is deafening. I've read and reread Linn's article and it is so vanilla. Aren't they even able to comprehend the impact of the "bait and switch" game that USPS is playing with collectors? This is surely going to drive people away from stamp collecting - and for all the wrong reasons!

I went back and checked Linn's for June 12, 2012. It does state, and I quote, "There are no plans to print more press sheets if the initial printing sells out." Although a reasonable adult may presume this means no more will be printed, it doesn't say they won't; they just don't have "plans" yet. Guess the plan changed!

Maybe I jumped the gun and read into the USPS listing wrong...I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Just thinking through some other options the USPS could be considering (purely speculation on my part):

(a) In my opinion, the USPS should keep with strictly marketing the press sheets at the 1000 and 2500 pieces originally announced.

(b) If and when the USPS decides to reprint additional product to meet collectors demand, they could always print them with a different plate number as a way to distinguish the original "limited edition" pieces from the reprints. But then again, collectors who cut up the press sheets to create various gutter pairs, blocks, etc., would then be unable to distinguish the first printing from the second ... and so this may not be such a good idea. Alternatively, maybe they could add or change microprinting, as a better option if they wanted collectors to be able to distinguish two different printings.

Of course, from the USPS perspective, there would be those collectors who would want to buy both versions of the press sheets, so the pricetag to collect these things would multiply ... and the USPS would gladly welcome the added revenue.

I never saw the appeal of collecting gutter pairs.

My original posting is all about the fact that FOLKS AT THE USPS don't even remember what happened 15 or so years ago. After the BUGS BUNNY (Scott 3138) fiasco of only 118,000 imperf sheets, they announced that the next issue in the series would be the Sylvester and Tweety with an IMPERF in a limited printing of 250,000 sheets. They said ABSOULETLY no further printing when these sell out! Bingo, they sold out in about 3 weeks and then the whining of the public began. Eventually the USPS went back on its word and printed another 250K sheets of the Sylvester and Tweety Imperf (Scott 3205). This really soured the stamp collecting community.

The problem with this MLB press sheet announcement is that if they (usps) say they will not be reprinted or the original printing is 1000 or 2500 sheets or whatever, one really can't believe them.

A more gigantic problem in my view, is that if the press sheets are actually printed IMPERF, then they necessarily will receive a MAJOR SCOTT number. That means that they are no longer JUST press sheets. They are the only way to get the new MLB IMPERF strips of 4 and the IMPERF strips or pairs of the individuals issue.

How in the heck are collectors of USA stamps going to fill that spot in the album with only 30,000 sets of MLB strips of the IMPERF in existence? Furthermore, if it is true that they have removed the rule of maximum purchase on press sheets, it wouldn't take a lot of money for a few dealers to corner the market on these. I have a feeling that this topic is about to get even more interesting in the next few weeks.

I suppose this is good news for those interested in the MLB Press Sheets. This morning's Postal Bulletin (06/14/2012) once again confirms that the Press Sheets will be available only as a limited edition of 1000 units (4 players) and 2500 units (for each individual player).

It goes onto confirm that the 4 players panes will be issued in a quantity of 80 million stamps (4 million panes); the individual player panes in a quantity of only 3 million stamps EACH (150,000 panes EACH), meaning that for those not interested in press sheets, the availability of the individual panes will be quite limited as well.

I just read Linn's Stamp News online edition and according to the lead article the baseball press sheet with all four players, the one with only 1000 printed is already sold out as of June 18th.

Yes ... sold out more than a month before its release date during a pre-order period the was selectively advertised to a limited audience. Finding it on the USPS website was a chore ... you had to know it was there and search for it. Also, sold out despite the USPS stating "order by August 31 to guarantee product availability." I have asked the Stamp Fulfillment folks to explain this by email twice with no response ... despite sending me a survey to see if I was happy with the response I received to my request.

I suspect a small group of folks will make some $$$ by breaking up and selling blocks of four imperfs to fill album spaces.

I managed to get one, but that was only because wt1 was kind enough to post a link to the page and I ordered immediately.