The Future Of Stamps ?

my wife gets a topical magazine from Europe..the chief cook and bottle washer has been doing the running everything forever and is begging for someone else to take over ..but of course there are no takers..another problem is the cost of mailing..almost 2 pounds...they used to use stamps but the last one came in an envelope with this label instead ! I don't know how much longer than can afford to do this ....

Wow, don't those look fun to collect :(

What is this topical magazine? I may want to subscribe.

The magazine is "Windmill Whispers" a specialty for Mill collectors !

The label is a sad statement on the future of stamps. What next, they will print your avatar on it?

Thank you phil. Interesting topic but not one of those I collect.But there is one windmill collector at my stampclub.

That is so bad. It is discouraging to think that this is the future of stamps (or non-stamps).

That is much like the imprinted labels that the APS, Linns, and other philatelic organizations use, unfortunately.

Dude, the postal stationary from the APS can be collectible !! I save the envelopes...

Even though they may be collectible to some, I hope this isn't the future of the stamp!

Me too Kingfish..i see you are at post # 50 !!

kinda thinking that's why I'm drawn to pre-1930...? I have some interesting things to 2000. But I'm drawing my line in the sand. <edit> I think. :)

I got tired of the USPS creating labels and stickers and calling them stamps. The last current new stamp that I put into my album was the 2000 New Years Baby stamp. My U.S. album now stops with a sheet of that issue. This has saved me from buying new album pages & catalogs and has allowed me to focus into the older classic stamps. I got into stamp collecting because of the detaild engraving that I saw in those early stamps. Besides, the U.S is now, and has been for years, issuing more new stamps than the sand dune countries ever thought about. How much does it now cost to collect mint stamps of 2010? I suspect that I can fill a few holes in my collection with the same $$. I still purchase the new stamps, I just don't collect them anymore.

Agreed. My collection stops in 1993, mostly because when I bought my last album, that's as far as it went and I got really sick and tired of the USPS trying to soak collectors with almost 100 new stamps a year. Add to that the self-adhesives and it just wasn't fun getting new issues any more.

I seriously don't think that stamps, in their classical form, will still exist in a decade. Most of it will be printed bar-codes, maybe dressed up with some pictures, but otherwise non-collectible IMO. Not that I really care, since I have no interest in collecting the new material coming out now. There's plenty to get in the 150 years of postal history that came before.

They may kill stamps, but I believe collecting stamps as historical artifacts will continue for quite a while !!

I don't know about the future of stamps but what about collectors as well. The other day when went to the library I just noticed that Scott Stamp Monthly is now incorporated with Linns Stamp News.

Does this mean that there is not enough subscribers to have two magazines or is stamping becoming more of an investing hobby instead of a pastime?