Stamp Club

ts,
I am in several clubs and all within 2 hours driving, which can get me from one side of the country to the other. I also visit all the English dealers in person to make my purchases. I am guessing this would not be viable for you?

xyL,
I do envy the accessibility of dealers. We have very few storefront dealers left in Michigan. We do however have numerous stamp shows. Usually at least one per month. My club sponsors the Plymouth Show, a 43 year tradition. I am the show chairperson and have gotten to know many dealers very well. My biggest limitation is time. I work full time, serve on a community foundation board, and perform many duties for my club including webmaster. btw, very interesting avatar.

tim

Battlestamps,

I agree regarding the meeting times. My club meets Friday evenings, from 8-10. Members arrive between 6:30 and 7 to talk, trade, etc. We are actively encouraging youth collectors and I have been trying to put together a case for a separate meeting on a Saturday afternoon or at least earlier in the evening. I guess i'm lucky. there are at least three excellent clubs I could easily choose to join. Gas prices are high, but we all make choices. As the chair of our clubs stamp show I was a little surprised to receive a letter, yes one with a stamp, explaining why one visitor was choosing to stay home this year due to the gas prices.

It took me a while to find my club, which is 45 min to an hour away (depending on traffic). Glad I did. Been a member for almost a year now. It gets me out of my basement and out into the world to meet with other collectors face to face. The interweb has certainly been a boon to collecting and connecting online with folks such as yourselves, but sometimes you just can't beat a good ol' face to face.

Thanks for your input James. It has become apparent to me that a club doesn't work for everybody based on responses to this poll, but I agree I look forward to the personal interaction and discussions, philatelic and otherwise.

Another member made a statement of taking off for the Summer months. How many of you are in clubs that stop for the Summer? Our club goes on all year but, we have to change the venue, only because our normal meetings are in a school, which of course is closed during the Summer.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Our club meets in the basement of the Plymouth Historical Museum. We meet throughout the summer, except that we skip the first Friday of July, due to the 4th of July Holiday. We see a drop-off in attendance due to both summer travel and the Michigan Snow-Birds who go south for the winter.

Our club meets in a church basement (you can often hear the choir singing upstairs, at least I hope it's a choir!) and, yes we break for the summer. I go into withdrawl for a couple of weeks

I am a life member of my local club.
I'm also a member of the ATA and several study groups.

Buzz

Buzz, I'm glad you mentioned the life member status. Our club has many life members. Does life membership mean you no longer pay dues? As clubs age, the number of dues paying members does as well.
Would you continue to pay dues to support your club?

I believe we have a local club here in Perth.
It meets in the city at about 2.00pm on a Thursday.
I might be able to attend those meetings when I retire from work.

Steve

Thanks for replying Steve. It sounds like a lot of clubs meet during normal working hours. This might explain why we are seeing fewer new collectors. I have personally experienced "older" collectors who seem unconcerned about this. I suppose that there is room for all in the hobby, but I am of the opinion that more experienced collectors should bear the responsibility to nurture new collectors.

When I go to the stamp club it's 90% of talking and 10% of trading or buying at the best. Last time I bought a Sweden souvenir and it was not a deal. I will go back when I feel lonely. But I prefer to attend the monthly meeting of the Quebec stamp federation at the Olympic Stadium (not in the stadium but in a hall), collectors rent tables and sell. Can have good findings there. There is also a silent auction.

I am the President of our small stamp club. We have only 10 active members. We meet on the 2nd and 4th Wed of the month, and since we meet at our towns middle school, we don't meet during the summer months.
Our dues is only 5 dollars a year and only 4 members pay dues, the rest are life members ( over 25 years with the club )
The club makes most of its money via circuit books, so at Christmas time we have a free dinner for members and their spouses.We keep 100 dollars in the bank, and what ever excess funds we have is donated to the local volunteer fire dept.

I also visit Phils stamp club on occasion maybe three times a year

bobgggg




Well that's great! Many citizens in big cities don't even know that in rural communities firemen are volunteers.