I Say The Hobby Will Survive

While I was at the White Plains stamp show last weekend an old codger..well at least 5 years older than me..was speaking negativly about the future of stamp collecting.."do you see anybody in their 30s at the tables?" he asked...no, people in their 30s probably have other things on their minds...the BIG auction houses are selling stamps at all time high prices...the internet has opened the hobby to everyman..i list single stamps at 7 cents each just to have fun and unload them....there may have been few in their 30's at the tables..but the ones in their 50's probably have a good 20 years of stamp collecting ahead of them..life will go on !!

I believe that stamp collecting will go on so long as we reach out to the youth of today. Programs like scouting introduce kids to stamp collecting. they may stay interested for only a short while but at some time in the future they will come across the old collection that has been in storage for 30 years and they will pick it up again.

Richard

Probably the biggest threat (if I can call it that) to the hobby is cable TV and DVD's and Nintendo, and the fact that kids today seem less literate than they once were. I found stamps to be an interesting way to learn about different countries when I was in school, but then, that was back when they actually taught kids how to read.

Maybe I'm overstating on the side of pessimism, though. It seemed at the school I went to in the early grades, no one collected stamps until I did, or at least no one "confessed" to being a stamp collector until I brought my album to "Show and Tell" one day in Second Grade. After that, it seemed a lot of kids were into it, and trading stamps at recess was just as evident as trading baseball and hockey cards was.

Maybe you are right. Out of four children between my SO and me (I have two and she has two), I have been able to start three in collecting (the other one is a "black sheep"...she collects coins!). My stepson and I were at the Junior Stamp Club meeting a couple of weekends ago, and there were about twelve other kids there, so I guess I'm hopeful.


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The thirties just might not be the right time of life for collecting for most people, but a lot of one-time youthful collectors do seem to come back as they get older and their lives change. Seems I've seen a few mention it on this forum. Also as they're left stamps as an inheritance.

Since I wasn't collecting stamps at the time, I never did introduce my kids to it but was surprised the see my daughter buy into a collection of Disney stamps put out by a collector's club at about the time she was finishing high school and starting college.

For myself, though I didn't always collect stamps, I always saved them. Even during my 32 year absence I always saved the stamps from the mail and when I was submitting photos for publication used commemoratives on the self-addressed return envelopes that went out with many of my photo submissions and saved the stamps when they came back. Later, when doing direct mail selling I almost always used commemorative to better get the attention of the recipients and saved the stamps both from the nixies (the undeliverables) and the orders.

I guess as long as the germ is out there and one is infected, the hobby will survive.

I am 32 and have collected since I was 8. I set aside my stamp collection around 16 and picked it back up full time again in my early 20's. I did the usual life events: bought a house, got a dog, got married, had a child. I can understand an adult not having the time and money to start or continue stamp collecting during this timeframe. Even when I wasn't collecting stamps full time I was collecting other things: comic books, commemorative plates, pocket watches, etc. Most of those have went to the wayside now, but I always had my stamp collection.

...then again I have alwasy been one strange dude. I had 2 jobs and didn't spend my money drinking & smoking, it went towards my hobbies & my girlfriend(s)...and now it goes to my wife ;) LOL

Then there is the ebay factor. It's amazing how that has leveled the playing field and allowed so many to more easily build their collections as well as sell their stamps. Collections are hot sellers on ebay. Even collections many dealers probably wouldn't consider handling at another time. Just about everyone into stamps is open to everyone else as a buyer and/or seller through ebay. I remember when in the 1960's my father and I had an approval service how different things were and how I wish he could see what is possible through ebay, today, even as a hobbyist and not even a full-time dealer. The amount of philatelic material moving through ebay on a daily basis is amazing. And it's not just a few people buying or selling it.

Right now on ebay, there are 4,958 listings just under the worldwide: collections, lots category. Most will sell, and they renew themselves on a daily basis.

Larry, I remember the days I could win a Scott International with stamps on ebay for 45 bucks...now whatever I bid..(what I think a used album with mostly minimum value stamps is worth) someone will bid $180 bucks on it ! I hope they need it !

RANT - Part I

When I was a kid it seemed like everyone collecting stamps was an old geezer. When I returned to stamps in my late 20's it seemed like everyone collecting stamps was an old geezer. When I came back to stamps again in my 40's it seemed like everyone collecting stamps was an old geezer. Now that I'm an old geezer I finally feel at home!

Over the last 50 years or so, I've seen stamp collecting survive competetion from coins, military patches, sports cards, girls, comics, playing sports, technology and many other things. Collectors of all ages are out there in numbers beyond our belief. The reason we don't see them as much as we used to is the Internet and all the advantages (and disadvantages) it brings.

Phil, with prices jumping that much, it probably does reflect more interest in the hobby. Did you ever see how many album collections this guy rocey sells out of Florida every week? I used to see him list all kinds of stuff every Friday while I was watching (I'm not any more).

RANT - PART II

Growing up, my options for obtaining stamps were very limited. I could buy approvals through ads in the back of magazines and comic books, trade with friends, or buy from street dealers in downtown Bad Kreuznach.

Later, I had access to dealers advertising in the stamp magazines and would occasionally have a storefront dealer in one of the various cities around the U.S. where I was stationed. I also had the money and knowledge to participate in mail auctions.

Now, I have access to literally thousands of dealers via the Internet and hundrds who now advertise in the stamp magazines.

As a final comment: If you want to guage the strength of the hobby, look at the hundreds and hundreds of advertisements in the three or four top selling stamp magazines. The advertisers couldn't afford the cost of advertising if they weren't selling at a profit, and they wouldn't be selling at a profit if there weren't enough customers to keep prices up.

My story is the same as Stamperdude's, although I am now 43. The hobby is booming in Europe. It is also doing very well in Canada. There is a monthly stamp & coin bourse in Ottawa, and there are many children at the bourse.

Our club, the Ottawa Philatelic Society (Est, 1891) is the lodest local stamp club in Canada. we have over 90 members, and about 45 show up each week for the meetings. There are two other stamp clubs in Ottawa, we are by far the largest.

I don't think the hobby is going to die.

David
Vice-President
The Ottawa Philatelic Society

Larry..yes Roecy and NYStamps seem to have an endless supply of started Scott Internationals...i like to window shop and sometimes bid but when I see what the final selling price is 3 or 4 times what I bid..it seems humorous...i shouldnt buy anyway..i have too much of the stuff laying around..if my heirs are wise they will sell my albums one by one on ebay instead of to a dealer..they would realize a lot more money !!

PhilB,
be sure they know your wishes about how to disburse your collection. Then again just tell them to post it here and we will reap the benefits or maybe convert them to collecting ;)

I think Hank Williams Jr. should write a song to go with this thread -

Stamp Collectors Can Survive!

I keep hearing the chorus to "I WILL SURVIVE" by Gloria Gaynor...1970's Disco at its best. Now everyone do the Hussle....LOL