To Trim, Or Not To Trim?

Those are nice items and assembled by someone who knew something about postal stationery, it appears. I would not trim these, I would trim the mounts to fit, and allow them their different sizes. But please understand, I do not buy or use pre-cut mounts. I buy them in strips in varying widths from 25mm up to around 120mm or so. With whatever is too large for that, I use mounting corners. My personal taste prefers clear background.

If the drive for conformity is a matter of aesthetics more than economy, then consider allowing a bit more space between each square and put fewer on the same page. A tasteful arrangement of the various sizes, colors, papers etc will be at least as attractive as one page with everything trimmed to the same size.

My 2c.

Having a nice write-up would be good looking also.

Bfranton, How will parcels get delivered if not for some sort of postal service? After all furniture cannot, at least yet, be virtual!

3D printing already allows you to print any small item.
It is not a large stretch to think that very soon you will be able to simply order a part for your dishwasher by having the printing instructions sent to your printer. Might be a while longer before your printer will manufacture a large item like a piece of furniture but it is certainly possible.

Packages go the way of the delivery service... And a furniture truck w/ two guys to do the hauling does my appliances and furniture now. hummmm 3 D printing. will it take the place of shopping?

Admittedly it is within our technology reach so you may be more correct than I'd like to believe!

I like a good hunk of furniture myself, but I do appreciate enjoyng collecting stamps. Or coloured labels. Or personal stamps / labels. Or meters. Or cancels / postmarks.

Meters in Canada, I have just noticed, do have the POCON Post Office number on them as does the cancel.

I'll collect pretty address labels if they don't make some stamps by Gum. Arrr.

The problem with technology-based utopian views based on what is able to be done, is that they usually overlook the human element. What do you see happening to all those peeps put out of work because those cartage industries are no longer needed? New jobs? Yeah, right. Given to machines.


But let's not even go there. The real doom and gloom in your scenario has to do with the long range status of this hobby, doesn't it. And along with it a kind of "if nobody's going to care in a few years, what difference does it make now" mentality." Ah, how we enlist nihilism (who's gonna care) to justify our hedonism (do what you want). But if we think thus, we ignore the present facts about the big picture.

The fact is that the present status of this hobby is much greater in Europe and Asia than in the US. In China people are massing to philatelic exhibitions, and buying like crazy. And while most are buying Chinese, there are so many of them getting into it that the competition for stamps from other countries, especially from the US, is huge. As I understand it, the same thing is going on in Spain. Who knows what's next? Bottom line, when you want to assess the strength of this hobby, you have to think globally. The philatelic marketplace is international, the same as with ancient coins (also bigger abroad than in the US with its serious import restrictions). [BTW, in response to the query on "how long will the paper last?" I also collect pages from old Bibles - 450 to 800 years old. I agree that wood pulp paper is self destructive, but rag based papers are very durable. Some of my oldest pages are vellum, which is hammered animal skin. Not exactly pH neutral. Collectors just have to get to know paper to know what to expect.]

Taking all of it together, when you really look at the facts, nobody should be thinking of intentionally trashing anything in the face of the global opportunities still ahead of us. And that is a thumbnail of the big picture as I see it.

While I understand and agreed with what you are saying about rag paper, consider the lengths that many museums/archives go to preserving their wood pulp paper items. Many keep their rarest items under environmental conditions (including cold storage and altered atmospheric conditions) that typical hobbyists will never be able to emulate or afford. And of course rag paper was largely replaced by wood pulp paper in the mid 1800s; especially in situations where cost savings was a factor. Here is a good, albeit somewhat scary, document from The Library of Congress; The Deterioration and Preservation of Paper: Some Essential Facts.http://www.loc.gov/preservation/res...rochure.html It is not unreasonable to say that rag paper will not last 500-1000 years unless costly measures are taken.

In terms of the future of postal systems let's consider why they were first developed. Humans have always felt a need to communicate with one another. The earliest forms of any postal system was simply couriers; they expedited the delivery of information using word of mouth. Early Egyptians, and later the Greeks and Romans, improved on this by using papyrus, parchment, or thin clay tablets to ensure accuracy of the information. The technology of the day used by the couriers included every known type of conveyance (foot, animals, ships, carriages).
As the year past these systems became more elaborate and began to include a series of stopping places and routing stages. These were 'posts' where couriers could leave or collect correspondence.
It seems to me that the internet is simply the next generation of postal systems. And just as the industrial age changed the face of postal systems the information age has done the same. I think that the stamps and covers that we love will indeed become a thing of the past in this evolution. But I do not see this as being a bad thing. It is only bad if we fail at communicating and educating younger folks on the history of their beloved internet.

But denying that the internet will eventual replace the existing postal technologies, or thinking that this spells the end to philately is surely a defeatist attitude that serves little value. Moving into the future the internet will also become a thing of the past, there is no telling how humans will communicate and distribute information by the year 2500.