Basic Cost Of Collecting US Stamps

Jay Bigalke wrote a great column in this week's Linn's Stamp News Weekly about the basic cost to collect stamps over the past 23 yrs. I know most of us complain about this basic cost, costing so much more each year, but is it really true? If you take Jay's figures, adjust for inflation in 2014 dollars, it is not so bad. Yes, it only cost $62 in 1991, when Linn's began tracking these figures, but in today's 2014 dollars, the cost would be $107.95. He estimates this year's cost to be $102.26. Guess one would have to add the cost of yearbook(less stamps included). Don't miss reading his column.

ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION IN 2014 DOLLARS:

Interesting that after all that activity, we are now basically where we were in 1991.

By looking at it, starting at 1993 there seems to be a cycle from high to low about every 5-7 years.


-IBFS

I think the figures may be a bit skewed only because they are talking about face-different stamps. They are NOT taking into consideration the fact that most collectors must purchase the stamps in a larger format to get the entire collection of face-different stamps. For example, if you have to purchase a pane or booklet of 20 stamps to get 4 or 5 face-different stamps, then the remaining 15 or 16 stamps aren't counted in those figures.

I agree with wt1. The actual cost is considerably higher. Going by the Scott catalog numbers, the Star-Spangled Banner issue alone would cost $185.22 as one would have to purchase 3 coils of 100 stamps each, 3 booklets of 20 stamps each and 1 ATM booklet of 18 stamps - thanks to the fact that USPS does not make these available in a collector-friendly format.

But don't "dealers" help out here? I think the argument presumes that the stamps are bought from the USPS. But aren't you able to by the individual stamps from a dealer who bought the pane or booklet and then broke it up into individual stamps to sell?

Sure, you can go to a dealer and buy all stamps individually, but that defeats the purpose. USPS is not wholesale only, imho they have to cater to all collectors, not just a few big dealers. This is what annoys me about the PS w/o die-cuts, but don't get me started on these...

Yes, this is very basic. Most of us US collectors here need to purchase strips of 25 or whole rolls & booklets ,etc to get a single stamp or so- that brings the cost to many of us from USPS to about $600-$700 and a lot more if one is into press sheets. We are left to try to somehow get rid of the extra at a discount of those left of whatwe are forced to purchase if we desire to have one of all have all the issues, singles, PNC5,etc.

not to mention te cost of storage, plus they don't show up in our collections without some sort of additional cost (trip to PO or shipping charge from the Caves)

I just spent a few minutes calculating the cost of purchasing based on Scott# and what you would actually pay in purchasing the stamps from USPS in the format they supply them in:

Of course, you could argue that there are a few souvenir sheets (Civil War: 1864; War of 1812; Superman) which should be calculated as such rather than as individual stamps, or the Prestige Folio (Medal of Honor). But just to illustrate the point - the actual cost is significantly higher than one would have to pay to fill one's album...