"Stampers" - Not A Bad Idea - What Happened?

I have a boxful of USPS unopened "Stampers" which are like sports cards with stamp images and history front and back on a cardand come complete with mint stamps and mounts. I always thought they were cool - here are the stampers for the classic American aircraft. They fit in sport card holders. I am sure they were trying to compete with sport cards and war game cards but I think they gave it up too soon. I never see them on ebay - maybe I have a gold mine ! I wonder why these did not catch on? Does anyone else collect these? I reached into the box and came out with packages for the Civil War, Alfred Hitchcock, Ballet, Supersonic Flight, Pacific 97. I even thought about making my own first day of issue cards maybe? I must be in a time warp tonight.

There was a post on this Forum about this program that's a year old now at this link:

https://goscf.com/t/8499

In reading what I could find on the internet, it appears that the program started around the time the Bugs Bunny Stamp was issued and that Bugs actually became the "cartoon spokesperson" for the program aimed at youth 8-12 years old. The program lasted a few years (into 2000, I think) and then ended by which time more than one million Stamper cards were distributed.

I suspect it was just one of a number of promotions the USPS tried over the years. Successful or not, it gave way to other programs with a different target audience.

As for a collection, anything and everything are fair game as collectibles to stamp collectors ... including these. A few do pop up every now and then on ebay or other auction sites and prices vary greatly, but I suspect that with at least a million pieces printed, I doubt they will ever become "valuable".

Scouter hello. Over two decades ago Aust' Post introduced 'Collector Cards' having a cancelled issued stamp on one side. Within a short time A.P stopped producing them. Few of these attractive sealed packets were sold and kept unopened, making them quite collectible now.

They are a blast from the past finches.

I remember seeing one or two of the Australia Post ones at the time. They are rather dull compared to the USPS cards.

As official emissions from the post office I would think they are highly collectible.

I was collecting them pretty intensely for quite awhile, but have since cooled off. I have a near complete collection, but can't recall what I am missing. This program went the same way as the Ben Franklin club and so many others from the past. I'll have to dig my sets out when I get time.

Not sure if this is essentially the same thing or not, but found these amongst my stamp oriented papers:



...an example of the reverse:



As I recall, I picked them up as "freebies" lying on the counter of a post office lobby. Not sure if they are from the same promotion, though.

Interestingly, this folder (perforated so you can tear the cards apart) suggests it is USPS Publication 192 with a 1996 copyright. Go to the USPS web site today and search for Publication 192 and it is an entirely different stamp collecting brochure with a 1998 copyright.

I had almost forgotten about the Ben Franklin Stamp Clubs. Here was their logo:



Another brochure from the past ... remember "Stamps and Stories"!? This brochure dates back to November 1979:



...and according to this excerpt, as of April 1979, they had something like 36,000 stamp clubs in schools across the US with a membership of 900,000 boys and girls. I wonder if any (stamp clubs) still exist?

Here's a youth oriented logo for Philately that was taken from the same USPS publication, but one from a later date (1983). I think that was the year the Ballooning Stamp came out, thus the reason for the theme of this logo:

I have 2 Stamps & Stories paperback books. I've never read them though. I also have that 1996 "page" of stamp cards, I think there is another set of them too. They are kind of a sample of what was depicted on the various Stampers Savers Cards.

I too have some stampers cards and have been looking to add to my collection on ebay and have never seen any offered. I also wondered if I was the only person who thought it was a great idea that died too soon.

The Stampers program ran in to two problems: 1) budget cuts and 2) lack of interest on the part of children and parents.
The idea was to use the sports card collecting fad to promote stamp collecting. Stampers related products were extremely expensive and the children needed to mount the stamps onto the cards themselves. Perhaps if prices were more reasonable and the stamps were already mounted the program might have been more successful.

Yes, there are collectors of Stampers ephemera. Yes, they are difficult to find.

I like the idea but I fear that people would want them for next to nothing.