Do You Get Your Money's Worth From The APS

An interesting poll. APS Member #: 222539. I do not regret my membership, and have gotten some benefit from it.

I get more out of this forum than the APS. Came very close to not renewing last time.

Interesting questions ---------They need to change and they need to do it fast .The new trends of the hobby are moving too fast for a bunch of old people who just like hanging out with their buddies .

When I created this poll I wanted to see if I'm nearly alone in wondering what makes me renew my membership every year. Am I getting any tangible benefit for my membership? There are non-tangibile benefits such as supportingg the hobby but that only goes so far and is it far enough. The APS offers many services but those services are availabel elsewhere and at a lower cost.

Tangibles:
Certificates - Bill Weiss & Others
Identification - Bill Weiss
Sales - ebay
Research - USPCS
Articles - Various Forums
Chat Board - SCF & SCF
Insurance - Woods
Magazine - Linn's
Standards - Scotts & Others

The Intangibles are:
Acreditied Judges
Show Standardization
Name Recognition
APS Membership Number
Supports the hobby
I'm sure there are others

I believe its real important to support the hobby and that belief is what kept me renewing my membership for nearly 30 years (134809). I read their magazine every month but find little of interest in it as I only collect U.S. and I dropped Linn's years agao as I was tired of seeing 75% of it in adds.

So, as one old guy to the other old guys and those younger as well, support the hobby, even if the tangibles don't seem to amount to much. Support your local club and the shows you can attend.

Talking about old guys, its not just the attendies at shows that are getting old but the dealers are as well. When they are gone or retired where are you going to get the quality stamps you want then?

Art

Totally agree with supporting the hobby. But the APS better figure out how best to support it's membership. I belong to a couple other groups that I find much more satisfying. I think the APS needs to do more to support them.

As a Club Representative, I think it poor judgement to raise their video rental rate to $12 each. However, being that our club is 80% APS membership, our club will be chartered for free next year. So that's something. I would say that the mag subscription is worth at least half the annual dues, which is why I renew. plus they use real stamps to send letters.

This is a tough one for me as I have only been a member for about 6 months. I had to go with yes as I enjoy getting the AP in the mail every month, access to their circuits, and the on-line stamp store. For me these things are very valuable and open up additional avenues of the hobby to me.

I've been an APS member since 1981 and probably will remain one until I'm dead or the organization folds. I read its magazine each month and always find something of interest in it. The best editor during my membership was Bill Welch, but the current editorial crew does a respectable job. I've received sales circuits for years and frequently buy from its Stamp Store. And I use the APRL frequently as well to have questions answered and copies of articles made and sent. The contact I've had with staff has always been courteous with prompt replies. The dues are not excessive in my opinion, especially considering they include a twelve month subscription to the Philatelist.

I'm not sure what more a hobby organization could offer or do for its membership. I don't understand some of the complaints about it, especially those about it "not keeping up with the times." There does seem to be reoccurring tension among its officers and staff, but that is par for the course with organizations that have a board of directors.

Put me down as a satisfied member of 33 years.

Don

I had to toss my hat in the Yes-Barely group. I don't use it often, but when I need it it's great to have. Name association with APS gets immediate acceptance from dealers around the world. I've used the APS Store to find stamps I could not locate elsewhere. And, the biggest benefit for me is the material available on loan from the APRL. Not too excited about the magazine... I wish it had more content about what others collect, why they collect it, and how they collect it.

Terry.

APS Member 224313.

I feel like my use of APS does exceed the dues I pay (I think I paid $45 this year to renew). Good magazine. I like the circuits and the APRL is a huge benefit. For me, that is worth $45.

Yes, they have a lot of work to do, and need to do it much quicker or the membership is going to continue to decline. What I fail to see from APS is adapting to the rapid changes in our hobby.

Edit: I am also a member of the ATA and the Haiti Philatelic Society. I as a member in Scouts on Stamps Society International, but I've allowed that to lapse.

We got enough people here who can tell you what is wrong with the APS , and a few who can say something positive . We also have a lot of information about the history of the APS .----------------------------------------LETS TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE -----------------------------A few facts ---they need revenue ----they need new members -----they need to keep their members . So these ideas need to be discussed ,not crying about the past . -------------------------------------here are my ideas . They need to establish a members only chat room or group of speciality chat rooms ,this will keep members connected ,this will include a special class of membership for those overseas who want access to these chat rooms ,maybe a $12.00 or $20.00 a year membership . They also need to start a open door for younger members and new collectors ,this can be done with a whole new ebay like marketplace ,were cheaper stamps can be sold by dealers or members of long standing .The monies on deposit or the APS credit card is used and a minium of 10 item or $5.00 sold in each transaction .This would be stuff between .20 and $10.00 each ,mostly for filling blank spaces of cheap stuff in ones collection . This would be a APS STAMP MALL ,with each dealer listing and selling from their own store .We need to capture more of the activity which is outside the U.S. and both ideas here can do that . Another idea is that the APS needs to work with the STEINER PAGES ,this whole idea of computers and the APS needs to be looked at with the thought to attract new collectors .The APS needs to expand the outreach of the fabulous research library that they have ,it is amazing how good it is and how few people use it . Hey fill up a bus and take it to the various stamp shows around the country and park it in the hotel parking lot and let people access it and mail back the books for a $5.00 or $10.00 fee plus shipping . Lets talk about going forward what are your ideas .

I forgot to mention I have utilized their free album pages as well for the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Flags of our Nation series. I know these are free to anyone, but they are a nice little asset.

One thing I think they could offer is more on-line seminars. They don't even have to be live classes, but maybe a recorded video or even a powerpoint presentation with voice over available for certain collecting interests or other aspects of the hobby. I know they promote a few of their web classes and their summer seminars, but having a digital library of on-line classes and seminars would be helpful.

I like your ideas floortrader. Feature articles (i.e. not news or columns) in the Am. Philatelist should be labelled "Basic", "Intermediate" and "Specialized". And every issue should have a certain percentage of each (20, 30, 50?) within reason. This would ensure that the publication has broad appeal among the philatelic community. Other philatelic publications seem to keep a good combination of each.

Exhibiting needs to change as well. I see exhibiting as a big driver in interest in philately. As a result, there should be a continuous effort to promote exhibiting, and allow for every stamp collector to study and share what they learned in some way. Perhaps competition can be had on who can best tell a single story. Say a group of 10 people all prepare exhibits with a very limited scope such as "US Postal Rates in 1980" (I know, pretty lame, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice). Then everyone prepares an exhibit on that one topic (for more excitement, give them a limited period of time to prepare it, such as 1-3 months), and they are judged on which exhibit best describes the subject in question.

Exhibiting of this type need not be carried out on a national level either. The APS could put together Exhibit Competition packets that contain:

1 - A summary of the Exhibit competition.
2 - Complete reference materials for that particular subject area
3 - Guidelines for judging the exhibit
4 - A sample exhibit (in PDF) for reference.

Local stamp clubs or federations could purchase said packet from the APS to host the competiton among their membership.

Oh yes, and I have crazier ideas.

I have been a member since 1970. Faithfully paid dues each year, and last year obtained my "free" life membership status! Hoot Hoot! To me, the most important function of APS are the sales circuits. I have gotten a LOT of nice items over the years participating in that department. MY collecting interests have changed and up until my latest collecting change occurred, things went along nicely. Now they do not offer material that falls into my realm. Due to my locale, I do not belong to a local club (never did actually), go to VERY few shows (only have one per year in my state). I have always managed to find something of interest in the monthly publication. There are negative (to me) aspects of the organization, but isn't there always?

I personally think that organizations and clubs are what you make of them. If you want to participate in whatever level you want in each, you can always reap a few rewards out of it.

I am not an APS member, nor do I have any immediate plans to become one.

Why?

Because everything I need is online. Literally!

I am certain APS members can name lots of great things about the APS, but the fact remains - I can and will find anything and everything I need on the internet - including, but not limited to:

* Expert opinions
* Access to Reference materials (See the Northwest Philatelic and Rocky Mt philatelic libraries, respectively)
* Hard-to-find stamps (rare or not)
* Great philatelic articles
* Searchable databases on, well, everything

All of this for the price of ... well, I support SCF financially, but other than that? $0

So I will ask the question clearly:

What benefits do the APS offer that cannot be had by typing a key word or phrase into the Google, Seigel, or SCF (and more recently Weiss) websites?!?

My money is better spent supporting SCF (Keeping in mind that even though I am an outspoken critic and thorn in the side of our administrator, I believe this site, and the members of SCF, are best resources on the internet!!)

Brian