Do You Get Your Money's Worth From The APS

Hungary said it best. Fortunately, selling APS isn't my profession, because as an option to the hobby rather than an essential, they are going to have a tough row to hoe.

I'll add one last thing. Two weeks ago tomorrow I emailed Mr. Reinhard, Mr. Haimann, and Mr. Hotchner, as mentioned in an earlier. I have received a response from Mr. Hotchner, who is project manager. However, APS President Mr. Reinhard and Board of Vice Presidents member Alex Haimann, who also chairs the Secure the Future committee, have not responded.

Response, even if just a courtesy, matters to me. So does no response.

After reading the responses I've come to the conclusion that many of our members are only interested in money. If I were to come up with an idea where members got paid to subscribe I'm sure it would be a hit.
Tom

Just as added bonus, The archives are great! I am currently reviewing all of Bob Lamb's "world in a nut shell" and printing those pages to go along with the countries I have. Pretty sweet actually.

I received a response from Mr. Hotchner, which I appreciate (and didn't require necessarily), although I emailed the securethefuture@stamps.org email address.

I don't know if I would be too concerned about not receiving a response from certain APS officers. If I emailed three folks directly in one email I would expect only one response. If I asked a question, I would expect a response. If I merely proffered an opinion or offered advice, I probably would not expect a response. Also, some folks leading an organization with many members might just have too much email to answer. I don't get nearly as much as I expect these folks do, and I often miss many emails (though not work-related ones).

If the litmus test whether to join a particular group/society is "what tangible benfits will I get out of it", then the vast majority of society memberships are doomed to failure.

I see a lot of "I don't use X, Y, and Z, so they're worthless" type comments. Just because you don't use a benefit doesn't mean the benefit is worthless. Not everyone is going to use the same features and functions. Person A might not be interested in the circuits or the APS stampstore, person B might not be interested in using the APRL, and person C might not find the magazine interesting.

You very well may NOT use enough of the APS benefits to justify membership.

*IF* you utilize the services available via membership, it's a bargain. If you don't, then you won't deem it worthwhile. That's not necessarily the fault of the APS.

One problem the APS faces is the nature of its demographic. I realize this will ruffle some feathers, but it is based on years of participation and observation, and not necessarily directed at anyone in this thread:

Stamp collectors tend to be cheapskates, pinching pennies to the point of bleeding. If it's not free or close to it, there's little interest. I have seen stamp collectors argue vehemently trying to get 25 cents off a $1.00 purchase. I have seen stamp collectors complaining ad nauseum at the price of nickel approvals. Stamp collectors tend to think that everything should cost the same as 50 years ago.

While some of this is representative of simply being an elderly demographic, not exclusive just to stamp collectors, I tend NOT to see this same characteristics with coin collectors, at least not to the same extent.

When you're trying to attract new members from a population of prospective applicants that is, by its very nature, unwilling to view products and services as having value worth paying for, it's a difficult proposition from the get go.

The American Numismatic Association used to have a much larger membership than the APS. Does anyone know if it still does, or is the ANA also is a state of "membership crisis" and for similar reasons?

If the ANA membership is holding, what is its secret?

Don

"...then the vast majority of society memberships are doomed to failure." OT, but Americans are not "joiners" in general anymore, take a look at the state of the benevolent societies or other voluntary groups. As we have become more "connected" we seem to have less face-to-face contact. Besides the older demographics "pinching pennies", you are also confronted with a younger one that considers all music, art, news, stamp info? should be free. Unfortunately, the APS can't take their band on the road to go busking for dollars.

Maybe the APS can do something like a live chat with an expert or something similar to Reddit with an "Ask Me Anything". I am not sure how tech savy the population of the APS is and how much participation there would be for items like this.

I think the Rev nailed it.It would be really cool to see a chat box for members to compare notes in real time. Maybe SCF could take example from the train forum Nscale.net? Since I already enjoy the APS.

I'm not sure what floortrader was exactly referring to. He used the term "chat forum" which are two different things. A forum, or "message board" is site like this one, where people have conversations in threaded format. A chat room or chat box is a place where people go to meet and chat together in real time, where no long-term archive is retained of the discussion.

Prior to the APS rolling out their long-delayed website overhaul, I had recommended to them to include the former, a members-only message board. I got zero response.

As for real-time chats, I know from personal experience on my own website and others, that they appeal to a VERY small percentage of membership. It's not as big a draw as a message board, and sits vacant most of the time. That said, it's very easy functionality to add to a site, and if you do it right, scheduling weekly chats on different subjects, hosted by experts or group members knowledgeable on the topics at hand, it *can* generate some interest... but it takes more organizational commitment than just adding the technology.

revenuecollector - I frequent the nScale.com site and the chat box there usually has a couple folks talkin. There are occasions when it is quiet but thats mostly during the night hours, Approx 10pm PT til the wee hours of the morn. Discussion often goes off topic but thats the nature of the beast. I think it could be a fair addition to this forum, but on the other hand may reduce thread posts at the same time.
Just thinkin out loud.. :)

Just a quick pop in again, I was just reading the first Vol. of the AP. It was 8 pages and membership had hit 143.
Very interesting read. Hope this link works.
http://stamps.org/userfiles/file/AP...Jan_Vol1.pdf

Another non-APS member here (and I doubt I'll never become one for that matter)...

I find some of the (off-topic) topics interesting, so here's my few cents worth.




True, most people except information on the internet to be free. But the reality is that somebody's got to pay the $$$ for hosting, data transfer, maintenance etc. And the bigger the ship (and more data), the more it will cost to keep it served and afloat.

Saying 'advertisers' or 'partners' will do it is IMHO big lump of baloney unless you are not one of the really big boys like Google or Facebook. For example Wikipedia keeps itself afloat mostly because big tech and VC companies donate millions of $ worth in money, time & resources each year. Could not imagine Mystic or some other stamp business doing that just to provide a 'free resource' for the collectors.


As far as good will (supporters, donations etc) goes... I can't speak for other stamp website owners, but on my stamp blog approx. 1% of frequent readers (or 0.0056% of all visitors) have chosen to support the site for the content it provides. And about 10-20% use AdBlock or similar to block or bypass advertising (which leaves the site without any support from advertisers). I'd imagine it's the same in here, TSF and other stamp websites sharing information and services for free to fellow collectors.

So the way I see the entire idea of having 'Wikipedia of philately' is nothing but big pile of fairy dust that can't or won't exist, because...




It's true you don't know what you have until it's gone.

Rant over & out.

-k-

When discussing alternate revenue streams for online resources the greatest dependency is on content; having content that attracts traffic is a must. Blogs often struggle to generate traffic for obvious content reasons. But content and features that would serve the hobby, and provide revenue streams for the owners of the sites, are easy to imagine. Several folks have mentioned things like chat rooms and forums as possible features that are attractive.

So let's outline a few of the type of features that might fit the objective of serving the hobby while also generating potential revenue streams. In my opinion here are three "killer apps" that would easily fit this criteria;

Online Catalog with real market values – What a novel idea, a catalog that delivers actual market values for a stamp! The app would display an average price paid for the stamp over the last year. Sources for this information would be gleaned from all kinds of various sales, both online and brick and mortar. Users could 'drill down' into the value to see more detailed information such as stamp condition and even links/images of actual stamp sold.

Online Stamp identifier – Simply upload an image of a stamp and the app will return the correct identification. No rocket science here, this technology is common. Greatest requirement is to build a database of images and stamp information. (Not trivial but quite feasible. I have a SQL database, with images, for every US commemorative and definitive stamp issued; it represents about 400 man-hours of work.)

Online Album Maker – Users are presented with a 'drag and drop' interface to layout pages as they desire. They would first build the list of stamps they desire for the album. Powerful filtering capabilities would allow users to quickly developing the list by country, topic, etc. Once the list was generated they would them be able to choose from exiting page templates or build one from scratch. User would grab a stamp from the list and drop it onto page. once on page users would be able to move it anywhere they desired. They would also be able to select as much or as little additional information for each stamp (descriptions, quantity printed, etc.).

Without question the three apps described above would require significant investment but none of them require anything to be 'invented' or any new innovations. All of them would attract huge amounts of traffic; income could be generated on many levels and in many ways. This includes making the apps 'free' and generating income with ad revenue. They would also support various subscription opportunities; perhaps a basic subscription is free but additional features are pay-as-you-go.

And of course this is just three possible online apps, I am sure many others could come up with other good ideas for them. The point is that organizations need to stop thinking/investing in strictly brick and mortar value. They cannot simply throw a web site up and then pad it with some 'features' and then whine that the site isn't making any money. You reap what you sow. Apps like these require a serious commitment, there is no 'sneaking up' on these kinds of solutions or value. You do your homework, generate a good app specification, send out requests for quotes, carefully choose the resources to get the job done.

Frankly from where I sit I see no organization that has shown this kind of vision or backbone. Amos has gotten into the fray very late and in a limited way with their online catalog. Many people would rather simply go search ebay for a stamp value then to pay for and download their app. APS has only dipped its toe into the online waters for years, their online presence feels more like a concession than a commitment.

There is also a large opportunity for organization to standardize how philatelic information is stored and organized. This would require the major philatelic libraries to think beyond their immediate commercial aspirations and assist with an open source meta-data standard. The amount of philatelic information that is locked away from users in remote libraries is a sin. For example a library in England may be holding tremendous research information for US material but few will ever have access. If an open source meta-data standard were developed, it would set the foundation for a internet wide search engine to be developed; a philatelic Google so to speak.
don

Ken martin, in this months AP, stated that they are going to start online orientation courses for new members and live chats with aps staff members. Small step in the right direction here in terms of engagement.