Will Stamp Collecting Survive?

Back when you were just out of diapers, grownups were sitting around complaining about the way the stakes had been raised.

We, for example, were on the hook for an array of appliances that our parents never had to pay for, as well as the room to keep them and the electricity to run them.

We also used to spit with derision at the way young(er) folks would never consider buying a starter home but, as soon as they had their first job, expected to own the house that Beaver Cleaver grew-up in (which was Danny Thomas' house, BTW, bought long after he'd become a star).

But wildly over-priced small luxuries are not a myth; in fact, books were written years ago about the way that simple items like bread & water were now staples of the 'small luxuries' market, and you can google that term to see how much has been written about how well those products (like four-dollar-cookies at the mall) have survived 2008.

http://fairreporters.net/health/pri...es-by-state/

No one needs to collect stamps or to smoke one pack per day, but taking the money from the latter and applying it to the former - which would require some discipline - will get you pretty far in philately.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Ok guys. First of all I didn't call this community rude. I said that some of what was written in response to what I wrote was rude. I think if you showed any objective person the other thread that I am referring to (Catalogue value versus market) most would agree with me. I wasn't presenting my opinions as fact. I was presenting them as my perspective as a dealer, based on what I have observed among the collecting community that I have seen everywhere that I have lived, and I have lived in many, many different cities and countries. So I'm not ignorant I don't think. I can't accept Codehappy's explanation that he didn't mean to be rude. I think that if he were in my shoes and I chose to quote parts of sentences - not even full sentences, or paragraphs, but phrases and chose to criticise them in the way he did that he wouldn't like it. If he thinks that is friendly discourse then, well that's his opinion.

I never, ever said that people should collect for investment. I simply acknowledged that there will always be some that do, and there is nothing wrong with expressing an opinion that you think it is a bad idea. It is when you assert that your way is the only way that you cross a line.

I never said that wildly overpriced luxuries are a myth. What I did say is that today's youth have it much worse than your generation. That is not an opinion, that is a fact that is backed up by economic data. There is no comparison between having to pay for appliances back in the 60's and 70's and having to pay $500,000 for a home that your generation could buy for $25,000, or certainly under $100,000, and having to pay $50,000-$100,000 for an education that your generation either didn't absolutely need to have to find good jobs, or cost you much less if you did. To equate these two things is just plain wrong. It is not the same thing. Most millennials today can't ever hope to afford the starter home either and in fact there are fewer and fewer of them around now because people are buying them up, rennovating them and turning them into $500,000 homes in a quick flip.

But you are right, if you forgo all the other luxuries and put your money in stamps, then you can get pretty far I agree. But I doubt that will happen with any except the most devoted young collectors.

I thought my initial post was very well thought out and I am glad to see that at least a few thought so.

Sorry - fell asleep reading all the above postings .

Different people come on this board for different reason ,not all of us are trying to save the hobby or care too..

Some of us come on here for a education ,some to see what others are doing in their collection , others come on here to showcase their own stamps or what they are working on . Some come on here to show what they know .

There are those very few who look at it as a place to get you to spit up that coffee your drinking as you read the board .....or to get a responds from you to post a disagreement . Sometimes it gets perty dead around here and needs to be liven-up.

It takes all kinds to make this a interesting place to visit .....to me the biggest success here is when you get a person who reads the board but never posted but they read your posting and finally decide to post ....a good day !

And no overthinking!

The hobby will survive as it has for over 150 years. It will evolve as it has for over 150 years.

I don't see any of my kids or their friends interested in baseball cards or comic books, or other collectibles.

Handing them a pile of worthless 20th century stamps isn't going to help things. The digital divide to stamps is too great. It needs to be seamless. It might start with smart phones, or even a social game or love codes or a gimmick.
If you want kids, they have to think it's cool. Instead of competing with phones and tablets for attention, make it part of that experience.








If kids did make many small shifts from lattes and Nike shoes, and $100 jeans, to McDonald's coffee, sneakers from target and old Navy pants, they can buy some darn nice stamps.

One good way I have found to raise some interest with kids is with home schooling parents. Give them some WW, this helps with geography and math with the dollar amount or whatever currency is on the stamp. US stamps are great for history teaching.

qaman,
Agreed, but apparently we are not doing a very good job with teaching history.
https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/n...e84a6a35cc77

Don

True, but to learn history you have to have an interest in it. As this interest has declined, so has our hobby among younger folks. I'm sure there's a correlation in there somewhere......

You can't fix stupid.

I think it's as simple as the fact that stamps are not a daily presence in young people's lives anymore, and there are a myriad of potential interests for youth, including many that are digital - the latter of course not existing back 50+ years ago.

In any event, I don't get too fussed about existential discussions about the "survival" of this hobby or another. So long as you enjoy it, continue doing it, and accept that the world changes and will continue to change long after we're all gone. In which case, we can't do anything about it anyways!

Everything old becomes new again. Yoo hoo yoo hoo bada bing

bada bing = something that occurs effortlessly and predictably.

Yes!

read a good bit of this thread - whoa, felt like I was reading War and Peace.

so... I can't give up my Avocado - because, I am from Mexico and have been eating it all my life (before avocado toast was a thing). However, in an effort to get healthy (and live long enough to keep stamp collecting alive - obviously it rests on my shoulder's (lol), I have been cutting down on Starbucks and Cabernet which allows me to purchase more stamps. joking aside,

I joined this stamp party at 44, I have a 12 year old who is obsessed with Geography and History - I feel good that we will contribute to keeping this art alive. I also agree that we come to this site for many different reasons. Nora.