The Scott New Issues Update Leave A Lot To Be Desired

It's now April 2015, and the last New Issues Update for Ukraine was done in August 2014, and covered stamps through the end of January 2014. No new catalog numbers since then.

What gives, Scott?

Up to December 2014

http://www.wnsstamps.post/en/stamps...er_by%5D=asc

You could also try http://poshta.kiev.ua/nishop.php

The issue isn't finding out what's new. I get emails from Ukrposhta every time a new release comes out. The issue is getting assigned Scott catalog numbers. It just seems that Scott updates some countries every single month, and others get updated very infrequently. The August 2014 update included almost a year's worth of stamps, and I think they only did it because I sent them an email about it.

Why allow yourself to be controlled by a publisher that doesn't regard your specialty as important? You probably know more about this area than their editors do. You should assign your own numbers and publish your own web page that reports them, to assist others who are equally passionate, and start telling collectors and dealers about it.

I use MICHEL's numbering system. But I was putting together a spreadsheet that was going to have both MICHEL and Scott numbers, and was kind of surprised to see this. I know that a lot of stamps get issued every month, but it shouldn't be that hard to compile them together monthly. I think every stamp issuing authority can email you as new releases come out.

This is where we once again see the limitations of Scott's manual process.

That's exactly what they do. It could be a couple years or more before some countries get an update. This also applies to the bulk of the existing catalog prices as well. They don't do a thorough review of each country every single year. I'd say the main parts of the US catalog are reviewed closely every year, but most countries are on something like a 3-5 year rotation before getting a closer look from the editors.

Perhaps it would be worth checking into this, and seeing if it's still true, but I believe I've read in the past that Scott does not rely on announcements about stamps, but rather only lists new issues when it actually has possession of the stamp.

For whatever reason, perhaps they only receive the stamps of this country only a few times per year, rather than as issued.

You know there are a lot of stamps issued every year. The smart company would have someone in each country they throw a few dollars at. That person goes to the postal counter, buys the stamp, measures it, scans it and then logs into some website and enters all the data into a database. But that's the mid 40s geek in me talking.