APS Board Approves Five-Year Strategic Plan

It wouldn`t be difficult for an APS employee or board member to visit here to show the flag. I know nothing about APS and, likely because of that, see no advantage in joining the organization.

ikey would blackball me anyway. (Wink.)

If you look at the 2015 budget they apply an "inter-office" fee to many items. For example, expertizing has revenue of $145,600 and a expense of $139,700 then they apply an inter-office fee of 30,800 so there is a net loss. Now, if you got rid of it the $30,800 would likely have to be reapplied since I doubt all of this expense goes away.

As I read it, in 2013, they (APS/APRL) raised $919K and the 2014 estimate was $1.9 Million and in 2015 it is now $705K.

IkeyPikey, I believe the premises in your first question are "oxymoronic". A membership-supported theme museum in rural, central Pennsylvania doesn't seem remotely possible. Is this a "must do" travel destination for anyone, except those traveling to State College?

And the journal, while it is thicker (more advertising and more revenue) and bound better, has become more inward focused and less informational. Over the last several months, they have effectively cut out membership participation (and interesting and substantive discussion) by cutting out letters to the editor and focusing on employees at the front of the journal. Honestly, it reminds me of the old Soviet Life propaganda magazine from the 1960's. Don't ask questions...we don't want to hear it...let's get everybody on the bandwagon...thank you.

The APS will either effectively adapt to changes, or it will wither away.

That is a fair question, bookbndrbob, and here's another:

Q/ If we built the Federal Reserve system today, would five of the twelve banks be in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, St Louis, and Kansas City?

The answer to both your question & mine lies in the geography of 1886, not 2016.

Very few of us could do a good job listing the largest and/or most important American cities of 1886 but, if you google-up such a list, you'll probably find that "rural, central Pennsylvania" is smack in the middle of the lot.

Cities that "we" barely think of today - Cincinnati, Buffalo, etc - were Much Bigger Deals in 1886, while cities that are important today - Los Angeles, Houston, Orlando, etc - were but gleams in their City Fathers' eyes.

I suggest that you take-up collecting postcards of The Golden Era to better appreciate The Way Things Were

Lastly, the future of any "member-supported theme museum" may have less to do with physical visitors and more to do with their online gift store, branded debit cards, member-targeted travel packages ... kinda like the AARP.

The Turner Movie Channel does movie-lover ocean cruises, on which I doubt they lose money.

Q/ How about an Official APS Philatelic Tour of the UK? Plenty of places to visit ...

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Edited to Add: The APS was founded in 1886, but the Bellafonte location was decided upon in the early 1940s. The Fed was founded in 1913.

https://goscf.com/t/47951&whichpage=2#413326

Actually there is an APS officer that frequents the SCF.... Michael Bloom, Chairman, APS Collectors and Student Education Committees; Member of APs Membership Committee.... just saying.

Really, I'm a little surprised that APS hasn't done gift shop sales. Stamp-themed calendars, t-shirts, sponsored credit cards, and other items could be sold and would not conflict with their advertisers.

The calendars could mark APS and stamp events...and who would'nt want to look at great stamp pics rather than generic landscapes.

http://www.pomegranate.com/2016-calendars-all.html ... bookbndrbob needs a better calendar ... will you help?

Pomegranate has some nice calendars, but none with a philatelic theme.

Surely running an online sales business has far more headaches than a forum. The APS is not going to beef up membership by improving a physical presence in Bellefonte PA. Their only hope to cut dwindling membership is to improve their online presence.

If we are to believe that a consistent online audience would be a drag to the APS instead of a boon then APS is indeed doomed to dwindle away to obscurity.

I think that they are one of the few stamp society organizations that pay something to philatelists whose articles appear in "The American Philatelist".

I think any philatelic society should have a goal to be THE go-to website for their particular philatelic area. I didn't read the plan, so my apologies if this is already being worked on, but the APS should try to digitize as much of the APS library as possible and make it available on demand to any member with a login. That would be a real value-add. I should add that I don't know if there would be copyright issues with doing this.

APRL has been digitizing some existing works but copyright laws tie their hands in many cases. They have put forth a large effort, in conjunction with other major philatelic libraries, on a digital 'catalog' (index) to their holdings. Since charging for access to this information is a profit center for most of the libraries, taking this step was logical and 'safe'. They have tried to offer a combined index with other major libraries so that users can go to a single portal and search across all of them. The result of this effort is at http://catalog.stamplibrary.org

The portal is a nice tool and is probably under-utilized by many hobbyists; this may be for several reasons. It may be that most people searching for info online want more than a 'teaser' with a shopping cart, they are looking for real-time access. But it is great for anyone wanting to spend some money and 'rent' the information from one of the large libraries at a later date.

This places APS/APRL in competition with the internet; I am not sure that this is a good strategy.
Don

oldguy, good to hear about Michael Bloom. Maybe he will raise his head up sometime soon.

I'm not an officer (and therefore don't speak officially for the APS; my comments here are my personal comments alone), but I am chair of the membership committee and had some input into the strategic plan.

My understanding of any combination of internet sales and circuits is administrative, and for the purpose of attempting to cut costs and enhance efficiency. The goal is to make the sales services self-sustaining, rather than a net cost to APS, which means that increased sales are also a goal. Making circuits available online IN ADDITION TO or as an alternative to traditional circuits would be aimed in that direction, though I can't say for certain whether that is actually contemplated.

Increasing library and information access is definitely part of the plan. As noted, digitization has major copyright issues associated with it; it's also very expensive. Retiring mortgage debt on the Bellefonte facility would do a lot to increase cash flow available for member services and other initiatives, but flat-out digitizing the library just isn't going to happen. Top priority, as I understand it, is making digital archives available for APS and APRL journals and publications.

The idea of a general forum has been brought up but it's correctly stated that an "official" forum would require monitoring (in addition to the potential for development and hosting costs), which is time staff doesn't really have at the moment. I am also personally uncertain what advantage an "official" APS forum might have over the several active philatelic forums that already exist. The plan does call for significantly enhanced educational and course offerings, as well as potentially otherwise to connect like-minded collectors or to otherwise act as a "convenor" (that's Michael Bloom's term).

If you aren't an APS member and are interested in APS, I'd love to hear from you. I'm also interested in hearing from those who are not APS members for specific reasons [whether it's something that the society doesn't offer, or anything else]; it all helps guide what the Society does going forward.

Matt Liebson