APS Board Approves Five-Year Strategic Plan

Please note that I do not advocate that APS throw the doors open and give away the entire pie. I am suggesting that they give away pieces of pie in an effort to sell more baked goods. Everyone can get free pieces of pie now from other online resources like this forum. This competition is impacting APS membership levels; we have all seen multiple posts where folks say 'I used to be a member but did not feel I was getting my monies worth". Keep in mind that the internet is a great equalizer. A fellow like Mario (owner EZ Stamp) has used it to take market share away from a dominate philatelic entity like Amos.

Imagine ebay not having 'Buy It Now', that is where APS is currently sitting. Consider the APS 'online course' implementation. Go-To-Meeting? Go-To-Meeting is fine for just that, attending meetings for those who cannot be at a location during a specific time.

Here is where I think APS should be headed. First, analyze the current philatelic videos offerings on YouTube (the competition). Then develop and place on their web site (for free) these kinds of basic stamp collecting videos. Develop and publish on-demand specialized videos for pay. One price for non-members and a deeply discounted price for members. These on-demand videos could be accessed and played 24/7/365. They would be taking advantage of impulse buying while also reinforcing the value of a membership. And by offering the free videos they would be promoting the hobby while driving additional traffic to their web site. APS should also publish a specification for others who wish to contribute videos to help build their video library and keep it fresh.

The above epitomizes what they should be doing with all forms of information (not just videos). The game has changed from charging a premium for every piece of pie to giving out samples to entice folks to walk into the bakery and smell the other great offerings.
Don

It's an asset in a very broad sense. I assume one of the reasons why anyone joins a philatelic society is to connect with other members and gain some of their knowledge. This, of course, is assuming a knowledgeable collector who is willing to share their knowledge freely with others. I know this isn't always the case, but most collectors are happy to share information when they can. Anyway, a society that has a reputation for containing many experts is probably attractive to perspective new members. In that respect, even though their knowledge might not be written down (at least by them), it's still an asset to the organization, in a roundabout way.

I agree (GO VIDEO!) but disagree about how to go there.

Do not look at what anyone else is doing.

Do not become a developer ... become a sponsor.

Very small cash rewards (a few hundred bucks each) will bring forth amateur videos on philatelic subjects.

Openly promote these rewards thru existing youth clubs & programs at the APS, CCNY, et al.

Let the contributors judge the winners ... you make a video, you get a vote ... the kids will know what they like.

If you can get free hosting at YouTube without permanently surrendering copyright, the APS channel is born.

If that is not possible, okay, pay a contractor to get you up on the cloud.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I think its crazy that I belong to a society that calls itself America's Stamp Club and yet I can't log into a forum and tap into the expertise of the 31000 current members.

Since it is a big market place these days with so many choices and options opened up by the internet (an example is crowdsourcing like this forum provides for philatelic knowledge through questions and answers) one will go for that which they find that serves or supplies them best, especially if they are informed, look and shop around.

After a couple of discussions on this form a few years ago about the value of an APS membership, I decided to give it a try. Basically I have been content with my membership but I share the same frustrations that have been expressed on this thread. What surprised me the most was the number of APS member contacts I've made who don't even have an email address.

My unscientific guess is that you can break the APS membership down into five categories: 1. those with no internet access or interest; 2. those that use the internet but only for the basic things like sending relatives email and pictures; they get lost web surfing and using internet forums; 3. those that use computers for work and want to relax with their hobby and see using the internet as just more work; 4. those that are computer literate and use the internet, and 5. those (some of whom are on this forum ) who can actually create useful programs, data bases and albums.

I bet the majority of APS members are in categories 1, 2 and 3. This is reflected in the leadership elected. They are responsive to their membership. The remainder (4 and 5) gravitates to a forum like this. If APS created a forum, my hunch is that the utilization would be less than this forum. You can't tap into all the expertise of the 31000 members; they don't use the internet.

That's why IMHO the APS and, to some extent, Amos are stuck in the pre-internet mud.

Dan

I don't like all this newfangled stuff! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!

I believe the percentage of people not online is approaching zero these days. All businesses that failed to adapt to this have suffered. Many to the point where they are no longer around.

Artful,

love it!

Dan,
I agree that some percentage of APS members are not up to speed with today's technology, my guess would be about 1/3 of the membership. But I must be missing why that is significant; is the point that APS can safely ignore the future due to some Luddite members? If this were 1910, we could say that less than 66% of stamp collectors owned automobiles. Would that mean back then that local stamp collecting organizations shouldn't be bothered to start planning events since so few hobbyists owned that 'new fangled' technology?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Don

Per Wikipedia, 81% of the US had the internet at home in 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter...ss_and_speed

I'm guessing it's gone up somewhat since then, but I'm sure it's still under 90%. If 10-15% of the general population doesn't have internet access, it's probably at least 2-3x that amongst those over 70. Not that it should make much of a difference in the APS's plans.

You don't need internet access at home to be online. And I would guess it is way over 90% now, if you count people with smart phones as having home internet access.

Don,




I agree. Therein lies the problem with the APS. They can't ignore the future. Their membership numbers show it. My point was that stamp collectors are generally older, more conservative in adopting new technology and much less computer literate. (I'm generalizing of course)They are the ones that are electing the leadership or at least the leadership (to the demise of the APS) are catering to.

Dan

Art and adcaplan,
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Don

So, in North America, which is US, Canada, and Mexico, there are 313M internet users out of 357M people. Of the 44M non-internet users, I would guess that a large percentage are below the age of 5 (although, maybe that should be 4?).