APS Board Approves Five-Year Strategic Plan

Welcome to SCF: Are you a stamp collector yourself?

I was not a stamp collector when I was hired, but have an extensive collection of baseball cards and comic books going back some time.

Since joining the APS, I have started an accumulation of Cuban stamps - pretty much from the post-Spanish American War period to the Bautisita regime. The country of Cuba is an area of interest to me as a public policy issue I've worked on for the past 20 years. As the US works on normalizing relations with Cuba, we have a great opportunity to explore an area that has been shut off to a large degree to U.S. collectors. We could be looking at an exciting new era.

Scott:

I have a minor Cuba fetish, myself:

https://goscf.com/t/46288 ... Cuba! (in World Covers)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

ikey means Cuba libres. (Wink.)

Outstanding covers! I have accumulated a few along the way. Mostly wartime censors. Any wisdom you have, I would love to hear.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

IkeyPikey,

Regarding APS developing a software platform to host/integrate with APS affiliates, the point of a "platform" would be to provide uniform UI experience and access the same features. Done once for APS itself and rolled out to all paying affiliates with APS branding. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.




If that's the case, then I will likely drop my membership in the near future. I'll wait and see how they address the online community improvements.

As for a museum. I seriously doubt I will ever visit Bellefonte PA and I expect there are many folks that could be potential members that don't give a hoot about the facility in PA. Online is critical for the APS to survive beyond the next 10-15 years.

I joined the APS just a few months ago. I also will most likely never visit APS HQ in PA. And due to where I live, I may never even attend an APS show (or indeed any show, ever) or meet another APS member (or indeed another stamp collector) in person. For those reasons, a good online presence is definitely the key for me.

Math problem!

Let's say that the APS sets a goal of adding a total of five thousand new members in the next five years, which would yield U$D 200k per year in new net income.

Only, it would not.

Unless they are spending zero money to recruit those members - no paid advertising in the philatelic press, no social media & search engine optimization consultants, no new staff dedicated to this effort, no subsidizing join recruitment efforts with the affiliate clubs, etc - its gonna cost money to make that new money.

Moreover, the newer members are gonna come with expectations, some of which will not be met. People might join on a personal trial basis. People might fail to renew because they find & choose other philatelic memberships & subscriptions.

So the APS could add five thousand new members over the next five years and, at the end of those five years, have two thousand renewing members (U$D 40 * 2000 => U$D 80k per year) that cost them tens of thousands of dollars to recruit.

This was the problem at AOL. They were spending an average of an astonishing U$D 140 per new subscriber, and those subscribers lasted 3-5 months, some of which were free. Anyone who can guarantee that a serious APS membership recruitment effort would be profitable should ask Scott for a job.

Now, put yourself on the APS/APRL board, and look from the inside out. Yes, you can undertake a massive, expensive, public membership drive, or you can ask old guys with deep pockets to just give you that same U$D 200k per year, but as contributions to an endowment.

I won't say which plan is better for the hobby, but I'll bet I know which plan would be easier for the board.

Put another way, the problem for the hobby & its hobbyists is that the APS does not need a thriving hobby for the APS to survive.

"Online is critical"? Online is risky. Online is expensive. And online only brings in revenue that comes with operating expenses attached.

</2c>

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

ikey,
"Online is risky. Online is expensive." I am sure that at the turn of the century many people said the same thing, "Automobiles are risky. Automobiles are expensive. Give me a good horse any day."

At the turn of the century we had a transportation paradigm shift. Today we have had an information delivery paradigm shift. APS did not change, the world changed around them. There is not much of a choice here; either APS will meet this challenge or it will become less and less relevant.

I do not think that stamp collecting, as a hobby, has experienced a great decline in recent years. Yes, prices have fallen. Yes, membership and subscriptions have fallen in organizations like APS. But perhaps these issues are the result of the confluence of the hobby and the internet. Perhaps prices have dropped due to the ability of the internet to present selling opportunities to every hobbyist 24/7. Perhaps people do not need APS or Linns paper to satisfy their weekly appetite for philatelic information anymore.

So I think the questions can be asked the other way. How risky is it to not change? How expensive will it be to not change? A strategic plan which squarely places an organization in competition with the internet could be described as expensive and risky.

A forum is a good example. I know what APS thinks about the hosting of a forum; they are expensive and risky. Yet there are many others who have taken the risk and incurred the cost of doing it. Frajola's forum, the 'down under' forum, this forum, the Delphi forum are all continuing to press on through the 'risks' and 'expenses' of operating successfully. The desire of hobbyists to communicate in real-time overwhelms the desire to be conservative. So while it is true that APS has avoided the cost and risk of administrating a forum, they have also missed the opportunity. Now if they eventually do decide to start a forum, they will have to overcome a fractioned market already divided among much competition.

Paradigm shifts are always difficult because change is always difficult. None of us like sweeping changes, it is uncomfortable to have the world change around us. But I am not so sure that ignoring the paradigm shift is the best long term approach. We can keep feeding and caring for the horses in an effort to avoid changing to an automobile today, but this does not seem to me to be sustainable approach for taking us into the future.
Don

Let me add a small story of mine about how 'inside looking' and 'out-of-tech' APS is when it comes to all things online, and why I don't believe there would be the kind of change most people here hope/wait for.

About year back I noted that the learnaboutstamps.org (APS run website that recommends online resources for those interested of stamps and collecting) didn't have a link to my stamp website (not to mention several others worth a praise and listing).

Well, on I went and filled the 'link request form' found on the site. About week later I got an short 'request denied' email with list of three arguments (and this an exact quote from the email I received):

'1. The owner is not an APS member
2. There appears to be no link to the APS site other than as part of blog entries
3. The only way to find content on a site appears to be via search which significantly reduces its usefulness.'

None of the arguments relate to anyway to how beneficial the suggested link might actually be. The primary message I got was 'No APS logo, not one of us. Go away!'. Sigh. I do understand that APS is members organization, but... The above approach simply does not work in online world. At least if trying to reach out and expand to wider audience or promote the hobby (which I hope/believe is the purpose of learnaboutstamps.org).

And my 'geek brains' can't even handle the third argument. In a world where 'search is king' it seems so twisted and out-of-touch of reality.


Anyway, I've moved forth with my stamp website since then, and since Don wrote almost poetically about facing tough paradigm shifts, I've finally moved my SCB to 'subscribers only' mode. Yes, I was horrified about the change and the thought of loosing all those hundreds of daily readers visiting my stamp blog. But after 48 hours I can already say that the 'leap into future' seems to have more than paid off.

As for future of APS... Reminds me a lot of T-Rex. Once ruled the earth, but no more.

-k-

Hosting a forum is expensive ? There are many vbulletin based boards serving all sorts of interests and many do not have any real sponsors. Many share a common thread - a person with a strong desire to fulfill a need and not a lot of staff around to maintain it.

APS has had lots of plans, retreats, etc. with the best minds in the hobby. One flaw is they want the group to what THEY think APS should be and not what potential members would like it to be.

Al

Exclusivity is a thing of the past that the internet has helped to break down these days making things more available. They should look and learn from other philatelic organization websites like uspcs.org, usstamps.org, bnaps.org, canadianpsgb.org.uk, rpsc.org, etc. They all have free searching of their past philatelic journals which cover U.S. and Canadian philately which I am both interested in. A very important thing about internet things today is that most approval and disapproval of things is done by word of mouth which is actually keypad writing. They could start with building on their members who are their best and most satisfied supporters first in recommending them to others that they know. Also, every dissatisfied and leaving member has the potential to do the opposite and affect potential members that they may know or connect with. The APS should combine some connection, partnering, understanding and arrangement with The United States Post Office (USPS), Linns, Scott, Amos Publications, The National Postal Museum (NPM), etc. just like it has done with The American Philatelic Research Library (APRL). It is important that they hear what their philatelic members and also philatelic past members and non-members have to say.

Well, if you know what you are doing and you don't mind putting hundreds of hours non-paying work, then it won't cost you much.

But otherwise you're easily looking north of 100K/year for a major forum. Why? Because you need at least 1-2 dedicated folks to take care of the servers; do security and system audits and updates; assists users with their problems; do moderation etc.

Of course you can use things such as ProBoards or Delphi (or Blogger or Tumbrl for blogs), or even something as Facebook. But on all those services you are a tenant. And if the 'master' cuts your access to 'your service' (for reason or another), then that's the end of it. Doesn't happen? Think again.

-k-

Most web based businesses don't manage their own web servers. They will use AWS or similar service to host their sites. This not only cuts down costs, but enables rapid scaling should your web service take off. I believe Facebook used to be 100% AWS until fairly recently.

I do not feel that the cost of software is significant. I also do not think that the cost of server(s)/routers/bandwidth should have been an obstacle. The cost of a good IT human resource would have been the largest cost. Ideally, APS would have begun investing in IT resources a decade ago. The first money should have been spent on a good IT professional who would have been the internal champion for their technology vision. Without a champion and a person who is held responsible for progress, it would have failed.

In my opinion APS vision should have brought under one online umbrella everything they could. Not simply a forum, or on-demand videos, or a kick-butt web site, but also hosting for regional chapters. The name of the game would have been to drive traffic to their site, become the 'go to' place for philatelic information. By having other regional web sites under the same umbrella they would be in great position to add additional value with things like an in-house search engine. They also would be in a great position to absorb content if needed and to tackle other, larger group projects.

None of the above was out of reach for an organization like APS. The salary of the IT person would have been the largest cost, perhaps $75k. The initial cost of the software and hardware would have had an NRE cost of <$60k the first year and then drop off to less than a $2k per year after that. In terms of additional help, I would think that APS would want to tap into volunteers to do things like moderate a forum, contribute educational videos, writing fresh and interesting content.

If APS had made this investment 10 years ago (which would have been a bit late) they would now be in a great position for the future. But I doubt that the budget was the biggest issue. The bigger challenge was finding the courage to change the legacy 'build walls around philatelic information' profit centers. As difficult as change is for a single person it is even harder for organizations. I doubt anyone was willing to recommend that APS rip up their existing income structure and embrace new ways to make money and build membership. The far safer approach was to 'stay the course' and do what they have done in the past.

Time will be the final judge if APS has followed the right path. If they can turn around the declining membership numbers and grow their online value, perhaps they can pull through. They need some real, tangible changes to turn this big ship around so that membership value increases in the face of online competition. My fear is that if they do not do this soon, the value of an APS membership will continue to be diluted.
Don