Subway Stamp Shop: Website And Wished-For Products

There's a posting just now noting that Subway is discontinuing its 3-ring 'Nassau' binder which looked a lot like a Lighthouse binder and sold for much less. That got me thinking about stamp suppliers like Subway. I've purchased from suppliers for many many years and I've generally been happy even back to my H.E. Harris days as a kid. Stamp hobby suppliers seem to be very good sellers in my experience. I've brought from Subway for years -- and from IHobb and others online. That said, here are my concerns:

1. I love Subway Stamp Shop and have used them for years. But why is their website so messy and hard to use? It's right out of the first era of online selling and has not been updated -- in years. Many times items are not listed under what you'd think was their proper heading, but when you phone them they do have them for sale. This must cost them a lot in lost sales.

- Their product images are often tiny so you can't tell what the item even looks like, and many products have no images at all.

- Frequently, items are 'out of stock' forever. Why aren't they dropped?

- Some products get changed in odd ways. I recently purchased some album liner pages ("fly leafs") for the Scott International album. These are normally fairly dark blue. The ones they sent were aquamarine. Huh?

All the people I've dealt with there (on the phone) have been very helpful. They really do seem to try to do well. I've never had any problem in dealing with them direct, either. But if a website is a company's main interface with the world, it really needs to work well so you can locate the items you're looking for, have some idea what things look like, and know whether they're in stock.

2. Subway lists many products that are 'out of stock'. I understand that many of these they will order from the manufacturer when I order from them. But many other products don't appear to be available. One time I tried ordering some Marini (Italian) album binders along with some other European-made products, but they told me they no longer stock these. Why are they on the website?

3. Certain items that Subway used to sell have been discontinued even though they seem like obvious money-makers.

- Subway used to sell their own version of very well-made Scott album style binders at prices lower than Scott. And slipcases, too. These were very good products when they were available. I think they still sell their own 2-post Scott binder, but only in large size. They also don't sell their own version of of the Scott 3-ring binders. Or slipcases. Why?

- Scott now sells metal-hinged Specialty album binders. Yet Subway also does not sell their own version. I'd buy these if they were a little less expensive than the Scott version.

- Subway used to sell excellent Scott International album binders of their own manufacturer. These were better than the ones Scott still sells, in my opinion. What was particularly nice was that these were not nearly as thick as the enormous 'regular' sized binder Scott sells. You could actually pick it up with one hand. But Subway stopped selling these. [A few years ago, I managed to find 30 for sale on ebay in barely-used condition, and I bought them all! A rare accidental discovery and a major expense for me.]

I realize that stamp companies are often one-man operations or, at best, family operations. So they don't survive beyond the life of the owners. Other sellers I've used like Potomac Supplies and IHobb near San Diego, often have fine websites and good product availabilty. So it is possible to do that. Subway even used to have a paper catalogue (remember those?) which I found immensely helpful. Of course, that's also gone, a casualty of the internet.

Are stamp supply companies like Subway Stamp Shop slowing fading away and so can't be expected to innovate any longer? I know Subway moved out of NYC years ago to central Pennsylvania, and at that time they seemed to be the biggest stamp supply dealer in the country. So they have been around a long time. Or are these ups and downs just the way it is with all small businesses? Maybe this is just magnified because there are really so few stamp supply sellers left anymore. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

The answer is simple, Subway don't have someone on the payroll capable of update their website. Many companies are in the same situation, they pay a webdesign company ( who often is a single person ) to make the initial website and after no update are made.

Subway's catalog is online - just select the "Catalog and Help" link and then choose if you want coin or stamps. You can download it as a PDF as well as a flip version.

On my last order of some mounts, they had several sizes out of stock. The communication with Subway has improved as they will inform you quickly (like next day) if something is out of stock and ask for directions (wait or ship as is).

The stamp supply business is very competitive and a company can only afford to carry so much stock of less popular items. The volumes likely dictate which subcontractors will make semi-custom products and deal with high MOQs.

In the past Subway was my first (and only) stop for stamp collecting supplies. That is not the case now as it became more and more common for them to not be able to fill my orders due to products being out of stock. I have no issue with having to wait a month or two for an item to be restocked. What I do take issue with is when "out of stock" is really code for "we do not carry it anymore but do not want to tell you that".

In my last two orders to them, I have received a followup email asking for more postage. I don't begrudge it but wouldn't you think thy'd adjust this on their website? I also agree with the dismal reviews of their search engine. I have entered very specific searches and received a return of thousands of items, in no particular order. I agree with the assessment that no one working there on a daily basis knows how to manage the site. They need to bring in a High School kid some weekend and fix the darn thing.

I did receive a print catalog from them a few years back, I had to pay I think $10 for it and not refundable either. It was well worth it IMO. Probably they no longer offer this. Mine is now in tatters.

Subway still offers their paper catalogue, it appears, but it's the 2005 edition. Fair enough if the items are still (mostly) in stock and the prices remain the same. Both, I suspect, are not true.

I'm not trying to 'pick on' Subway so much as using them, a company I've done good business with over the years, to wonder out loud about the business of selling stamp supplies and why it's not done better than it is. I suspect a redesigned, modernized website would change their whole business. Why in the world don't they hire a web designer to do that for them, along with a web staff to help maintain it? If they can't afford it, call up a local college and hire a couple of computer tech students who'd like a "summer job". That might do wonders.

Funny thing is Subway is located in Altoona in central, rural Pennsylvania not far down the road from the American Philatelic Society headquarters and library. I wonder why they both ended up there? If you're an online seller, of course, it doesn't really matter where you're located. Central Pennsylvania could be the Stamp Collecting Capitol of America. And to think that used to be New York City. You could have a philatelic vacation by visiting both places for a couple of days. I'm not planning to do that, but if Subway Stamp "Shop" was an open-stock self serve stamp store (which I doubt it is) that you could browse in for a bit, I'd be tempted. Altoona or Bust! Next time I'm driving across central, rural Pennsylvania . . . .

I've used two European websites that are very well done. One is the Davo Album website (in the Netherlands but available in English). The other is the Schaubek album website in Germany (not sure if it's in English, but it may be). Both can provide paper catalogues if you ask as can Lighthouse Publications. This is how I buy albums, stock books, and so on. I browse and weigh options on well organized websites or in paper catalogues. Stamp supply sellers who don't do that are going to lose out. Current websites that are well designed include IHobb and AmosAdvantage (Scott Publications by any other name). Any others?

Plus ebay, of course, where you don't really need a website. I wonder if Subway Stamp Shop knows about ebay? I'm just looking out for their interest.

I would guess they do not think updating the web site would attract that many new sales especially to justify the expense. I find things hard to find and lots of duplicate like items but otherwise it is usable if you know what you want.I am not saying they should not do it.

I find amosadvantage to be the one I like less. The search does not always work and really need to know what you want or what category they are in but I buy from them nonetheless. It is also slow when searching. Their details are often are skimy too and images not always helpful.

Maybe selling stamp supplies is a low margin business where profits are small? That plus the thriftiness of collectors (ahem!) along with the declining number of collectors (as we're often told), may make this a no-growth business. But since stamp stores have all but disappeared what other options do we have?

The current (2017) Subway catalog is available as a .pdf download from the web site. The link says "coming soon" but it's actually there.

Central Pennsylvania has become the "new Nassau Street" for the 21st Century. All I need is the free time to make the 2 hour drive...
The APS is only 5 miles from Penn State, so not really rural.

I've always used Subway for my supply purchases, like blank pages, glassine interleaves, hinges, etc. There is another supply place that has had large display ads in the back of Linns for many years: Brooklyn Gallery Coin and Stamp.

I don't know anything about them, as I have not used Brooklyn. You can check them out here: http://brooklyngallery.com .

"The APS is only 5 miles from Penn State, so not really rural."

Sorry, I'm betraying my "coastalness" but I've only lived on the east coast (New York area) and in Los Angeles. To me, everything in between sometimes seems like "rural" America, though I know that's not really true. Moo!

For stamp supplies I find iHobb to be everything that Subway etc. used to be, and more. Highly recommended.

https://www.ihobb.com/

I admit that I recently signed on for Amos Advantage, but usually go to Potomac Stamps for online purchases. They are in Bethesda, MD and are also a brick and mortar stamp shop which I have visited, so I try to support those guys.

area66 got this exactly right. I simply do not understand the point of outsourcing IT when a company or organization future relies so heavily upon it. This is not 1995 where a company or organization only need an online 'web presence'. Obviously a lot of business is now being done online, you would think that philatelic companies and organizations would have figured this out about 8-10 years ago.

Instead many seem to be in denial with this and cling to the false economy of outsourcing the occasional website update.
Don

For what it's worth, I've mentioned (very gently) to Subway in phone conversations a few times that I find their website very difficult to navigate, that they're probably losing business, and so on. But since I feel I'm talking to an older person each time, someone probably not very computer literate, I've never expected them to care much. And they haven't. It's a family-owned company, I think, where the founder passed away some years ago (again, I think that's true), and so maybe they're just treading water as best they can until the business eventually closes. Too bad if that's true.