Nyt Op-Ed Piece On Stamp Collecting

I use to frequent Maryland Stamps & Coins in Bethesda, Maryland quite a lot in the 1990's. It was fairly common that on my visits that someone showed up with a kid's collection. Dave or Herman Most or even Rusty was nice in telling them that it didn't have much monetary value. Rarely, did anything walk in the door of any value.

Poor cat. They don't like coffee.

Very biased piece. One look at the condition of that (obviously not acid-free) stock book and just about any dealer would run. The writer never mentioned how much money he put into the hobby so I'm not sure what expectations he had when selling. I also don't understand the "emotional toll" of selling any kind of collection which had no place in his life for 50 to 60 years. C'mon.

Don is completely correct in stating that multiple factors have to be analyzed together to measure the health of philately. APS membership being down means either a) they don't know how to recruit, or b) they are no longer relevant. That has nothing to do with the hobby.

Stamp show attendance is dwindling? This is as it should be- shoppers can find a few thousand choices to buy from at a bourse vs. the internet where many millions of stamps are available for sale. Likewise, show sellers are stubbornly sticking to a business model where they pay 15 to 20% of catalog for good stamps they want to sell for 75 to 90% of catalog. That business model has lived out most of it's useful working life and is gradually heading for retirement. It's called competition.

Many stamp sellers survived the collapse of pricing in 1981. They can do so again, if they view the metrics of the hobby objectively and make the adjustments. There is an old cliche that applies here- "The most dangerous words are, 'That's how we've always done things.' "

To continue along Don's line of reasoning, I'll give an example from the world of baseball. In Flushing, NY the now-demolished Shea Stadium had a capacity of around 56,000 for baseball games. It's replacement, City Field (built in Shea's parking lot!), has a capacity of less than 42,000. That's a reduction of almost 25% of seating capacity. Does anyone here think interest in the Mets or MLB as a whole is dwindling? Of course not- MLB has never been more popular. The trend towards smaller stadiums in baseball reflects an adjustment MLB has made to changing trends in the economics of baseball, land and construction costs, changing tastes of the fans who attend live games, cable tv, the internet, and various other factors that affect how fans desire to "consume" the game of baseball.

Philately may be doing the same, but I don't think any of us knows for sure. When competition increases, prices drop, however is this because of reduced consumption or increased supply?

Must *everything* touch on politics these days? I don't think the NY Times has an agenda with running this piece, there's no need to impute one.

It is called "humor".

I completely agree. This thread has gone way too political. Maybe we should just move it to the "twitterverse" or blame it on being an island out in the middle of a really big ocean?

I questioned whether to post it at all, knowing that some would choose to disparage the source rather than to discuss the merits (or lack thereof) of the article itself. I guess I'll just go watch some football if I want to get away from politics. Oh wait, can't even do that anymore...

Ditto in opposition to any whiff of divisive politically-based comments on this forum, even in jest. There's plenty of that almost anyplace else, and it doesn't take much to set it off. I look upon SCF -- and stamp collecting in general -- as a safe haven from the constant wrangle on news channels and social media.

Given that a large % of all the stamp designs ever issued both here and around the world are political, and that most collectors are political, it's always just under the surface. People should not be surprised when it shows up at the slightest provocation, or even assumed provocation.

Politics null and void in topics. The majority rules! Or is it the majority.........

I'm not surprised, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a comment. For the most part, politics doesn't creep into this forum. I'd like it to stay that way.

We try to avoid any drama, not politics. There is, unfortunately, a tendency for drama to invade virtually any thread that involves politics. When forums have drama the number of people posting falls away for a few days; I assume that some people head for cover and keep their heads low. As such I respectfully request folks weigh the possibility of drama and it's impact of forum participation before they submit political orientated posts.

There are plenty of political forums with loads of people who love to talk politics; at the end of the day our common ground is philately.
Don

Snowflakes are melting.

The post directly above is a good example; it only creates more drama. No more polite requests; move on.
Don

Perhaps it would be helpful to have guidelines as to what topics are verboten. If it was an open edit list everyone could add to it with whatever offends or bothers them.