Leadership Changes At The APS

I just wanted to draw your attention to today's announcement on the organizational changes at the APS.

http://blog.stamps.org/2018/08/24/g...er-to-great/

Scott

It would be interesting to see salary information for APS employees.

They pay more in salary than they take in in dues. $1,841,600 was paid in salary and benefits in 2017.

Their budget:
https://stamps.org/userfiles/file/f...L-Budget.pdf

That is why they are looking for new revenues sources especially as membership continues to decline.

Gentlemen: thanks for sharing the APS budget. Interesting information.

I've served on boards of various non-profits; some with staff and some without; almost continuously since 1974. I've been in three president/board chair roles, including one national professional society. I currently serve on two boards; one national .501(c)3 doing environmental education, and one state wide foundation. My point in bringing this up is that the days of running a significant non-profit, like the APS, on a shoestring budget, are long gone. Other than what is in the budget, salary amounts are properly considered confidential information, available only to the board of directors.

Regards,

Steve

Every year, it is up to the individual member, whether or not they value membership enough to continue.

Personally, I tend to have a negative view of a board of directors which makes a decision/decisions counter to a decision (not opinion) the general membership was asked to make on a proposal.

The APS board of directors should be very careful about any decision to raise dues and fees. The general membership has already shown itself to be most generous in supporting the organization.

I made a presentation to the Board regarding the membership dues which were last increased in 2008. My recommendation to the Board is that we maintain the annual membership level again for 2019 and that will be reflected when we present the budget in November. I don't expect the Board will support an increase.

I spoke to diversifying revenue streams because of the membership dues history - especially the two increases that came in 2003 and 2008 which cost the APS a substantial percentage of members. The personnel line has remained somewhat consistent and is manageable for the foreseeable future. Like any other organization, health insurance costs will grow much faster than inflation. What we want to do is give members a value proposition that they pay for what they use rather than pay for things they do not. If those items hold value they can be sustained without increasing dues.

Thanks.

Health insurance, and medical/drug costs are a continuing concern for those of us in the USA.

Scott, were you referring to options with health care or were you talking about curtailing some of the less used services with the APS when you said


If APS member services, what areas seem to be the least used and most expendable?

I should have separated those lines. Our employee health insurance line will increase faster than the salary line because insurance increases double digits annually.

As for programs, education is further along than anything else in evaluation. Over the years, a variety of youth programs have been added and there has been no evaluation of effectiveness versus time spent.

In terms of new programs, with the new website, we're opening the line to our virtual library to the membership to access journals online and more digital publications. This is one of the two greatest potentials for revenue.

One area that I am concerned about is expertizing. We've cut the operational loss from $90,000 to $30,000. The number one reason people use our service is price point, so we have to determine if we can increase volume or if it's appropriate to look at the charges to balance out the loss.

We're going through this analysis on existing programs and will set metrics for new programs. We're about two weeks away from the new website and we'll be rolling out news through the Fall.

I was/am curious about salaries -- but I did not mean to imply that people shouldn't be well-paid. APS is our national society. I want it to thrive and succeed; to do so, it needs to hire and retain competent people. I have no objections to that.

I know it would be unpopular with many members, but were I King for a Day, I would leave dues at the current rate and include AP as an EPUB. Members who need a print copy of AP would pay an extra $20 per year to cover part of the printing and postage.

Just my 2¢ worth,
K

From what I have seen in prior years, the salaries are modest including the ED.

I would be curious to know the number of visitors to the Library annually that utilize the resources within.

I just joined a couple months ago, mostly to support access to online publications.

Then while looking for reference books on eBay, a seller reminded me that I can also check out books from the APS library. I have 5 books on the way, shipped immediately, and the person helping me did a great job. She was so helpful and polite, and let me know exactly what to expect, options for payment, etc.

Needless to say, I will be renewing.

You need to consider why people choose other services over the APS. I can tell you that dealers and auction houses prefer PSE or PF over APS certs. Are they opinion shopping thinking they are more likely to get a more positive/less negative opinion from these other services? (which would be a sad sate of affairs) or do they not trust the APS as much? (which is an entirely different thing). I know what I have heard as well as what I have observed, but you need to gather as much input as you can. The other factor to consider is speed, which is more important to dealers and auction houses that collectors.

According to our research, price is the advantage. Perceived worth varies on the customer. Specifically, classic U.S. collectors will use the PF, U.S. dealers tend to use PSE, and we appeal to U.S. collectors at $2,000 or less and worldwide collectors (we get references from other firms for this because our worldwide experts are the most trusted in the U.S.).

Our operation is first come, first serve - which is not necessarily everyone else's business model. That proves to be difficult for auction houses and dealers who need to process certificates as quickly as possible. Though there are critics of APEX, there is a great amount of overlap in the expert community when it comes to U.S. stamps. We do not do grading and that also matters for some customers. I will let others determine the worth of other services, but we actually guarantee our opinions. I have also noted that our opinions and service are transparent and publicly-debated - creating more data points for customers than many other services out there who rely on referrals.

What we need to do with this information is to be determined. I expect it will require an infusion of cash for equipment and personnel to substantially change the outcomes.




Our Library staff is great. Thank you for joining and for sharing your experience. We're proud to have you as a member!

Scott