Guidelines To Scale Back Collecting New Issues

I'd like to scale back from collecting all new USPS issues, so came up with the following guidelines:

ignore annual issues: flag, love, various holidays
ignore commemoratives that do not commemorate events or people: frozen treats
ignore commercialism: Hot Wheels cars
ignore reissues in different format: 10c pears in pane form (2017)
possibly ignore high-value stamps that will see little postal use: Sleeping Bear Dunes

For 2018 that would leave:
Lena Horne
Illinois
Mister Rogers
1818 Flag
2c coil lemons
Air Mail
Sally Ride
World War 1
John Lennon
First Responders

A problem is these guidelines exclude the occasional issue that I like, such as 2018's O Beautiful. Adding "except for issues I like" to the guidelines seems too arbitrary. What guidelines do others use to decide what new issues to collect?

Perf10, I have totally abandoned collecting newer issues after about 1980. With the exception of the US Transportation Coils that is. Every so now and then I see a new issue that I like; I might buy them for use as postage. But collecting them is no longer an option

Peter

Why? The catalog value for every new stamps is 2x the face value!

"Collect the stamps that you like" may be the very best criterion; don't see how the best criterion can ever be arbitrary.

Quote: The catalog value for every new stamps is 2x the face value!

Yes they are if not more. Dealer has to make something after the discount from cataloge. And a few will command a little more. But in a couple of years you can purchase most of them by the box for about 50% of face to use as postage if that is all you plan to do with ones you don't collect.

I buy them all. I figure even if there is 200 issues a year (which is a high estimate) I can buy 200 stamps at .50 cents for a little over 8 dollars a month. Seems like a really small amount to spend on a hobby a month to me. I happen to be one of those people who like all the new issues. I see people who refer to many of the new stamps issues as stickers and that is there opinion. Frankly I think this is bad for the hobby and sends the wrong message to people about the hobby. It sends the message that collecting stamps is not worth the time, cost or effort. Every hobby changes over time especially as technology changes. You either adapt or the hobby withers away. I will get off my soap box now.

Why shoudn't you collect what you like? Hard rules are a little OCD to me.

If you want a cheap challenge, instead of mint stamps, try to get current stamps properly used on cover, "proper" being whatever definition you decide to make. Even better (worse?), current stamps not horribly smudged and/or not cancelled by Marker Monkey.

I cut off my U.S. collection in 2005. Since then, I've only bought issues that interest me topically, whether for postage or for the collection. In 2018 I bought a pane of Mister Rogers to use for postage and three panes of John Lennon: one to use and two to save.

My comment was sarcasm. The catalog value does not go down knowing that most dealers obtain stamps well below face.

Sarcasm doesn't work well in print.

I like the challenge of working within a set of rules. At age 10 I certainly could not afford buying all the USPS issues, even when they were fewer quantity, so the rule then was what I could afford. Now older I can afford all new USPS stamps, so funding is no longer a constraint. Instead in today's atmosphere of declining use of the mails, and declining interest in the hobby, $100 per year feels like wasteful spending. After I die I can imagine my modern collection being simply discarded due to both lack of value and lack of interest, and for me that sucks some of the enjoyment out of collecting new issues. A way to keep the challenge yet not overspend would help retain my interest in the hobby.

I collect the current issues uses. Now the challenge is to not only to find all of them, but also to find them not obliterated with pens or the horrible modern cancellations.

Yes, I collect used, and it's a challenge these days to complete a year set. To fill in those missing, sometimes I post and mail them to myself, which feels a bit like cheating, but isn't really different from buying them in used form.

Collect whatever you want.It's your money; spend it how you want it.

I stopped collecting most singles when USPS switched to self-adhesives. I kept collecting plate blocks of definitives and singles of the short-lived (and high denomination) Priority and Priority Express issues. In this way, whoever inherits my collection won't have to purchase those very expensive PBs at the then current market values.

Good move uboat. I'm quitting 12/31/2019 when my last binder is filled. I'm really tired of collecting this trash.

Jack Kelley

I quit when they started issuing imperf stamps the same as perforated just for a cash grab.