Will You Be Collecting New Stamp Issues By The USPS?

Yes... but like most modern stamps, I primarily collect them postally used. I won't be buying them from the USPS as new issues, anyway.

Am not an active collector of US or US-area postage stamps. However, I do agree with many of the critical comments made herein re the excessive nbr of issues annually and overal trivialization of recent USPS issues,

I am lucky that my Dad gives me the new issues as the Christmas gift from him. If it was not for that, I would have stopped in 2006. I dislike self-adhesive stamps as it adds another big annoyance to collecting mint stamps.

I'm out after this year. In fact, I just bought the last of my priority mail stamps (2019) at the post office. I also bought my 2019 ducks and may or may not continue after this year. Undecided on that.

Jack Kelley

I'll only buy and save new issues that appeal to me - not collect every issue.
I'll continue to collect new issues as used stamps as I receive them or obtain them in trades, etc.

Dave N.

Yes I will continue to buy every new issue from the post office as I have done since 1954. Had my grand mother ( whose collection I inherited in 1965) who was born in 1880 had done so , I would have quite a collection today. I realize that it was probably not feasible
for her to purchase all the high dollar stamps of the early 20th century. But oh what if ! When my grand daughter inherits my collection , she won't be saying " oh what if "

I used to get four sheets of each new stamp except the high values and 10 stamped postcards and envelopes sent through the USPS subscription service to make sure I would not miss any. At one time (about 20 or 30 years ago) they sent album pages and a binder free with their commemorative stamp club. They also send non printed binder pages for a few years with the subscription service. I was thinking of stopping or decreasing the number of sheets and cards because I was no longer using the extra ones for postage when I had to get a new credit card and cancel my old one. Since the USPS no longer had a valid card, they suspended my subscription service. What was unusual for any business is that they never contacted me saying my credit card was invalid or asked if I wanted to send them the new one. They just stopped sending new stamps. I decided that I would stop getting new issues so did not contact them. I am still amazed that they did not pursue my continued business.

In the 1890s, the Post Office Department issued the famous, lengthy Columbian Series with values all the way up to $5. The stamp collecting public, and others as well, denounced the wastefulness and the ridiculous expense of the series. Many collectors simply refused to buy them. And they demanded no more extended issues.

Did that work? Doesn't look like it to me. What collectors actually got was incomplete collections. Wouldn't you be a lot happier if your great-grandparents had purchased a beautiful mint set of the stamps and put them away carefully for their descendants to enjoy? I would.

Now we get very much the same thing about modern stamps. There are excessive issues, too many high values, and so on. I agree. There are. But as collectors, we have to decide if we're going to complain about stamps or collect them (I do both). I generally avoid stamps whose designs or subjects seem silly. But I do collect most of what the Postal Service issues because, after all, I collect U.S. stamps. The highest values are a bit of a problem, that's for sure. So often I delay buying them. $25 for one stamp is not easy to take.

For collectors not happy with modern stamps, just don't collect them. Or collect only the ones you like best and ignore the rest. There's no need to do otherwise. Of course, if the hobby still exists many years from now, your great-grandkids may wish you'd bought the stamps you're avoiding. And you may, as well. Look at the highest values issued in your lifetime, and ask yourself if you wish you'd bought them at face value when you could have.

I buy the new stamps but only for use as postage.

Total Number of Stamps By Year

http://stampsmarter.com/public/US_Chart.php

Assumptions
- Based upon catalog number
- 1862 number skewed because I did not know the exact issue date of many of the revenues so many of them got lumped into 1862
Don

Nice graph Don.

It is interesting that as the actual need/use declines from 1990 onwards, the production of face different stamps increases.

One could conclude that stamp collectors are being used to support the U.S. Postal Service by paying for services that may never be used.

My guess is that if you graphed the other postal systems worldwide, you would find much the same situation. Postal services are finding very good profits in the stamp collecting world, even if they end up shredding the great majority of what they are having printed.

Thanks for the great link Don!

I voted "No", but it's really "No, unless the topic (and design) particularly appeals to me." If an issue fits those criteria, I'll buy a pane or booklet for the collection. That's how I've been collecting new U.S. issues since 2006. In recent years, that has usually amounted to two or three issues per year — and unlike a lot of people here, I do tend to gravitate toward pop culture topics.

I purchased almost all U.S. from 1949 through 2008. Since then I average purchasing about 85% each year. I quit the Duck Hunting stamps in 2004 when someone cornered the market.

Thanks for your votes and comments, keep them coming!
The voting is currently very close with "No" ahead by just 2%!