Proposed Merger Of The APS And Asda

It's interesting to note that Wayne Youngblood wrote this in the December Philatelic Exporter. Note the choice of words.

Are the priorities, views, concerns, or decisions of the majority of the APS leaders on this issue the same or different than those of the majority of the APS members?

Are they ever? The results of the recent survey haven't been published (yet) so how would anyone know?

Well they both need to do something or they won't be around much longer. APS is in a much better place with 36 employees serving its members compared to a volunteer board and only 1 staff member for ASDA. Both have had bad years but when ASDA only has a Revenue of $266,534 and APS has a Revenue of $3,137,752 they can do more things to survive. APS has also merged and taken over others in the past. They also can take something over and still keep it independent.

You can see the information but both on Guide Star that tracks non profits by their IRS tax files and other sources.

ASDA: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/13-5637047
APS: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/24-0772797

Wayne Youngblood posted a notification sent to ASDA members on jos Facebook page.

I still am not clear on how this offers a path forward. I assume it preserves something beyond the magazine. What do they do if not run shows? Do they APS/ASDA will run more shows?

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Copied from Facebook.

Dear Members,
It has been a few months since Scott English, Executive Director of the American Philatelic Society (APS), proposed a merger between the APS and the American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA). Many things have been happening. We wanted to bring you up to date with current activities.
A subcommittee was formed to pursue the merger proposal. Committee members have been meeting weekly on conference calls. We have also been exchanging emails and phone calls between meetings.
Some have wondered why the ASDA would even consider the possibility of a merger. To understand why, you need to look at a little bit of history. There are two driving forces.
The first is membership. In 2011, the ASDA had 465 dues paying members. As 2022 closes, there are just under 250 members. That is almost a 50% decline in membership. Some of it is due to members not renewing their membership. Much of it has to do with dealers exiting the profession due to health issues, retirement, and death. The influx of new members is not keeping pace, especially in younger dealers. We estimate that half of the current ASDA membership will also exit the profession over the next ten years.
The second factor is shows. There are fewer traditional stamp shows. There are fewer dealers to support shows. The pandemic accelerated the movement to online sales when shows were canceled. Some dealers have remarked that they may never do a show again because they are doing so well online.
The ASDA used to sponsor several shows per year. In 2022, the ASDA participated in only one show, NOJEX. Yes, some shows are flourishing which is a good thing. However, some shows stopped completely. There are many more shows that are struggling to continue. At one time, shows were a substantial part of the ASDA revenue stream. Today, income from shows is barely a blip on the financial statements.
A reduction in membership and a decline in shows all translates to one thing: less money coming into the ASDA. It takes over $100,000 per year to operate the ASDA between salaries, legal fees, auditors, office expenses, and so forth. A professional organization is not run on a shoestring budget.
One bright spot is the American Stamp Collector & Dealer magazine. It currently generates a small profit to the association. However, the magazine alone cannot sustain the ASDA.
The entire ASDA Board of Directors is very cognizant of the situation. Short of a sudden change in events, the ASDA may not exist in a few years as income from shows and dues paying members continue to shrink. Inflation does not help matters.
The merger presents a path forward for the stamp dealing profession.
The ASDA is incorporated under the laws of the state of New York. If the ASDA is to merge, there are certain legal proceedings that must be adhered to. There are many other activities that the Board of Directors must perform as part of its due diligence in this process. Ultimately, the Board wants what is best for the survival and growth of the stamp dealing profession.
The subcommittee has received some comments from both collectors and dealers. Contacting the subcommittee is the best way to make sure your voice is heard. Comments have been posted in the philatelic press and online. Subcommittee members may see some of this commentary. There are just too many sources, especially online sources such as social media and blogs. Subcommittee members may not be aware of some sources. It is impossible to find and read everything posted in so many scattered places.
The subcommittee members are as follows: Rita Dumaine ***email removed***, Michael Eastick ***email removed***, Eric Jackson ***email removed***, and Scott Shaulis ***email removed***. Written correspondence can be sent to the ASDA central office for distribution to subcommittee members: PO Box 513, Centre Hall PA 16828.
The committee has been discussing many things and trying to address any questions and concerns about the proposed merger. We do not have a lot of details yet to share. This is going to be a dynamic situation as we continue to engage with Scott English and the APS on the proposal.
Of course, any agreement to merge will require a vote of the ASDA membership and the ASDA board of directors, as well as approval by the New York State Attorney General or a New York State judge.
We look to share more with you in the future as we narrow in on discussions and ideas. Thank you for your time and interest in this important matter.
Sincerely,
ASDA Subcommittee Members

That one sentence encapsulates why it makes no sense to join with or absorb the ASDA.

In addition it is still unclear what the ASDA brings to the table. This has been a real head scratcher.

With all due respect the APS needs to stop wasting it's time and move on from considering the matter.

There must be other things to work on that will actually benefit collectors.

Will less than half of the current ASDA dealer members exit the profession in the next ten years if there is a merger? I think not. The number one reason for the forecasted exit is the age of the current dealership. The number two reason is a lack of younger folks willing to become our next generation of traditional dealers.

Merging with the APS will not materially change these metrics. Both groups need to adapt to the new realities of our advocation in this digital age.

Agreed 100%, well said Russ.
Don

I'm wondering if this is more of a membership drive than anything else. They hope that non-APS members will join up once the ASDA is no more. APS membership is still cratering (just north of 26k from the last magazine). The average age of their membership is north of 70, which means that in the next decade or so, I wouldn't be surprised to see membership fall to 10-15k very quickly. They might be celebrating very small increases today, but the day is coming that they are not preparing for and "absorbing" the ASDA isn't going to stop it.

Neither the ASDA nor the APS seemingly have any clue what to do moving forward. It's not that lots of young people aren't collecting stamps, it's that they aren't doing it in a "traditional" way. They're not going to shows and they're not joining the APS and if the APS wants to survive, they need to figure out how to appeal to those people and offer something that currently, I don't think they're offering. All of the stuff that appeals to stodgy old farts isn't going to cut it.

I don't believe this to be the case, IF there is profit incentives here. Folks don't need to be organized in some association to sell wares, unless there is a real benefit (increased sales). Capitalism will ensue. I am convinced voids will be filled.

Now you may not recognize those dealers, as some grey neckbeard dude, behind a glass table, but instead he might just use a screen name like hotfilately and you'd need virtual reality goggles to see his avatar and his grills.

The number one thing that sellers can do is build good websites. Most of them are atrocious and quite a few dealers still do not even have websites. Two examples of good websites that come to mind are Phil Basner's and Loral (Russian Stamps). Both of them used relatives who were IT professionals to get the job done. In other words, the work was free. Not sure if it is practical to finance building a good website for many dealers though. Folks like Don would know better what it takes to do.

not just build websites, but be reachable via searching. Ideally you need proper indexing of your wares so you can get toward a stamp buy page via the right SEO. Not endorsing, but nalbandian and gitner (down today?) have some of the better 'clean' easily searchable and usable web sites.

Then you can look at people like A&D Stamps. They have a ton of stock but you can either walk into their physical store or see them at a show, otherwise, you can't buy from them at all. That's ludicrous. I know I've said this before, but I was just putting away the last American Philatelist issue and in the back, there are still dealers that don't have any kind of web presence whatsoever. Some of them don't even have phone numbers, you have to mail them something.

This is not how the modern world works. We're already facing a massive die-off of "traditional" dealers and collectors, but the next generation simply will not put up with this. They're going to go elsewhere and to other hobbies that aren't rotting in the stone age.

In my opinion, dealers have to figure out how to emulate traditional brick and mortar customer service online. Real-time chats or Zoom calls, interfacing and supporting communication which builds long term customer base. Teaching, mentoring, and selling should all be a part of good customer relationships and generate return sales.

Instead, it feels to me that many online sellers take a 'shot gun' approach to sales, it appears they are fine with making 100 sales to 100 different buyers. (I think that that APS transition to HS is in this category; isolating the actual seller behind the APS 'store'.)

In this day and digital age; 'customers' have become 'buyers' and 'dealers' have become 'sellers'. The relationship is more distant, cold and lacks confidence (in both directions). I think in an absence of customer loyalty buyers tend to become less compromising and more willing to push back when an item is not what they were expecting.

The technology exists (it is not rocket science) to offer the same level of customer service as in the past. I think the question is, 'why aren't sellers willing to implement it'? It may be that it is simply easier to just be a 'seller'. 'Sellers' do not really need an American Stamp Dealers organization, perhaps it should transform to American Stamp Sellers (ASS) and concentrate on lobbying efforts in Washington.
Don

That is what I include in the definition of a good website because I don't want to spend 30 minutes trying to find a stamp and give up in frustration. Basner's website is eminently searchable. Loral, not so much. There are just so many that are full of broken links and look like a ten-year-old was playing around. They do not inspire confidence in spending money. And then you have the websites that just send you to ebay listings. Why bother.