Winds Of Change In The Philatelic World

Can we all just be stamp collectors without any other labels and get on with promoting the hobby?

Some might think that if you shop at the Salvation Army, "bottom feeder" might not be strong enough.......

Sprzeciwiam sie temu.

Think of it this way, every ecological system needs bottom feeders to keep the environment running smoothly. Quite honestly I rely on bottom feeders (term of endearment between me and my customers) to keep my home clear of too much junk. Some buyers who buy my good stuff scoff at bonkers low prices on lesser quality material thinking it's beneath them. If not for the bottom feeders I'd be screwed quite honestly. And no, the bottom feeders are not always of Low economic status and to think that way is a little condescending. Sometimes the richest customers come by at the end of a show to buy up all the boxes I don't want to take home. They are bottom feeders in their own right

Since the vast majority of the stamps ever produced have a real market value of less than US$10, there really should not be any shade thrown towards those who prefer to collect those stamps. Judging a collection simply on the basis of the number of "blue chip" sets or singles it contains is really problematic for a hobby where the vast majority of collectors, like myself, do not have that kind of disposable income and so either have to "go wide" and focus on a larger collection of lower to medium value items or "go tall" and focus more narrowly and aspire to be able to afford a few of those "better" items as disposable income permits.

In the end though, I do think that the health of the overall hobby would be better with less focus on wanting to secure a return on investment down the road for the cost of items today and more focus on enjoying the hobby simply as a hobby and not worry if the collection brings a profit years down the road. In the end it will not matter, neither the stamps nor the money they might bring will accompany us into the afterlife. So just live for the now and enjoy the physical beauty and mental awareness and relaxation that our hobby brings to our lives.

That being said, should I ever win the lottery I will definitely use a good part of the winning to buying those stamps that I aspire to own but most likely never will. As a worldwide collector my current finances mean I generally "go wide" but there are certainly areas I would love to be able to "go tall" should it be possible.

You mean you can't take it with you?

well I guess you could Viking Burial your collection with you...seal it so that in 1000 years archaeologists or aliens from another planet discover it and wonder what all these illustrated bits of gummed paper are.

I agree but I do like to "buy smart" and keep my losses to a minimum. Breaking even is my goal and I have mostly succeeded at that.

As Don always says, figure the cost of your hobby in entertainment dollars. I don't golf or own a boat, so stamps are where my fun money goes. Kind of cheap if figured in those terms.

It seems like most people here are clueless about what being a bottomfeeder truly means. Let's clarify: bottomfeeding isn't limited to stamps; it encompasses anything you can buy and sell to turn a profit.

There's a misconception that bottomfeeders are just poor, but that's dead wrong. Take this extreme example: Mary rakes in 200,000 a year, while Cathy brings in 25,000. Mary, with all her wealth, dives into bitcoin, doggy coin, Eth, NFTs, and crypto stocks. Meanwhile, Cathy plays it safe with MSFT, S&P500, BRK, and the like.

So, who's the bottom feeder here?

Bottomfeeding isn't about your financial status; it's a mindset. It's the domain of gamblers and get-rich-quick enthusiasts. I know this because I've dabbled in it myself.

Think of bottom feeding like buying penny stocks. Sure you can make a nice profit, if you pick the one stamp you bought for 1 dollar and see it rise to 20 dollars but more often than not your 1 dollar stamp will still be 1 dollar.

On the subject of enjoyment of the hobby vs investment. You can invest or just treat stamp collecting like a hobby. Your choice.

And one more thing the stamp hobby is loaded with bottomfeeders. Ditto for coin collectors, comic collectors, antique collectors, and baseball card collectors etc.. Stamp collectors are not exempt from bottomfeeding. Sorry - I admit to doing it and have no problem admitting it. I have seen others do it.

Igal Namdar, a billionaire bottom feeder.

https://financialpost.com/investing...ers-run-away

It's interesting to watch the ebb and flow of the discussion as it alternates between collecting for enjoyment and money or investment.

I love nothing more than finding a shoe box at the flea market or from ebay and spending hours looking carefully at each stamp...takes me right back to my innocent childhood collecting when I could have cared less how much a stamp was worth, only that I held a tiny piece of the world in my hands. I also enjoy spending between $5.00 to $500.00 to fill the empty spaces and build my collection. Either way, I'm not going to push my views or attitudes about stamp collecting or philately on others. That would be disingenuous, hypocritical, and ill-advised.

It seems not everyone has the same definition of bottomfeeder, but what do they have to do with the Winds of Change anyway?