The APS Report On Resurecting The Hobby

Yet there are a lot of people screaming that's what's going on without any evidence whatsoever to point to that it's true. It is a demonstrable fact that the overwhelming majority of people collecting stamps are on death's door. I think a lot of people who are pretending there's a vast untapped well of young people are the ones who counted on being able to sell their collections to fund their retirement and it's just not looking likely anymore.

The simplest way of looking at it is:

Personnel costs (assuming the five new hires) and facility costs equal 3 million dollars. Assuming 20,000 members, that is a load of $150/member annually.

We see from the budget document that in FY2026 there is a projected increase in personnel cost of $450,900 (+22.5%) and a projected decrease in membership/dues of $13,000 (-1.6%). To roll this up we are looking at membership income of $812,900 vs expenses for only personnel and facilities of 3 million dollars for a delta of 2.2 million dollars. There are other things going on financially, but these core numbers are sobering.

PS: The AP magazine is revenue neutral so not sure ending it matters.

Here is an observation I would like to see discussed:

The APS has several spaces for rent and has had same for years (spaces not the tenants). Why is not at least one of them being used by a retail dealer or public auction firm? I see several answers (guesses):

1. Location
2. Cost
3. Demand of product.

If location is a problem, what does that say about this being the site for the national headquarters?

With regard specifically to the issue of the location and layout of the APS headquarters, three weeks ago I happened to be on a road trip through PA going to NJ to visit kids/grandkids when I decided to take a detour to visit the APS offices in Bellefonte for the first time. It was difficult to find, poorly signed, and stuck in a small (some might call it charming) town at a horrendous intersection. After the visit, which was frankly disappointing for a number of reasons, I emailed Kirk Gillis to express my concerns. I included a number of suggestions to make the place more inviting and interesting for a casual visitor curious as to what the place was all about, some of which paralleled ideas in the strategic report. No response yet - they may be buried in preparation for the big show. After my experience (which may be an outlier) and other points brought up here, I support the notion that they need to step back, reevaluate the whole Match Factory/Bellefonte location and purpose/function of the headquarters.

CCNY and the RPSL both benefit from having small locations in the heart of big cities, so it makes it easy for non-resident members to stop by if they're passing through town.

By contrast, Bellefonte is in the middle of nowhere; unless you're passing by on I-80 or happen to be at/visiting Penn State, it's not convenient to get to. The regional airport has (very expensive) service to Chicago, DC, Philly. Otherwise you're looking at a 2 hour drive from the Harrisburg airport.

The reasons to actually make the trek have been diminishing for some time. I've used the library a bunch of times without ever setting foot there - I just request what I need by mail.

Find a smaller space near the airport in Kansas City or DFW or somewhere centrally located to make it actually easy to stop in and use the facilities, stop with all of the nonsensical "educational" programming that's nothing but a waste of money, and focus on adding value for those who are *already* stamp collectors. That means providing expertise, resources, and possibly community that you can't get online.

Doing these things have enabled the Royal and the CCNY to keep membership flatlined, which, in this day and age, is about as much as anyone can reasonably hope for.

Perhaps the APS fears having a dealer or auction house in the building might suggest official APS support of them.

Or perhaps the fear such a renter might suck away some of the donations.

I think it's less to do with that and more the fact that nobody would want to open an auction house in the middle of nowhere. The space might be more attractive to a dealer, but presumably it'd be one who is already in central PA - otherwise, why relocate?

I was not suggesting that dealers occupy the APS location (I still believe it should not have been built and should now be sold). I meant that there should be a symbiotic relationship between whatever philatelic organization is out there and the dealer community at large. The survival of both is crucial if there is to be a future for philately.

If you want to see a model philatelic organization look to the Spellman Museum in Greater Boston.

https://spellmanmuseum.org/

APS has depended on donations for some time and most new aspects such as the digital project, SCHOOL,etc. and allowing payoff on the building loan were helped directly and indirectly by donations. The ongoing maintenance of the property will always be an expense. The area (State College) is not Stamp Collecting USA. As I understand it, APS is not even open on weekends. I wish is it was located in a more convenient location but do not believe it would really change the overall situation. In its present form it is not really that much of museum that would attract people.

Offering fewer services in chasing financial salvation will not work. I believe APS could find 5000 who are already collectors to join if they could find something they want to pay to use.

But then, I do not even think the USPS does a good job marketing collecting!

The new ideas of StampEd and education went nowhere.

The Spellman really is a delight; I manage to make it over a couple times a year. Spellman is the rare philatelic org that can actually pull off the trick of getting newcomers to stamps in the door, which they accomplish through a variety of programming that's aimed at local school/scouting groups. It helps that it's in the heart of Boston's 'metro west' region, so lots of towns and cities nearby with said groups. Same can't be said for APS.

Spellman is well run, but I'd imagine that having the support of Regis College for things like rent/utilities makes them more financially viable than they otherwise would be.

People keep saying this as if it was written in stone, but it is far from true. There are a lot of younger people collecting, the problem is that they do so online, and they don't go to shows and they don't join clubs. But there are a number of dealers who do very well online, and it can't be only with the older crowd.

It only just struck me that the term "resurrecting the hobby" assumes that it is on life support which hardly seems the case when you look at ebay and SAN auction sales. This points to the problem with legacy institutions that have that view because THEY are having issues. It's more of a reflection on how they have failed. They may need resurrecting, but the hobby does not.

We don't have to drive to Bellefonte any longer to visit the philatelic house of worship. Everything is at our fingertips via our devices. This is not going to change. It will only accelerate.

Yes, rodgcam, old style organizations have no real place in the the internet and YouTube age. Folks post content, some quite good for free. The sales site work well to keep sale prices low and lower. If the APS, ASDA, and their organization ilk, they need to target the 20-40 year olds with age appropriate on line content. A translation service from cursive to computer or typewriter text is needed as well since cursive is no longer taught. Lastly the information cannot be hidden behind a pay wall as it will not be accepted by that age group until they see a value to themselves.

In short the APS must ignore their current membership and target new younger hobbyists. If that works the results will be beneficial to both the new younger members and by extension, the old members wishing to dispose of their philatelic holdings.

Edited to add an "ing" and if you wonder where, see quoted text just below.

The title of this thread is something of a misnomer; the APS report isn't on "resurrecting the hobby", it's on the future of the APS. As Rog pointed out, those are different things. The hobby is both in decline and still flourishing; this might seem like a contradiction to some, but it isn't to those of us who post here. Yes, the total number of stamp collectors is down relative to decades ago, but there are still quite a few - they just find information and buy and sell differently than collectors did decades ago.

I'm less concerned with the 'future of the hobby' (it'll be just fine on ebay) and more concerned with the future of organizations like the APS, which seem unable to adjust to changing demographics. The focus should be on meeting collectors where they are and giving them resources they can't obtain themselves already online.




I think that this is absolutely a direction the APS should seriously consider. I emphasize that this should not be about trying to attract *newcomers* to philately, but rather finding the rare under-30 collectors and bringing them together and giving them things they can't get elsewhere.