The APS Report On Resurecting The Hobby

Just a few thoughts on the APS Strategic Plan - Modernize, evolve, & adapt to reality.

I'm a logical tech guy, so as I read the report and analyzed the problem this is what springs to mind. Constructive discussion and criticism are welcome.

1. Fix the deficit.
2. Address the membership.
3. Build a new tech stack to address technical debt.
4. Automate processes using new tech stack.
5. Train and utilize experts/mentors.
6. Create IPS (International Philatelic Society) once stability/profitability is established.

Infrastructure

- Physical: Dump the Match Factory, buy an empty grocery/department store near a central major hub airport in Denver, Dallas, or Kansas City, build it out as a world-class location with offices, classrooms, and a research/expertization
facility.

- Technical: Create a modern future-proof technology stack focused on adaptability, scalability (horizontal and vertical), security, and with team alignment. Assess, prioritize, phase, test, and iterate. Cloud-based services, microservices & modular architecture, AI & data-driven, legacy modernization.

Community Involvement

- Social Media: Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound), use data analytics and social listening to research the target audience (20 and 30-somethings), choose the right platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, Pinterest, YouTube), identify the right metrics and KPIs, create more engaging content, plan and schedule content, analyze results, evaluate and evolve the strategy.

- Engagement: Create a member-based group of volunteers to plan, organize, coordinate, and execute the social media involvement in creating content to build community focused on all different aspects of the hobby.

Marketing

- Build public relations campaign to provide articles on all aspects of the hobby to major digital/print publications that are frequented by younger generations (People, Good Housekeeping, Us Weekly, Cosmo, Men's Health, Time, GQ, Maxim, Thrasher, Glitter, Teen Vogue, Teen Ink, The Teen, J-14, Girls' Life, Muse, Owl, Teen Breathe, The Week Junior, Brainspace, Girls' World, Scout Life).

- Partner with other organizations/groups to engage on various online digital platforms. Create buzz through posts and content. Let people know that there's a vibrant, thriving community dedicated to preserving, learning, and welcoming all people.

Just my 2¢.

I'm a member of the APS and I cherish the organization, but I think these critiques and points by Walkman as well as Rodgcam and others are on the mark.

Still I continue to think there needs to be some kind of rebuilding of the bridge to younger generations. While it is unrealistic to think that there will ever be anything like what we saw in the heyday of the 50s or 60s with all kinds of young people taking up the hobby, I know from experience there are young people in the schools looking for hands on project-based-learning experiences and stamp collecting could be one of those.

Stamps are historical and geographical artifacts, and the hobby teaches valuable life skills like organization, research...and patience.

For many years, school chess clubs were in a steep decline and when online gaming came along people thought that would be the final nail in the coffin. But scholastic chess has witnessed a robust resurgence (Education Week: "Everybody at school wants to play: Chess is trendy again."). Maybe we can learn from that example?

It MIGHT be possible to engage young people via YouTube, Instagram, etc. but so far what I've seen from the APS and other orgs isn't anything that is going to catch on with today's digital natives.

And I'm just spit-balling here, but I think we'd have more luck with a state-by-state project to pull in high school teachers into some kind of summer workshop and train them up on the hobby. Maybe this is already happening and I'm just unaware of it.

On a final note, I miss seeing Scott English's interactions and rebuttals when these kinds of conversations would happen on here and he was the executive director. Maybe the new guy will chime in?

"As goes the APS, so goes the Hobby", as someone once famously never said.

Isn't there a teensy weensy correlation between the health of the hobby and the society that is supposed to represent it ?

Who needs a national organization when we have ebay and Facebook ?

Obviously, social media is so advanced collectors can simply ignore the old fusspots who lick stamps and paste them in albums and have little lapel pins to celebrate their belonging to APS.



Shouldn't the national organization have a commitment to expand and enhance the hobby ?

A few years ago there was a British show "Penny Blacks and Twopenny Blues: How Britain Got Stuck on Stamps" where they mention how practically every school boy of a generation collected stamps. There are lots of reasons that era will never comeback, however, current collectors of pokemon cards could become stamp (or coin, or paper money or railroad bond) collectors.

Certainly, a national organization should contribute to making the hobby healthy, just as the hobby should contribute to making the organization healthy.

I am not a member as stamps are not my main focus. I speak more for the evaluation of other societies as how to move from an older way of doing business to a new way of thinking.

The Essay and Proof Society is a case in point. Died in 1993 while stamps were still doing well. Now they are so back of the book they're in another book entirely.

So, is the hobby supposed to grow all by itself with no resources? Or what kind of resources should be in place to grow the hobby (or hobbies)

I believe that when we fall back on the "heyday of the 50s or 60s" (or the 70s, 80s, or any other time/era) that it's wishful thinking to remember how things once were rather than face the reality of where APS is today. The "digital natives" need more engagement and motivation than previous generations, using whatever means are available to bring them into the hobby.

Building a state-by-state project with high school teachers and summer workshops is a great idea and should be integrated with all of the other different ways we can engage young people.

I agree as I also miss Scott English's participation and thoughtful interactions. Putting out a strategic plan (wishlist) is a good start, but it would be nice to hear updates on actual movement towards fulfilling those plans. The strategic plan is a huge undertaking with many moving parts. Buy-in and support of the membership would be strengthened with monthly and/or quarterly updates.

"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."

I sell on ebay and I don't have the slightest clue the age of 99% of my buyers, so it is impossible to say if a significant % of them are younger.

I'm sure he wanted to have a plan in place before the show, but being new, he might have been better served to wait for the show, meet with people, and then dive into a plan. Admittedly not a full cross section of the membership/potential membership, but better than guessing.

"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."

I suspect they would lose more in current members than they would attract in new members.

Fixing the APS and stamp collecting in general -
1) Sponsor shows like exploring stamps on Youtube I mean just hire someone to create videos like this. This alone is better than anything I have ever seen.
2) APS magazine and their articles are horrific for new stamp collectors. Need much much more content on collecting World Wide and must less articles on postal history.
3) Expertising is too slow. Need to have much faster turn around and that means training more experts.
4) Get stamp collecting back in the schools with stamp clubs.

Many good ideas above but the first thing is to stem the bleeding because a society weakening financially can't be effective in implementing the programs mentioned.

The reality is membership is dropping but the society wants to add another half million to payroll. Nonsensical.

The Match Factory is a financial stone around the neck. It will take years to divest and find/buildout new quarters. Start the process now.

If you are APS Directors make a point of pretending that future benefactors do not exist. Live within your means and then if you do get a donation fine. If you don't you haven't lived as if it was guaranteed.

Cost cutting done over the last 10 years has kept it alive but it has not helped the future in terms of new members. The people hired are supposedly not just sorting donations and other clerical work like most hires If they do not produce results, I agree that it was a mistake if it cannot be covered with donations.

For all those wanting more tech, that is going to take a lot of money with people smart enough to implement it. APS's history with IT has not been great. The good news is Kirk Gillis seems to have the right mindset.

Adding personnel tasked with boosting revenue is OK if there is cash in reserve to burn while that process plays out. That isn't the case here besides the issue of how many if any new members will be added. This is a risky gamble maybe best tried at a much smaller scale first.

Very prudent advice. To paraphrase that Hemingway quote, organizations tend to go broke gradually, and then all of a sudden. The financial alarm bells should be flashing red at the moment - time to make some big changes before it's too late.

Given the age of the members, life memberships could be cancelled and all folks pay annual dues again. That will stop the freeloading life members. If some dropout that is a win as the costs to service the non-paying life members stops.

Edit: The reality is the loss of Linn's and Scott Catalogues is more of a concern than losing the APS. Currently it is too soon to see if either Linn's and Scott Catalogues survive much longer.

Under Scott English there were discussion about moving Stamp Smarter under the APS umbrella but alas that did not happen due to the perceived costs of maintaining a digital product without any real IT folks on staff.

The problem is, that's not demonstrable. It's a common claim, but there's no actual data to support it. It comes down to "they're real, trust me bro!" I buy tons of stuff online but I'm not remotely young. There's no way to prove that the people buying online are part of a new young demographic. It's just a story at this point.