The APS Report On Resurecting The Hobby

"As for social media, let's take Graham Beck. He made some fame with Exploring Stamps. He was not a heavyweight in terms of knowledge but he could produce videos"

We need to marry Glenn with someone knowledgeable (assuming he is willing to take input). While style is certainly important on the internet, style without proper substance is leading people down the wrong path.

Fairly new member here. A lot of general statements made that dont fit with my personal experience:
* Given the choice, I would much rather have print than read a magazine online.
* I have tried to share stamps at the school I work at, with some success on the duplicates as art materials.
* I enjoy the magazine and would be sorry to see it go.
* If Main St. collectors are finished in this hobby as in-person groups, take note you are encouraging people like me to quit the hobby you say you care about.

Can you flesh out this thought a bit? I don't understand this.

"I'm a member of both the RPSL and the CCNY, and while neither is growing significantly, they aren't rapidly shrinking like the APS. Sure, they're smaller and cater to philately's higher end, but that's what's gonna be necessary if the APS wants to survive. There just isn't a market for an average Joe membership organization anymore; these folks find each other and connect on Facebook, Reddit, etc."

Sorry I use the term Main St. but what was stated is average Joe. It means the same, but my term might be an older one...

The general sentiment in several posts is that there is little future in stamp collecting--not very motivating.

We could post just rah-rah, feel good stuff about all of the younger collectors that are outpacing the older collectors as they go to that big bourse in the sky but that would be dishonest. Nothing points to that being the case so we have to deal in reality. Besides, the topic is specific to the APS, it's plans and vision and fiscal realities. It isn't an insult to the hobby to recognize that younger generations don't have an emotional connection to stamps. Most, if not all of them, have never used a stamp, everything being done electronically. The APS is an old school way of doing things and expenditures vs revenue is going in the wrong direction. No one is saying there is little future for the hobby since it has been pointed out that online sales and auction sales say otherwise.

I made that suggestion to Scott English and did not get a positive response for the idea. As for Beck, on X, Graham Beck questioned the role of organized philately and was going to resign from APS. Scott did offer to pay for this membership.

One of the key criteria for the education head was being very comfortable with being online visually but doubt much will happen visibly until after Boston.

Plenty of future in stamp collecting. The topic of this thread is specifically about the APS and its future, not the hobby as a whole (despite the thread title). The point that Rog and I and others have made here is that collecting demographics and tastes have shifted away from membership orgs like APS and towards online resources, communities, social media content providers, etc., and this has had (and will continue to have) negative financial implications for the APS, seriously jeopardizing its future.

The numbers speak for themselves: RPSL and CCNY membership is stable, while APS continues to post big declines every year. Part of this is because the RPSL and CCNY tend to attract higher-end collectors, which are a little more clique-y and deep-pocketed and therefore membership is stickier. It's also true that APS is still bigger, so therefore has 'more' to lose, and it's also likely that membership will stabilize at a certain point. But that point is likely to be much lower than required to sustain the current financial expenditures going on over there. Hence the need to 'right size' the APS before it's too late.

If the APS is dying, why not let it?

Dale

Interesting. So to sum up, there may not be a way to save the flagship organization of stamp collecting, but the future looks good?

Stamp collecting existed before there was such a thing as "organized philately" and I believe it will continue to exist. I haven't read the full report and most likely won't, but I will continue to renew my membership until one of us (myself or APS) reaches our end.

As an organization, APS needs to meet collectors where they are. If they wait for newbies to come to them, it's likely too late. Forums like this one, Youtube, or even (cringe) Facebook draw new people in. Engaging with them, answering questions, offering encouragement for whatever they collect, without any expectation of gaining members, might just make an impression and lead some to join. There will always be those who don't see value for themselves in the APS. We've seen some of them in this thread. I'm not sure there's much to be done there.

Dale

It doesn't have to be motivating, it just has to be true. We could sit here and lie to each other and say that everything is wonderful but it's not. Stamp collecting is dying. It might not ever completely die, but the numbers are getting smaller and smaller every single year. A lot of people who are coming to stamps are not coming to collecting. They are coming to investing in the high-end market or doing stamp art, which is not collecting, or other things. the number of people who are actually collecting in any demonstrable way is falling. Pretending otherwise doesn't stop it from being true. We just have to learn to deal with reality as it is.

The 1st commercial stamp album was made in 1862. The APS was founded in 1886. So it might be a stretch to say we know that stamp collecting will be fine without organizations to support it. I am not a stamp historian, and cannot think of places where that has worked long-term. It may just be Friday and deep thinking burnout speaking for me alone.

After having read six pages of comments I have a few of my own to make. I have been an APS member for about 40 years. And I have remained a member that long for two reasons - because of the magazine and the ability to borrow books from the library. It used to be three reasons until StampStore stopped being a thing. If I am in Bellefonte (4 hour drive) I can also look at the circuit books. None of the other APS programs or features are of interest to me.
For me membership is worth it just for the magazine. For $45/year I get 12 issues delivered to my house. That's $3.75 per issue, less than one cup of coffee. And almost every issue has at least one article of interest, even if it is not in my area of collecting.
And compare $45/year with the RPSL which is 180 pounds/year ($240!). I can imagine what current APS members would do if the dues went to $240/year.
Page 13 of the Strategic Plan has the APS Mission Statement. Here it is, from the December 2025 issue of APS, which I am showing for the added text.



Can anyone explain to me exactly what "nurture and empower" mean to a typical collector? I don't. And apparently "education, stamps shows, circuit sales, the library …" are explicitly not noted in the Mission Statement when I would have thought that would be the raison d'etre.
One thing no one knows is how many collectors there are and how many are, say, under the age of 40. Maybe some of the members here who are under 40 can chime in and tell us how they became collectors and how many of their friends and acquaintances are collectors. And why or why not you are members of APS.
Lastly, I firmly believe you can't make someone a stamp collector. They have to be born that way.

"I made that suggestion to Scott English and did not get a positive response for the idea. As for Beck, on X, Graham Beck questioned the role of organized philately and was going to resign from APS"

Scott E is no longer in charge, but if Graham B isn't interested in working with the APS, then it doesn't matter.,

Could the nurture comment mean they are not trying to focus on any one service such as the library, shows, etc. so they can modify their services over time? I have questions about the wording too.

To exist, they need money - dues, donations, revenue from services. The idea is that you need to join the group to support the hobby,

I still see the fundamental problem as APS does not offer much to new or old less experienced collectors. They will not likely use the expertizing services or the library, The AP has too much inhouse talk and too much postal history in my opinion. I want to know information that actually helps me collect. Articles based postal history does not do that. These are more entertainment to me. This is where specialist journals become more important.

I am a grandfathered life member.