Future Of Stamp Collecting

Wow! I've wondered about this as well. I wish people would pick up the pen and write letters, but there's a real possibility that the mail service could experience a renaissance in the future. I mean, the "retro" craze has been upon us for quite some time now. Beatniks carrying manual typewriters to the StarBucks to work on their novels, LP records selling as well as or better than CDs, stuff like that.

I'd like to see more greeting cards in the mail system. The text message is cheap and impersonal. When ppl wish me a good birthday over text, I'm like, FFFT! They didn't want to take a bit of trouble. I can turn around though. Remember when the "John Adams" TV miniseries came on cable TV? The USPS tried to stimulate interest in letter writing. They even gave away a free stamped card--I ordered one and still have it (I don't need a free stamp to prompt me to mail letters).

But yeah, the younger generation isn't feeling the warmth toward stamp collecting that the older generations did.

So, I'm trying to do something about it. I work at a high school (math teacher). I started up a stamp club at the school. I haven't had much traction, but my 3 members just started attending meetings, and the hurricanes interrupted school and thwarted my efforts to mobilize them to try to recruit additional members. However, I hope to do this soon. In our previous meeting in which we did actual "collecting," I brought in a bunch of stamps and showed them how to soak them off paper. They liked it :-} I want to walk them through the basics, and hopefully get them into some small area of collecting for the purpose of the Club, so we can print up albums (Steiner) and try to swap for stamps among one another (which I'll supply as a bulk kiloware or off-paper by-the-pound buy).

But I also want to devise an in-school "local post." My school gives out rewards for good behavior in the form of schoolwide currency. I figure students can buy stamps at the school store, then send letters to girlfriend/boyfriend or whatever they want to do, and the letters are processed and delivered the next school day. I even have a teacher who runs the "transition" program who will mobilize her students to sort and deliver the letters. The local post would be for everyone, but the stamp club would administer it, design stamps, establish dropoff sites, routes, and deal with all the administrative matters.

I don't want stamp collecting to fade into history. So, in my tiny way, maybe I can do something about it. The kids who are currently in the Club are very interested, so that's something. Maybe some of them will get bitten by the bug and carry the hobby into the future.

Of course, I'll want covers and "postal history" from their local post for my own collection :-}

Josh

Good for you trying to keep some people away from their electronics. A word of caution, the newer stamps (last 25 years or so) may not soak off the paper as readily as the older stamps.

Just a clarification - when I say I "don't care about the future of stamp collecting" I mean I would rather NOT spend my time writing about prognosticating its future. Stamps while they are produced are fun to collect and there are many venues to choose. One way to keep stamp collecting going is to collect, share your collection without boring those who do not collect by possibly emphasizing the topic or historical even being commemorated, and and not to be too barrow-minded about it. I can tell from floortrader's reaction that he may have been a little surprised I admitted openly I collect modern low cost stuff. By low cost it means I try to get stamps in the best condition I can afford and try to find possible scarcities with recent stamps rather than going after classic scarcities that cost much more. And there are plenty of interesting scarcities from the mid 1960's to present that are relatively affordable. Plus it is the stamps of today wherefrom a few scarcities and rarities may be most easily within many stamp collector's budget.

The final factor is personal meaning of stamps to a collector - Jordan's UPU issue overprinted Palestine stamps (https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamp...s-to-p.html) are inexpensive and I enjoy getting them from time to time because it is a reminder of my father's history: he was born in Jerusalem under the British Mandate of Palestine in 1936. After the partition in 48, the area he lived fell under Jordanian rule and with all the chaos that led to the creation of Israel and the untenable division into other areas by the Brits as well as the military occupation by Jordan, they had enough and left their home for America to start a new life around 1949-1950. The catalyst for acquiring some of these stamps was when I found that my mother kept a copy of my father's birth record which had a Palestinian revenue stamp affixed to it. My brother and I still have the birth certificate and treasure it.

As a postscript, another reason I rarely if ever spend more than $50 on one particular stamp is because I enjoy collecting coins which is a more expensive hobby for me.

I wonder about the future myself. I hope stamp collecting keeps going strong but I know the younger generations are much less interested. I am 40 years old and everytime I go to a show I'm either the youngest person or a cpl others right around my age and once in awhile I see a kid either someone's son or grandson tagging along. Most of the dealers and serious collectors at the shows seem to be in their 60s and 70s and even older... my question is what will the state of stamp collecting be like in 25 years when I am 65 and a lot of these guys have passed on. Will the shows be non-existent? Will stamp collecting be almost dead? Curious to hear your guys thoughts.

I personally think that stamp collecting and philately is not going to disappear in the next tens years, but I think that the number of interested people will really go down. Because of all the new technologies, next generations won't need to do a lot of efforts, and they won't have the wanting to do research about anything and to work hard on something that they passionate them.

I'm surely the youngest learning philatelist here (I'm 13) and I get surprised to see that most of the people of my generation doesn't even know what's a stamp. I seriously think that philately will probably die in the future, but let's stay hopeful! I also think that all this depends of the next generations, we can't control their interests, we can only try to "transfer" the passion!

If, in 50 years, there's no philatelists on earth, at least, I'll be still here to be the last philatelist on earth

CS

There's a great presentation by Scott English, outgoing Exec Director of the APS, where he's far more optimistic about the hobby than most folks on the forum. It won't be your grandfather's philately, perhaps, but the hobby still has legs.

He has a line that really grabbed me when I heard it. Something like, our hobby is the greatest form of self expression for folks without artistic talent. I believe it. Look at how everyone here collects differently and yet we all get a thrill from it. And most of us get a thrill seeing other people enjoying the hobby, even if they collect differently from us.

His presentation is linked to on this thread -- well worth checking out: http://goscf.com/t/88856

I respect Scott but what else would he be expected to say as Executive Director of the American Philatelic Society speaking to serious philatelists? "Our hobby has no future" or " Our surveys show our member demographics to consist of mainly old white men"? Of course not. That would be like the POTUS at the State of the Union telling everyone the Country is dead broke and the future looks bad.

The self expression comment can apply to almost anything. With ebay, there will always be stamp collectors just like any number of other collectibles. The pressure will be on organized philately and such formal activities like exhibiting that under the current struture require shows.

The collecting hobbies are not going to disappear, they are going the CHANGE and have been changing since they began.
The internet in general and specific sales sites such as ebay, Hipstamp, etc., have created a changed environment for both knowledge and material acquisitions, where many can acheive very successful collections without local clubs and shows, without brick and mortar stores, and without society memberships - all as the tip of the iceberg. These on-line collectors can be hard to document as the part of the collecting iceberg under the surface.

I agree John, I am amazed every time a new topic comes up and somebody with only a few posts comments and he or she is extremely knowledgable on the topic. Where have you been? I believe there are a lot of active collectors who don't do shows, clubs or forums regularly or at all. For some reason they stay in the shadows. I sell on ebay and many buyers are not a part of this forum or involved in clubs. How this under reported market will impact the promotion of stamp collecting I don't know.

WOW ----You guys seem worried .

I been collecting for 65 years and have no future plans to quit .

I seen the crazy prices in the inflation years of 1975 /1976 in the philatelic market , I lived thru the dog days of auction buying in the 1980's and 1990's when I filled the side wall of my garage with huge boxes of material that mostly was purchased at the opening bid at auctions in Chicago ,New York and Boston ..

God blessed me in the 2000's when HE open up EBAY and all those huge boxes flew out of my garage at 10 cents apiece per stamp on stock cards or album pages {I had a huge amount of stamp supplies also }. It was a time my wife got a new car and same with my daugther with "stamp money " new cars for everybody .


Now 20 years of buying better material , yea I don't worry about where we are going because it is going to be a fun time .

Not everyone is tech-obsessed and I actually think that collecting may increase among younger generations as opposed to it probably shrinking in the 90's til now. I think there will be those glued solely to a digital screen (or whatever medium comes next) and then those who seek solace and pleasure in the physical realm such as books, art, stamps, coins, or whatever else can be collected, admired, studied, and displayed. Ironically it is that digital screen that has brought a more worldwide market together and I do agree that collecting may change and will have to adapt to some degree but it already has somewhat.

Hopefully my optimism is not misplaced!!!

Wish I was able to buy low, sell high like that! Nicely done. Must be a great feeling to turn stamps into cash to buy nice things for family (and also more stamps for yourself, hopefully)!

If it's a fading hobby then why am I still bidding against so many people?

Staller ---- Simple answer , that nobody here realises .......THEY ARE PRINTING MONEY FASTER .

This is no joke .....I live in Florida and I can heard the printing press working 24/7 to print money in Washington D.C.
, Paris ,London , Moscow and China ,the money is stacking up .