Why I'm Leaving Stamp Collecting

Dear Fellow Stamp Collectors,

Just a few short weeks ago I was thumbing through the American Philatelist and remember thinking to myself “I really hope stamp collecting survives”. In fact, the place I go to first are the membership numbers hoping they have gone up.

This week I decided to cancel my 10-year membership to the APS. I would like to explain the reasons I came to this conclusion.

1. I go to stamp shows and I don't feel comfortable. Not very many friendly or welcoming people.
2. Dealers overprice their stamps. They are obsessed about profit and nickel and dime you to death (for example...”for every extra stamp you buy you will be charged an extra 5 cents for postage” or the people who charge 5 or 6 dollars for mailing one stamp). I am tired of getting counterfeits that are not listed as such. I am tired of getting stamps that have writing on the back and the dealer doesn't mention that. I see 20c stamps that are ripped and the dealer still tries to squeeze a few pennies out of it. I remember I once bought a $100 stamp and I accidentally ripped it in half (too much tape in the packaging). I got the stamp and donated it to veterans. What could be more exciting for a person or kid discovering a rare and expensive stamp?
3. The American Philatelist bores me. Way too many articles about the postal service, offices, covers, and postal history. Kids are not going to be interested in those subjects. Actually, the magazine really started to improve over the past several months. I really liked the stamp printing facts (quantity, etc.) in the boxes.
4. APS services are way too overpriced. The library should have free access for all members. Charging 25c here and 10c there and extra charges for photocopies and for going over the 15-minute time limit is too annoying. I feel like I'm in Kinkos. If you don't sacrifice a bit and make access to educational materials free of charge for all members, you can't expect any progress in philately.
5. This does not relate to the APS directly. I had a very off-putting experience with Linn's. I bought a Scott Catalogue at the APS stamp show in Riverside. I paid $79 for the one disc. This disc was “locked” by a third-party security software. I was able to unlock the PDF file for about a year and a few months. Then one day I couldn't open the PDF files anymore. I was told by the security company that they don't do business with Linn's anymore and that there was no way of opening the file. I called Linn's and they said they don't cover that disc anymore. So basically I couldn't use it anymore. I asked the woman at Linn's (who wasn't friendly at all) if I could buy the same Scott's Catalogue in book form and I would pay her at cost (not retail) and pay for the postage. She said absolutely not. How would you feel if you forked over $79 for a Scott Catalogue in book form and in 14-months it “self-destructs” and you lose it forever?
6. And this is the one thing that bothers me the most. Some of you will say I shouldn't be bringing in politics but this is NOT about politics but rather about basic human morality. Strike 1. Having Karl Rove speak at the APS banquet. What were you people thinking? Here you have one of the prime architects of the Iraq invasion. It is a fact that the Iraqi invasion was an unprovoked, unilateral invasion that was justified with a huge web of lies (over 935 lies per an independent, bipartisan organization). More than several people inside of Bush's administration said Bush and Cheney has this invasion planned way before 9/11. We invade Iraq and ended up killing almost 1,000,000 completely innocent Iraqis who had NOTHING to do with terrorism or 9/11. I saw hundreds of pictures of burned Iraqi children, many dead and some alive. Many were missing limbs and the grotesque suffering was palpable. I even saw a picture of an Iraqi child that was burned down to bone by the “white phosphorous” that the US used. I remember when the BBC showed the horrific pictures of babies burned by white sulfur that the US sprayed on them. Then I would hear people in my neighborhood saying that you could work in Iraq (for Halliburton driving trucks) and make $300 an hour. The American companies made huge profits off this massive immorality. Wow, killing children and making profits off of the most immoral thing I have ever witnessed? And now you show a picture of Condoleeza Rice in the last issue? She is another architect of the immoral Iraqi invasion. My God...what were you people thinking? I am really disillusioned about this country. I have never seen so much phony Christianity and hypocritical “moral values”. Remember the Pharisees mentioned in the bible? Republicans are them to the tee! So now I hear that Mick Zais went to work for Trump and Betsy DeVos (a man who wants to yank insurance from 23 million Americans and a women who's part of a family of extremist Christianity and paid mercenaries)? WTH? I won't even go into that! I just don't understand this country. So much immorality and so much “phony” Christianity. Is it American arrogance or that conservatives live in a bubble where the truth and facts cannot permeate? Well enough of that... Goodbye to all and I hope you the best success. Thank you Ken Martin for being such a nice guy!


Sincerely,

Luis Mon APS 208429



Comments

  • 3 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • edited November 2017 11 LikesVote Down
    If you would permit me, I would like to comment on your points for why you are quitting the APS.

    First, you tend to lump everyone into a bucket. With millions of stamp collectors in the world, that is unfair.

    1. Many people are not friendly.

    Stamp collecting is full of old, miserable people (mostly men). They are the ones who sit in their small closets all day long and play with their little pieces of paper. They don't see anyone, and they lose all social skills (if they ever had any). They squeal like they were in the movie "Deliverance" if they don't get their way. I agree with you that such collectors are worthless to the hobby. Still, there are many more who are friendly than those who are not. Strike up a conversation in Forums like this, and you'll find them.

    But this has nothing to do with the APS.

    2. Dealers overprice their stamps.

    People sell stamps at all different prices, and shipping costs. Find the ones you like, and avoid the ones you don't. It's the same with anything you buy. Find the best value for the best price.

    This has nothing to do with the APS

    3.The APS magazine bores you.

    Well, can't do much there. Some people like things, some people don't.

    4. APS services are way too overpriced.

    You only mention the library. The APS offers much more, and at little to no cost to APS members and non-members. Have you seen the web site with all the instructional and informational articles and videos? How about the free album pages? How about the free articles about counterfeits and how to tell them from the originals? Have you used the sales division to buy and/or sell? The Estate Advisory Service is free to family members of a deceased APS member. APS stamp shows have free admission. Have you used your membership discount to get big discounts in printing services at Office Max? Like with membership in any organization, the more you avail yourself to the services offered, the more you get back, and the lower your cost of membership when you take all that into consideration. For the low cost of annual membership, how can the APS offer everything for free? I think you are unrealistic with this point.

    5. Amos Media didn't provide you with the customer service you expected.

    And this is a reason to quit the APS? Reaching a bit there, aren't you?

    6. You don't like the speakers that the APS had at a show.

    Again, you didn't like it (and there wasn't any need to drop the history lesson bomb), but others probably did. I don't know what those speakers said. Was it philatelic-related or did you not attend so you don't know?

    The bottom line is that your six reasons for quitting the APS make little to no sense. What has the APS done to harm the hobby? You alone do not make up the APS. All the members with all their differences, likes and dislikes make up the organization. If you belong to a religion, have you quit, because someone in your religious organization said something you didn't like, or because the weekly newsletter bored you? Actually your comments makes you sound more like the people you complained about in your first reason.

    I know someone who quit stamp collecting a year ago when Trump was elected president. It all seems mentally unstable, immature or childish at the least.
  • Maybe he just wanted a platform for his left-wing rant.
  • Mr. Mon,

    I was thoughtfully reading your post until I reached number 6. Your political rant completely invalidated everything else you said. I concur with the two gentlemen who posted prior to me.

    As a stamp collector, I really don't care what your political beliefs are; I just want to know your views on what you collect and why. I like stamp collectors and dealers because it's one aspect of life that is usually not poisoned by partisan bickering, and they are friendly people. (I said usually). I am all for dealers making a profit. The free market means I can pick and choose who I want to buy from, and I don't expect dealers or the APS to work for free. We're all fallen people and we all do the best we can. A little charity would not be out of place. Best of luck in finding a new hobby.
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