Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Login to Like
this post
I hate to further classify myself as an old bloke, but was she about 23?
Tim.
Login to Like
this post
Tim, we've seen your picture. You're an old bloke. Not that I'm a spring rooster either, especially since I just turned the year count up by one.
Login to Like
this post
"I hate to further classify myself as an old bloke, but was she about 23?"
A very good point! Millennials--even postal workers, I'm sure--just don't understand the bygone world of stamps. This is no slam on their generation; they just belong to a different era.
Login to Like
this post
The sad part is the clerk appeared 40-50 yo.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
I went to post office yesterday to get a plate block of the new Priority Mail stamp.
"The Clerk actually said she never heard of anyone collecting stamps.
"
Login to Like
this post
"And did not know what a plate block was. I tried to explain she just could not get it. The Postal Service Spends all kinds of money to promote Stamp collecting. Maybe they should tell their employees. Oh how i miss my small town Post office."
that's the oddity: that USPS actually spends money, and lots of it, promoting stamp collecting, but ignores all the mechanisms that might allow them to be successful at it. I don't mind pen cancels and obvlivious clerks in a vacuum; I rail at it in conjunction with philatelic efforts that accomplish little.
Login to Like
this post
incidentally, plate blocks are one of the areas that I have abandoned because of USPS policies. it's not JUST that I don't buy new PBs; I'm putting old ones into service, meaning I'm buying even less postage for personal use. And I'm a collector.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
USPS does not want anyone dealing with stamp collecting except the personnel dedicated to dealing with stamp collecting, eg, the USPS Store ("Fulfillment Center"), and the First Day (etc) marketing crews.
That way, the activity can be budgeted, accounted for, and managed.
This is an easily defensible business decision, even if it is not the only choice available to them.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
yes, and if MacDonald's had used that model, the golden arches would be in half a dozen cities. Why go where the people are when we can insist that they come to us.
you are right, it's a defensible business decision, and marketing madness.
and how's it working for them?
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
"... and how's it working for them? ..."
Fair question. I certainly don't know.
I suspect they consider services to stamp collectors to be a legacy activity, eg, one that they inherited, never asked for, would not have thought to invent, and don't really know what to do with.
And I suspect they feel the same way about operating an over-extensive collection of stand-alone single-purpose buildings ("post offices") or, perhaps, selling & cashing money orders.
No one is asking Ford to stock Model 'T' parts, or to train their employees to install running boards & rumble seats.
Yeah, I know, not much of analogy but, then, postal services are something of a singularity, and we get to expect & demand whatever we want.
So I'm advocating for single-color stamps printed with uniquely-numbered engraved plates ...
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
I may be disavowed for this, but I have to side with the clerk on the original post. I have done many creative mailings over the years and the local PO was always very accommodating but one day the clerk said "You didn't leave me my space." I didn't realize that they needed the top right corner to place a PVI, even a $0.00 PVI. ALWAYS leave them that space, and you may get better results.
Lars
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Michael,
i want to keep our comments strictly to the philatelic division, as there are many other decisions, some advocated by the USPS and others forced upon them, but because philatelic division is created to do something other than move the mail, I think comments on it can be separate.
first, I can't tell the fecitiousness quotient, but I think it's zero. I'll treat it as such.
second, you're right, tha analogies don't work because Ford isn't asking us to buy model Ts; if they were, then I'd expect them to service them fully. And that's my expectation (theoretically, anyway, as I live in the real world informed by experience) from a business that actively promotes philately.
I'd be OK with purple litho stamps of nothing but liberty bells, all pen cancelled, if that were the model; but it's not. There's much emphasis on buying, and saving, stamps; why else print so many different stamp types, each requiring funds to design, acquire copyright, create plates, run presses, hold FDCs, and often destroy, etc. What is the right side Jenny and imperf sheets if not a blatant, and poorly executed, play for our collecting dollars.
So, if you're going to promote something, then do it right. Don't hold a sale on avacadoes and stock mushrooms.
I'm off what I thought was a soap box and turns out to a collapsing box oozing green goo. That's where the avacadoes went.
and, Lars, thanks for the tip
David
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
I went to local post office with package mailing to trading club. I had $1 in 10 cent stamps nicely presented and wanted to add postage to send. The clerk printed $0.86 label and promptly put in on over corner of stamps. I remarked that the stamps were no longer good for collecting. She looked at me quizzically and said 'you can't collect them they are used for postage'. I said I collect stamps as a hobby and do not like labels over them. She actually said she never heard of anyone collecting stamps. I left shaking my head as she started muttering to a co-worker (must been about the stamp nut she just talked to)
Login to Like
this post
Auctions - Approvals
re: U S Postal Service
I hate to further classify myself as an old bloke, but was she about 23?
Tim.
Login to Like
this post
re: U S Postal Service
Tim, we've seen your picture. You're an old bloke. Not that I'm a spring rooster either, especially since I just turned the year count up by one.
Login to Like
this post
re: U S Postal Service
"I hate to further classify myself as an old bloke, but was she about 23?"
A very good point! Millennials--even postal workers, I'm sure--just don't understand the bygone world of stamps. This is no slam on their generation; they just belong to a different era.
Login to Like
this post
re: U S Postal Service
The sad part is the clerk appeared 40-50 yo.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: U S Postal Service
I went to post office yesterday to get a plate block of the new Priority Mail stamp.
"The Clerk actually said she never heard of anyone collecting stamps.
"
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: U S Postal Service
"And did not know what a plate block was. I tried to explain she just could not get it. The Postal Service Spends all kinds of money to promote Stamp collecting. Maybe they should tell their employees. Oh how i miss my small town Post office."
that's the oddity: that USPS actually spends money, and lots of it, promoting stamp collecting, but ignores all the mechanisms that might allow them to be successful at it. I don't mind pen cancels and obvlivious clerks in a vacuum; I rail at it in conjunction with philatelic efforts that accomplish little.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: U S Postal Service
incidentally, plate blocks are one of the areas that I have abandoned because of USPS policies. it's not JUST that I don't buy new PBs; I'm putting old ones into service, meaning I'm buying even less postage for personal use. And I'm a collector.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: U S Postal Service
USPS does not want anyone dealing with stamp collecting except the personnel dedicated to dealing with stamp collecting, eg, the USPS Store ("Fulfillment Center"), and the First Day (etc) marketing crews.
That way, the activity can be budgeted, accounted for, and managed.
This is an easily defensible business decision, even if it is not the only choice available to them.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: U S Postal Service
yes, and if MacDonald's had used that model, the golden arches would be in half a dozen cities. Why go where the people are when we can insist that they come to us.
you are right, it's a defensible business decision, and marketing madness.
and how's it working for them?
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: U S Postal Service
"... and how's it working for them? ..."
Fair question. I certainly don't know.
I suspect they consider services to stamp collectors to be a legacy activity, eg, one that they inherited, never asked for, would not have thought to invent, and don't really know what to do with.
And I suspect they feel the same way about operating an over-extensive collection of stand-alone single-purpose buildings ("post offices") or, perhaps, selling & cashing money orders.
No one is asking Ford to stock Model 'T' parts, or to train their employees to install running boards & rumble seats.
Yeah, I know, not much of analogy but, then, postal services are something of a singularity, and we get to expect & demand whatever we want.
So I'm advocating for single-color stamps printed with uniquely-numbered engraved plates ...
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: U S Postal Service
I may be disavowed for this, but I have to side with the clerk on the original post. I have done many creative mailings over the years and the local PO was always very accommodating but one day the clerk said "You didn't leave me my space." I didn't realize that they needed the top right corner to place a PVI, even a $0.00 PVI. ALWAYS leave them that space, and you may get better results.
Lars
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Auctions
re: U S Postal Service
Michael,
i want to keep our comments strictly to the philatelic division, as there are many other decisions, some advocated by the USPS and others forced upon them, but because philatelic division is created to do something other than move the mail, I think comments on it can be separate.
first, I can't tell the fecitiousness quotient, but I think it's zero. I'll treat it as such.
second, you're right, tha analogies don't work because Ford isn't asking us to buy model Ts; if they were, then I'd expect them to service them fully. And that's my expectation (theoretically, anyway, as I live in the real world informed by experience) from a business that actively promotes philately.
I'd be OK with purple litho stamps of nothing but liberty bells, all pen cancelled, if that were the model; but it's not. There's much emphasis on buying, and saving, stamps; why else print so many different stamp types, each requiring funds to design, acquire copyright, create plates, run presses, hold FDCs, and often destroy, etc. What is the right side Jenny and imperf sheets if not a blatant, and poorly executed, play for our collecting dollars.
So, if you're going to promote something, then do it right. Don't hold a sale on avacadoes and stock mushrooms.
I'm off what I thought was a soap box and turns out to a collapsing box oozing green goo. That's where the avacadoes went.
and, Lars, thanks for the tip
David
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.