Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Washington Times 18 Sep 2018
Personally, I am not surprised by this. My own son, a millennial living in a major city, has never been inside a post office in his life; nor, I believe, have most of his friends. To his generation, stamps are seen as quaint artifacts from the past.
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It sounds like another broad generalization without facts. For most anyone, you do not need to go to a post office to mail a letter. I suspect if there was a compelling reason, it would be to get a passport.
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It has become more difficult to visit a post office just to buy a stamp in many places.
Most post offices where I live are more about processing passport applications. I have gone to my local office and often found a line out the door. Four clerks on duty all of them doing passports. You cannot go to a customer service counter at the supermarket to buy one stamp to mail a letter. They only sell full booklets.
Mod> Modified to remove political content.
(Modified by Moderator on 2018-09-20 17:30:20)
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In the town where my wife works, the post office is only open to
the public for 2 hours every Saturday....!
It would not surprise me if many area folk there think it is just an unused/empty/abandoned or out-of-business building.
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True story! My neighbor's son 25 came to me one Saturday morning while I was cutting the grass. He had to mail a form in for his work, he asked for a stamp, I gladly gave him one, he said "thanks, now where do I put?" I showed him where to put the stamp, He was happy and left to mail it. Over an hour later he came back home and said "that stamp was no good!" I said sure it was. "No the man at United Parcel said they don't use those and I paid with my cellphone app!" What would of cost him 50 cents to mail across town he spent 15.00 (or so he told me). Seems he was told no one uses the post office anymore!
True story, the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent! 
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Seems like it's a little different scenario for me because I go to the post office twice every month. Once is to send a letter sometimes and other is to pay the bills (telephone)
While I go to the post office in finish one more job too, ie. to buy stamps.
The post office stamp counter lady knows me since I am the only young teenage boys who buys stamps for my collection. Rest of the people buy stamps to send letters only.
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I hope folks saw that Karl's friend who asked for a stamp went to the UPS, not the PO.
Indeed, at UPS, a stamp is worthless, unless the guy at the counter is a collector and wants to fashion one of the great oddities of all time
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Hi all,
Our post offices in the three very small towns near where I live are always quite busy!
So much so, that I think twice about going around lunch time.
My kids and their friends all know how to mail a letter.
Must be the special training we get here in Southern Michigan.
JR
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"Of course, the basic skill of letter writing is no longer taught in schools, as well. The basic business letter used to be a feature of high school education. Now, in my business, I regularly hire people aged 25 to 30 who cannot compose and properly format a business letter to be mailed. "
I am a high school teacher. Mostly, I teach a 3-year digital arts program (photography, graphic design, layout, web design and animation), but I'm also certified to teach other subjects and usually have a US Government class or two.
One of the requirements of this class is to write a letter to an elected official. Quite a few cannot write a letter - from a format perspective or a content perspective. It is very much a spoon fed assignment.
Of course, one of my students came to me just before fall break. She'd written a very good letter to our Representative and received a letter - not a formulaic thanks for writing letter - but a good meaty response, and a phone call from one of his staffers. She was actually kind of excited.
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04:00:19am
" ... I am a high school teacher. Mostly, I teach
a 3-year digital arts program (photography, graphic design,
layout, web design and animation), but I'm also certified
to teach other subjects and usually have a US Government
class or two.
One of the requirements of this class is to write a letter
to an elected official. Quite a few cannot write a letter -
from a format perspective or a content perspective.
It is very much a spoon fed assignment.
Of course, one of my students came to me just before fall break.
She'd written a very good letter to our Representative and
received a letter - not a formulaic thanks for writing letter -
but a good meaty response, and a phone call from one
of his staffers. She was actually kind of excited ..."
A great idea and good work.
I know most well meaning, overworked and usually underpaid
teachers are well pressed for time and probably energy,
just meeting arbitrary "standardized" test goals
to undertake a large scale spoon feeding of all their students.
But in light of the recent topic and thread in which we
discussed someone's teen aged friend who did not know
how to address and stamp a civil letter, where to post it or
how much a first class letter cost, I am thinking that
I will redouble my efforts and push my grandchildren
to write a similar letter to one of the overmany candidates
who are seeking my vote. And I will followup with my
children to push for its completion.
I bet there are many grand parents among our members
who have a few spare minutes as we dither about,
awaiting the call of the "Last Round-up", who could
exert some personal influence and perhaps seek
the seemingly many potential benefits to our own
grand children and our society both.
I am sure someone is asking themself,
what does this have to do with stamp collecting ?
I do not know for sure, so go ahead and ask.
But I am recalling and probably paraphrasing a
forty year old TV commercial;
"An educated consumer is our greatest asset."
How could better educated grand children not
benefit philately?
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New article 'Information Rift, Philately, and Young Collectors'
http://www.stampsmarter.com/Learning/ID_InformationRift.html
Don
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In the news recently, a focus group sought to identify the reasons for low absentee ballot submissions by college students. Among other "barriers," they found that college students didn't use mail-in ballots because "they didn't know where to buy postage stamps."
Washington Times 18 Sep 2018
Personally, I am not surprised by this. My own son, a millennial living in a major city, has never been inside a post office in his life; nor, I believe, have most of his friends. To his generation, stamps are seen as quaint artifacts from the past.
Login to Like
this post
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
It sounds like another broad generalization without facts. For most anyone, you do not need to go to a post office to mail a letter. I suspect if there was a compelling reason, it would be to get a passport.
Login to Like
this post
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
It has become more difficult to visit a post office just to buy a stamp in many places.
Most post offices where I live are more about processing passport applications. I have gone to my local office and often found a line out the door. Four clerks on duty all of them doing passports. You cannot go to a customer service counter at the supermarket to buy one stamp to mail a letter. They only sell full booklets.
Mod> Modified to remove political content.
(Modified by Moderator on 2018-09-20 17:30:20)
Login to Like
this post
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
In the town where my wife works, the post office is only open to
the public for 2 hours every Saturday....!
It would not surprise me if many area folk there think it is just an unused/empty/abandoned or out-of-business building.
Login to Like
this post
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
True story! My neighbor's son 25 came to me one Saturday morning while I was cutting the grass. He had to mail a form in for his work, he asked for a stamp, I gladly gave him one, he said "thanks, now where do I put?" I showed him where to put the stamp, He was happy and left to mail it. Over an hour later he came back home and said "that stamp was no good!" I said sure it was. "No the man at United Parcel said they don't use those and I paid with my cellphone app!" What would of cost him 50 cents to mail across town he spent 15.00 (or so he told me). Seems he was told no one uses the post office anymore!
True story, the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent!
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like this post.
Login to Like.
06:13:59am
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
Seems like it's a little different scenario for me because I go to the post office twice every month. Once is to send a letter sometimes and other is to pay the bills (telephone)
While I go to the post office in finish one more job too, ie. to buy stamps.
The post office stamp counter lady knows me since I am the only young teenage boys who buys stamps for my collection. Rest of the people buy stamps to send letters only.
Login to Like
this post
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re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
I hope folks saw that Karl's friend who asked for a stamp went to the UPS, not the PO.
Indeed, at UPS, a stamp is worthless, unless the guy at the counter is a collector and wants to fashion one of the great oddities of all time
Login to Like
this post
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
Hi all,
Our post offices in the three very small towns near where I live are always quite busy!
So much so, that I think twice about going around lunch time.
My kids and their friends all know how to mail a letter.
Must be the special training we get here in Southern Michigan.
JR
Login to Like
this post
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
"Of course, the basic skill of letter writing is no longer taught in schools, as well. The basic business letter used to be a feature of high school education. Now, in my business, I regularly hire people aged 25 to 30 who cannot compose and properly format a business letter to be mailed. "
I am a high school teacher. Mostly, I teach a 3-year digital arts program (photography, graphic design, layout, web design and animation), but I'm also certified to teach other subjects and usually have a US Government class or two.
One of the requirements of this class is to write a letter to an elected official. Quite a few cannot write a letter - from a format perspective or a content perspective. It is very much a spoon fed assignment.
Of course, one of my students came to me just before fall break. She'd written a very good letter to our Representative and received a letter - not a formulaic thanks for writing letter - but a good meaty response, and a phone call from one of his staffers. She was actually kind of excited.
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
20 Oct 2018
04:00:19am
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
" ... I am a high school teacher. Mostly, I teach
a 3-year digital arts program (photography, graphic design,
layout, web design and animation), but I'm also certified
to teach other subjects and usually have a US Government
class or two.
One of the requirements of this class is to write a letter
to an elected official. Quite a few cannot write a letter -
from a format perspective or a content perspective.
It is very much a spoon fed assignment.
Of course, one of my students came to me just before fall break.
She'd written a very good letter to our Representative and
received a letter - not a formulaic thanks for writing letter -
but a good meaty response, and a phone call from one
of his staffers. She was actually kind of excited ..."
A great idea and good work.
I know most well meaning, overworked and usually underpaid
teachers are well pressed for time and probably energy,
just meeting arbitrary "standardized" test goals
to undertake a large scale spoon feeding of all their students.
But in light of the recent topic and thread in which we
discussed someone's teen aged friend who did not know
how to address and stamp a civil letter, where to post it or
how much a first class letter cost, I am thinking that
I will redouble my efforts and push my grandchildren
to write a similar letter to one of the overmany candidates
who are seeking my vote. And I will followup with my
children to push for its completion.
I bet there are many grand parents among our members
who have a few spare minutes as we dither about,
awaiting the call of the "Last Round-up", who could
exert some personal influence and perhaps seek
the seemingly many potential benefits to our own
grand children and our society both.
I am sure someone is asking themself,
what does this have to do with stamp collecting ?
I do not know for sure, so go ahead and ask.
But I am recalling and probably paraphrasing a
forty year old TV commercial;
"An educated consumer is our greatest asset."
How could better educated grand children not
benefit philately?
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: The Disconnect between Young Adults and Postage Stamps
New article 'Information Rift, Philately, and Young Collectors'
http://www.stampsmarter.com/Learning/ID_InformationRift.html
Don
Login to Like
this post