Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I am curious as to how others who have done something similar handled your purchases. Did you mail them back home to yourself in a Priority envelope? Can you do that right at the show if USPS has a booth? I usually take a small duffel bag with me to local shows with my checklists, etc. I will need to figure a way to cut back on that to conserve space. (We are flying there and back) . In general is philatelic material safe in checked baggage?
Any input is welcome!
Login to Like
this post
I always come back from UK visits with loads of stamps/albums/catalogues. I take what I can in my hand luggage and the rest carefully packed in the checked-in bags.
Never had a problem.
en route I usually look at some stamps or covers and it's amazing how much interest there is from fellow passengers !
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Thanks for the input. One factor for me is that the show will be early in my trip, we plan to drive down to California and will be staying at different places along the way. My question I guess would be, do the USPS counters at these shows provide mail service? Could I bundle my show purchases and mail them in a Priority box to myself back home? Or do they just sell stamps at those?
Login to Like
this post
I travel from PA to Utah every two years for a big model car hobby event. People do get out of hand with their purchases and find novel ways to get it home.
I know one fellow who brought home his purchases in his carry on and checked baggage... he sent his dirty laundry home via UPS!
If you are going to ship home stamp purchases via Priority Mail, be sure there is someone to receive it on the home end. I've seen mail holds ignored and the last thing you want is a big priority box sitting out front of your empty house!
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
The last post reminded me in some small way of the time I made Aliyah back in 1991. I was so afraid of putting my collection in the crates that went by ship that I took all my Stamps and stamp stuff with me on the flight over. So my hold luggage and hand luggage was full of stamps, catalogues and books while my clothes and other essentials went on the two-month long journey by ship !!
I was on a special flight so none of my luggage was checked, but had it been the Customs officials would have thought I was a bit 'cuckoo' arriving with stamps and nothing else !!
Londonbus1
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
05:28:02pm
" ... it's amazing how much interest there is from fellow passengers ! ...."
When I traveled, I would always have some stamps either from stock or new purchases, handy and would purposely seek out a decent cafe to sip some coffee and munch on the national equivalent of a toasted bagel.
Carefully out would come the stamps to be laid out as if I were studying them. Almost always it caused someone to open a conversation that frequently led to a friendship of some sort that was far better than the folks who hung out in sailors bars.
In one port it led to meeting a young lady (girl actually) and a budding romance that lasted the four or five weeks I was there and a stamp correspondence for the next five or six years. All it took was quiet patience and the willingness to deal politely with the language barriers. Another amazing thing is how many people can speak a little English, and where that seems insoluble the the number of people with some English skills, who will step in and try to help.
Stamp collecting may have become a bit out of favor in he USA but it is still a unifying hobby world wide.
3 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
If you stop your mail, you do not need to worry about no one being home. This obviously does not apply to UPS, FedEx, and contract delivery services.
Login to Like
this post
"... If you stop your mail, you do not need to worry about no one being home ..."
Kinda depends.
If your 'regular' letter carrier is out sick, the substitute (who will be slower at setting-up the route's mail for delivery) may not be allowed to check for vacation holds & forwards, as the extra time would make the supervisor's stats look bad.
Honest.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who wonders if they will patch the vacation holds and forwards onto the scanning system that is now being used AFAIK only for informed delivery)
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
"If you stop your mail, you do not need to worry about no one being home. This obviously does not apply to UPS, FedEx, and contract delivery services."
STOP can be a subjective term. My daughters both moved out of our NJ house a few months ago. It's been sitting vacant with a For Sale sign on it. A good portion of their mail still gets dropped off there, no matter how many times they've gone to the local PO to complain!
Login to Like
this post
'
Never complain to the local PO; they just nod politely, and go about their cost-restricting business ... as they are instructed to do.
Written complaints to the Postmaster Washington DC will get counted, and counted again as they pass down the hierarchy ... and only things that are counted can ever count.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
Just an update; I did manage to mail my purchases home in a flat rate Priority box. I stopped at a PO in an Oregon coastal town. There was room left over in the box so I also mailed back a catalog I'd used at the show. My mailing made it back to Omaha in two days. This might not be practical in all cases but it worked out fine for me.
Login to Like
this post
I plan to attend PIPEX in Portland in May; that is across the country but I am tying it into a vacation to the Pacific coast.
I am curious as to how others who have done something similar handled your purchases. Did you mail them back home to yourself in a Priority envelope? Can you do that right at the show if USPS has a booth? I usually take a small duffel bag with me to local shows with my checklists, etc. I will need to figure a way to cut back on that to conserve space. (We are flying there and back) . In general is philatelic material safe in checked baggage?
Any input is welcome!
Login to Like
this post
re: Stamp Show Strategy
I always come back from UK visits with loads of stamps/albums/catalogues. I take what I can in my hand luggage and the rest carefully packed in the checked-in bags.
Never had a problem.
en route I usually look at some stamps or covers and it's amazing how much interest there is from fellow passengers !
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Stamp Show Strategy
Thanks for the input. One factor for me is that the show will be early in my trip, we plan to drive down to California and will be staying at different places along the way. My question I guess would be, do the USPS counters at these shows provide mail service? Could I bundle my show purchases and mail them in a Priority box to myself back home? Or do they just sell stamps at those?
Login to Like
this post
Approvals
re: Stamp Show Strategy
I travel from PA to Utah every two years for a big model car hobby event. People do get out of hand with their purchases and find novel ways to get it home.
I know one fellow who brought home his purchases in his carry on and checked baggage... he sent his dirty laundry home via UPS!
If you are going to ship home stamp purchases via Priority Mail, be sure there is someone to receive it on the home end. I've seen mail holds ignored and the last thing you want is a big priority box sitting out front of your empty house!
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Stamp Show Strategy
The last post reminded me in some small way of the time I made Aliyah back in 1991. I was so afraid of putting my collection in the crates that went by ship that I took all my Stamps and stamp stuff with me on the flight over. So my hold luggage and hand luggage was full of stamps, catalogues and books while my clothes and other essentials went on the two-month long journey by ship !!
I was on a special flight so none of my luggage was checked, but had it been the Customs officials would have thought I was a bit 'cuckoo' arriving with stamps and nothing else !!
Londonbus1
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
30 Mar 2019
05:28:02pm
re: Stamp Show Strategy
" ... it's amazing how much interest there is from fellow passengers ! ...."
When I traveled, I would always have some stamps either from stock or new purchases, handy and would purposely seek out a decent cafe to sip some coffee and munch on the national equivalent of a toasted bagel.
Carefully out would come the stamps to be laid out as if I were studying them. Almost always it caused someone to open a conversation that frequently led to a friendship of some sort that was far better than the folks who hung out in sailors bars.
In one port it led to meeting a young lady (girl actually) and a budding romance that lasted the four or five weeks I was there and a stamp correspondence for the next five or six years. All it took was quiet patience and the willingness to deal politely with the language barriers. Another amazing thing is how many people can speak a little English, and where that seems insoluble the the number of people with some English skills, who will step in and try to help.
Stamp collecting may have become a bit out of favor in he USA but it is still a unifying hobby world wide.
3 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Stamp Show Strategy
If you stop your mail, you do not need to worry about no one being home. This obviously does not apply to UPS, FedEx, and contract delivery services.
Login to Like
this post
re: Stamp Show Strategy
"... If you stop your mail, you do not need to worry about no one being home ..."
Kinda depends.
If your 'regular' letter carrier is out sick, the substitute (who will be slower at setting-up the route's mail for delivery) may not be allowed to check for vacation holds & forwards, as the extra time would make the supervisor's stats look bad.
Honest.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who wonders if they will patch the vacation holds and forwards onto the scanning system that is now being used AFAIK only for informed delivery)
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Approvals
re: Stamp Show Strategy
"If you stop your mail, you do not need to worry about no one being home. This obviously does not apply to UPS, FedEx, and contract delivery services."
STOP can be a subjective term. My daughters both moved out of our NJ house a few months ago. It's been sitting vacant with a For Sale sign on it. A good portion of their mail still gets dropped off there, no matter how many times they've gone to the local PO to complain!
Login to Like
this post
re: Stamp Show Strategy
'
Never complain to the local PO; they just nod politely, and go about their cost-restricting business ... as they are instructed to do.
Written complaints to the Postmaster Washington DC will get counted, and counted again as they pass down the hierarchy ... and only things that are counted can ever count.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
re: Stamp Show Strategy
Just an update; I did manage to mail my purchases home in a flat rate Priority box. I stopped at a PO in an Oregon coastal town. There was room left over in the box so I also mailed back a catalog I'd used at the show. My mailing made it back to Omaha in two days. This might not be practical in all cases but it worked out fine for me.
Login to Like
this post