Well, at least I got to have a haircut in the Penny Lane barber shop. 11 Feb 2021 11:42:43am
re: More crappy stamps issued for 2021.
The USPS Board of Governors is populated by political appointees who wish to destroy the agency and give its business to campaign donors. Intentional or not, stupid stamp issues are one more step in that direction.
Because Trump was too lazy to appoint new governors, President Biden has the chance to fill the Board with enough non-corporate people to tilt the balance and get rid of PMG DeJoyless.
Meanwhile, we're left to ignore Star Wars, Expresso Drink, Mystery Message and Western Wear!
I do not think anything related to the Board of Governors and Postmaster General will affect the stamp subject policies. Nor will sales from stamps to collectors solve the USPS's fiscal challenges.
Unless a postal rate changes, there is no need for a new stamp.
That was the logic behind the FOREVER stamps. The postal rate (and therefore the purchase cost) could increase as needed, but the existing stamp(s) would still be good irregardless.
Yes, I'll admit - "Logic" and "USPS" often appear to be mutually exclusive.
There was a time when our stamps were issued to important standards, subjects that would stand the test of time. Patriotic themes, American History and propaganda for the world to see! And in retrospect, quite a bit stodgy.
In the same way we no longer wear a suit and tie to fly on a plane or walk on the boardwalk down the shore, people are a lot less formal today. And a lot less educated on history! And most just plain don't notice much!
A few years ago we thought it would be fun to send out our Christmas cards from a town that had the same name as ours! We drove 40 minutes, watched the clerk carefully handstamp each card and waited... nothing! Nobody noticed! In the end not a single recipient even looked at the envelope! We didn't make it an annual tradition!
I do notice that the current brand of irrelevant stamps are accepted and even liked by people in general. I was on line at the post office once and the lady in front of me chose to buy the book of stamps with ice cream on them because she thought they looked nice.
As a car fan, I see a lot of the mail I get from fellow car guys have the car theme stamps that have been issued lately. One guy I know even bought $100 worth of the Hot Wheels stamps so he wouldn't run out. And several of them admitted to putting away a few examples. That's how people start collecting stamps.
So I'm willing to accept that I'm just an ancient relic of a time that's past.
for the record, Trump appointed all the Board's Governors to which he was entitled.
It was Obama who didn't appoint any; he nominated 7; and 7 were approved out of committee; and there they sat, none of the 7 were ever brought to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
David
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
For the record as of January 29,2021 there are 11 members of the Citizen's Stamp Advisory
Committee. 1. Gail Anderson (appointed:2013); 2. Peter Argentine (appointed:2014); 3.
B.J. Bueno-chairman (appointed:2012); 4. Dr. Cheryl R. Ganz (appointed:2014); 5. Donna D. Verona (appointed:2007); 6. Harry Rinker (appointed: 2012); 7.Maruchi Santana (appointed:2012); 8. Katherine C. Tobin, Ph.D.(appointed:2013); 9. Janet Klug (appointed:2010); 10. Carolyn Lewis (appointed:2014); 11. Justin Bua (appointed: 2014).1 appointment by President George W. Bush and 10 appointments by President Obama.
source for this message: Wikipedia.
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" I have a burning love for stamps. Lord A'mighty ,feel my temperature risin'! "
Gail Anderson
Peter Argentine
B. J. Bueno, Chair
Dr. Kevin Butterfield
Ivan Cash
Spencer Crew
Dr. Cheryl R. Ganz
Mike Harrity
Dr. Joseph L. Kelley
Roger R. Ream
Harry Rinker
Maruchi Santana
Katherine C. Tobin, Ph.D.
actually, I went to U.S.P.S first. however, I couldn't find anywhere that Dr. Kevin Butterfield,Dr. Joseph L. Kelley and Roger R. Ream are members of the CSAC; so I went to Wikipedia. Further investigation shows that Ivan Cash, Spencer Crew & Mike Harrity were appointed to the CSAC in 2018. Janet Klug retired from the committee in 2019. also further searching
found the Wikipedia had the name "Donna D. Verona" wrong . It is actually Donna de Varona
and as far as I can determine she is still on the committee (BTW: she is a former Olympic swimming star).
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" I have a burning love for stamps. Lord A'mighty ,feel my temperature risin'! "
Just read an interesting academic review of what the author called “stamp pandering” to explain sovereign nations issuing stamps unrelated to their country’s history, ideals, etc. Three most popular worldwide are Elvis, Princess Diana, Disney.
Interestingly this was correlated with other specious revenue generators: money laundering (high correlation) and tax havens (statistically significant high correlation). Not surprised to see Equatorial Guinea, et al - but gob-smacked at the inclusion of USA.
Read another article pointing to USA as increasingly a tax haven, which is odd to me with all the companies going offshore to avoid US taxes.
So maybe this discussion adds anecdotal “evidence” to the academic treatises.
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Inspector43 Collecting 73 Years 25 Apr 2021 07:34:25pm
re: More crappy stamps issued for 2021.
I started collecting coins and stamps in 1948. I quit stamps in 2002 when it got to the point that USPS was generating wallpaper rather than postage stamps. I have recently quit coins for a similar reason. The US Mint was manufacturing ballast. Too many new coins and new stamps. Most stamps can't be sold for 50 cents on the dollar. Most sets of any coins from the mint are not worth what a person paid the mint when they were issued. I'm not done with my collecting, but, I am done with USPS and the US Mint.