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The holidays are mostly behind and 2009 is upon
us. Here’s hoping your celebrations were meaningful and
fulfilling; having overfilled myself around the dinner table
more times than I care to recollect! I am glad the new year is
here and have a sneaking suspicion that last year will not be
missed by most of us. Getting lost in my stamps is an excellent
way to focus on one of the positive things in my life, while
spending hours doing research, reading, writing, and sorting.
Stamp collecting is my personal mantra and helps me forget what
is happening in the outside world.
Such a Deal
Just take a moment to reflect on all there is to learn, and to
see and do in our hobby. The American Philatelic Society staff
is waiting for you to reach out for assistance in meeting your
collecting needs and enjoyment, with aids such as The American
Philatelist, the Sales Division, the library (APRL), American
Philatelic Expertizing Service (APEX), Education, and the list
goes on. In times like this, inexpensive fun (and $45 is still
a bargain) is important. After all it’s still less than
$1 per week!
To me, the biggest benefits are the relationships and camaraderie
I enjoy through belonging. I am proud to say, some of my best
friends are stamp collectors.
Our Mission
Let’s take a moment to look below at the APS Mission Statement.
APS Statement of Purpose
• to promote stamp collecting for people of all ages
• to offer services to its membership and to philately in
general, including knowledge and education, which enhance the
pleasure and friendliness of stamp collecting
• to initiate and coordinate new programs for the benefit
of stamp collecting and of all collectors
• to represent the United States of America in the world
body of philately
• to assist its members in acquiring and disposing of philatelic
materials
Budget and Member Growth
In reviewing these objectives, I’d say the APS does
a very good job in fulfilling its goals. While there is always
room to improve upon anything (except perhaps the metaphorical
mousetrap!), high marks are in order in this case. We can thank
the APS Staff for their adherence to perfecting our mission.
If you have any thoughts or comments on how we can do better,
please share them with me.
One area where we need to do some
serious work is getting our operating budget in line with today’s
realities. Together, the American Philatelic Society and the
American Philatelic Research Library are working closely to examine
options respecting their operations and property to insure a
sound financial future. We need to either increase
operating income (by growing our membership, which accounts for the largest
part of our ordinary income — we
cannot continue to use our fund-raising income to offset operating
deficits), or decrease services to our membership. Seems like
a simple answer, doesn’t it?
We are working hard to stem
membership loss, but it is a long arduous process that takes
time and effort. And yet, the APS has 40,000 potential recruiters;
yes, the best recruiter for getting a new member is you. No one
can better extol the values of belonging to the APS than a current
member speaking with a friend. I beg you to sign up a new member
and help the APS continue to supply the level of services to
which you have become accustomed. Signing up a new member is
perhaps the single most important thing you can do for the Society
right now. There is an online application available on our web
site at www.stamps.org and then click on <Join APS Now> on
the left, or call or write to us.
Obit
On a more somber note, below is an e-mail from the daughter of
a recently deceased member. She writes about her father’s
fondness for the APS.
My name is Linn Bodle, and I would like
to report that my father, a lifetime member has passed away
on Monday, Oct. 6th. I was receiving his APS magazines at my
address, to bring to him, as he had lived in a nursing facility,
The Mary Wade Home in New Haven, CT. I cannot begin to tell
you how proud he was to be a lifetime member of the APS. It
had meant so much to him, we hung his “Lifetime Membership” certificate
on the photo board for his wake.…
Thank you, Linn Bodle
It appears the APS completed its mission
in the mind of this life member.
Nick Jr.
As collectors, we are oddly linked together, not just presently,
but to the past as well. Many of us feel the need to pass on
our guardianship of stamp collecting, both its objects and its
history, to the next generation, for safekeeping and perpetuity.
Our last President, Nicholas G. Carter felt that way about spreading
the joys of stamp collecting, and engaged his grandson, Nick
Carter Jr., to play with stamps. Here is a photo of Nick Jr.
that would have made his grandfather proud.
Let’s remember
we are a team: a huge group of people with a common interest.
We can accomplish great things if we resolve to work as a unit
and pull in the same direction. Sign up a new member today and
enjoy collecting!
This just in: Rich Drews will be our guest speaker
at the AmeriStamp Expo Tiffany Dinner in Arlington Texas. Rich
will talk about Targets of Opportunity; sounds a lot like a title
of one of Lawrence Block’s novels! Please make plans to
join us.
 Staff Spotlight
Thomas W. Horn, Director of Sales
“When I began working for APS, we had all of our membership
information on 3- by 5-inch or 4- by 6-inch cards and on Addressograph
plates. You weren’t a seasoned employee until you dropped
at least part of a tray of 100 metal address plates and had to
put them back in order, hoping the little tabs on them were in
the right position for the correct information they once indicated.
We have long since computerized the information in the Society
and in the Sales Division, a process I find to be interesting
and exciting.
“The present Sales Division staff is one
the best I have worked with all these years. It is a challenge
to work through the many situations created by our unique approval
system, making life in the Sales Division interesting. We are
happy to help any of our members with any problem that comes
up. You would think that we have seen everything there is to
see when working with the circuits, but we are not surprised
when a new and unique situation pops up. Helping 4,000 members
regularly buy and sell stamps is very gratifying.
“I have
been a stamp collector since about 1960. My present interests
include: Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, postal history; postal
history of family locations; Scouts on stamps; weaving (looms
and spinning wheels) on stamps; Liechtenstein; post-1945 Germany;
post horn cancels; and worldwide.”
To read more about Tom,
go to www.stamps.org/newsletter to peruse the unabridged bio,
and much, much more. |
