Mystic Stamp Company is now owned by its employees, with the formation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. According to the National Center for Employee Ownership, ESOPs can be used to buy the shares of a departing owner, borrow money at a lower after-tax cost, or create an additional employee benefit. In the press release below, Mystic president Donald Sundman (shown on the left) says he’s not going anywhere.

[press release]
Mystic Stamp Company becomes an ESOP Employee-Owned Company

(Camden, N.Y.) Mystic Stamp Company, America’s largest postage stamp dealer and based in Camden, N.Y., today announced the formation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

Owners Donald and Chacea Sundman have sold all their Mystic stock to the ESOP. They will continue in their current roles with the company. Donald is President of Mystic Stamp Company and Chacea is Director of Human Resources. They will stay at Mystic and continue to manage the business.

Donald Sundman said, “The only change is ownership. There are no changes operationally or with our staff. We’ve got a great team, a very successful business, and don’t want to change that. I’m very excited about the ESOP because it will help our employees save for retirement.”

He added “We made this change to position Mystic for the future. This rewards our hard-working colleagues and promises to keep Mystic a positive force in the stamp world and central New York for many years.”

Chacea Sundman said “The ESOP will be wonderful for our colleagues, the greater Camden community, and our customers. It fits our guiding principles. The ESOP is an added benefit as we are keeping our 401K retirement plan and our twice-yearly profit sharing bonuses.”

Mystic’s core purpose is to bring the fun of collecting to a wide audience. Its guiding principles are:

• Customers. We provide excellent products and service to our customers.
• Colleagues. We respect our fellow colleagues.
• Ethics. We act in an ethical manor.
• Growth and Profits. We strive to increase sales and profits.
• Citizenship. We strive to make contributions to Greater Camden and the stamp world.

Mystic Stamp Company became an employee-owned company effective April 1, 2016.

Mystic Today
Mystic Stamp Company employs about 150 people at its headquarters on Mill Street in Camden, New York. Mystic has grown to become the largest dealer in postage stamps in the U.S. by bringing the fun of collecting to a wide audience.

Mystic History
Camden, New York, native and stamp collector Lawrence Shaver founded Mystic in 1923. In 1974 he sold Mystic to his friend and fellow stamp dealer Maynard Sundman, of Littleton, New Hampshire.

Maynard Sundman was a pioneer in the world of mail order marketing. His innovative methods of advertising in everything from comic books to matchbook covers introduced the little-known hobbies of stamp and coin collecting to millions of people. Other media he used to bring the joy of collecting to a huge audience were the Sunday supplements, Parade and National Geographic magazines, and late-night coast-to-coast radio commercials.

Maynard sent his 19-year-old son Donald to run Mystic as general manager. David, his oldest son, became president of Littleton Coin Company, today a leader in the coin hobby with 350 employees.

In 1980 Mystic started buying stamp collections aggressively, becoming America’s largest buyer of stamp collections and dealer stocks.

Later Mystic created its Mystic’s U.S. Stamp Catalog, distributing hundreds of thousands a year, broadening its reach and introducing stamp collecting to tens of thousands of people. In late 1986 Sundman purchased a quantity of the newly discovered $1 Candleholder error stamp, known as the CIA Invert. He donated one copy to the Smithsonian National Stamp Collection and filed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn how the error happened. The report revealed CIA employees bought the error stamps at a Virginia post office. Within days the story made the front pages of the N.Y. Times and was featured on national TV.

In 1998 Zachary Sundman, 11-year-old son of Donald, bid a record price for the rarest U.S. stamp, the 1868 1c Z Grill, for $935,000.

In 2005 Mystic traded the 1c Z Grill in exchange for the unique Jenny Invert Plate Number Block, worth $3 million, with well-known collector Bill Gross. Gross had purchased the block at a Siegel auction two weeks earlier for a record $2,970,000. News of that trade received worldwide attention. Mystic sold its Jenny block for around $5 million in 2015 to famed shoe designer Stuart Weitzman.

Mystic purchased the Fleetwood First Day Cover business in 2006 from Unicover in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Mystic moved Fleetwood to Camden, and continues to sell new and older First Day Covers.

Mystic remains a strong supporter of the stamp hobby. Company President Donald Sundman has sponsored over 5,800 American Philatelic Society members, a record for the APS. Sundman is Chairman of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum Council of Philatelists and Vice-Chairman of the Philatelic Foundation of New York. He is a member of the Club de Monte Carlo and a fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society. The American Philatelic Society gave Sundman the Luff Award for Outstanding Service to the American Philatelic Society in 2010.

Mystic’s Contributions to Greater Camden and Central New York
Mystic strives to make life better for its neighbors and is actively involved in the Camden and Central New York community, through donations of both time and money, to many worthy causes. [Camden is about 40 miles northeast of Syracuse.]

Some ways in which Mystic contributes to the quality of life in the area include sponsoring its own Camden Relay for Life and American Heart Run/Walk teams; involvement in Camden Chamber of Commerce activities; and fundraising for the public library, as well as contributing to school sports and theater programs.

Other Mystic donations include those made to Imagine Greater Camden, Cluster 13, local fire departments, veteran’s groups, and service organizations such as Lions and Rotary clubs. Mystic awards a scholarship annually to a college-bound high school senior, in addition to providing scholarships for children of Mystic colleagues. Central New York hospitals and the United Way are also recipients of Mystic support.