Another Record Loss for U.S. Postal Service

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[press release]
U.S. Postal Service Records Loss of $354 Million in First Quarter, Underscoring Need for Comprehensive Legislation
·     Revenue Increases by $334 Million, Driven by 14.1 Percent Growth in Shipping and Package Services; First-Class Mail Continues to Decline
·   Operating Costs decreased by $574 Million
·   Liabilities of $63 Billion Exceed Assets by Approximately $40 Billion

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service ended the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2013 – Dec. 31, 2013) with a net loss of $354 million. This marks the 19th of the last 21 quarters that it has sustained a loss. Though the Postal Service has been able to grow revenue by capitalizing on opportunities in Shipping and Package Services and has aggressively reduced operating costs, losses continue to mount due to the persistent decline of higher-margin First-Class Mail, stifling legal mandates, and its inflexible business and governance models.

“The Postal Service is doing its part within the bounds of law to right size the organization, and I am very proud of the achievements we have made to reduce costs while significantly growing our package business,” said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahoe. “We cannot return the organization to long-term financial stability without passage of comprehensive postal reform legislation. We appreciate the efforts of the House and Senate oversight committees to make this happen as soon as possible.”

Without legislative change, the Postal Service will be forced to default on another required $5.7 billion retiree health benefits prefunding payment due by Sept. 30, 2014, because it will have insufficient cash and no ability to borrow additional funds at that date.

The Postal Service will continue to have a low level of liquidity through October 2014. In the event that circumstances leave the Postal Service with insufficient cash, the Postal Service would be required to implement contingency plans to ensure that all mail deliveries continue. These measures could require the Postal Service to prioritize payments to its employees and suppliers ahead of some payments to the federal government, as has been done in the past.

Citing that the Postal Service could not wait for legislation indefinitely, the Postal Service’s Board of Governors directed management in 2013 to accelerate alignment of its operations to further reduce costs and strengthen its finances. The Postal Service leveraged employee attrition and increased use of non-career employees — as provided by new labor agreements — which allowed for better alignment of staffing and workload levels, resulting in reduced labor costs.

“We grew revenue by over $300 million through aggressive marketing and improving service, and we reduced operating costs by $574 million in Quarter 1, partially due to the separation of approximately 22,800 employees in 2013 under a Voluntary Early Retirement program and improved efficiency in our workforce,” said Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Joseph Corbett.

First Quarter Results of Operations Compared to Same Period Last Year

  • Total mail volume of 42.0 billion pieces compared to 43.5 billion pieces
  • First-Class Mail volume declined 4.6 percent.
  • Standard Mail volume declined by 2.8 percent.
  • Shipping and Package volume increased 10.3 percent.
  • Operating revenue of $18.0 billion, an increase of $334 million or 1.9 percent
  • Operating expenses of $18.3 billion compared to $18.9 billion, a decrease of 3.0 percent

Revenue from First-Class Mail, the Postal Service’s most profitable service category, decreased $209 million, or 2.8 percent from the same period last year, with a volume decrease of 817 million pieces, or 4.6 percent. The most significant factors contributing to this decline were the ongoing trends in the mailing behavior of consumers and businesses emanating from the recent recession, and the continuing migration toward electronic communication and transactional alternatives.

The Postal Service’s shipping business continues to show solid growth. Shipping and Package revenue increased $479 million or 14.1 percent over 2013 first quarter results, fueled by the growth of online shopping, Sunday deliveries in limited U.S. markets and the ongoing success of Postal Service campaigns to promote the value of Postal Service shipping services. The Postal Service continues to capitalize on its competitive advantage in providing “last mile” service, resulting in a 34.3 percent increase in revenue from Parcel Return and Parcel Select Service over the same period last year.
Complete financial results are available in the Form 10-Q, available online.

Linn’s: Batman Stamp This Summer

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Breaking news at linns.com: Holy Smokes! Another Batman stamp is on the way! According to the paper’s Bill McAllister, the stamp would be issued at Comic-Con, the huge convention for comics in San Diego. This year, it is being held July 24-27. Since the USPS rarely issues stamps on Saturdays or Sundays, that would make July 24 or 25 most likely. More at www.linns.com/news/batman.aspx

The Comic-Con website says Batman writers have just been added as a special guests.

June 6th: No one connected with the USPS at the Hot Rods first day ceremony would confirm this issue, but all had a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile and said the stock phrases that are uttered when an issue is on the schedule but they don’t want to say. Holy Obfuscation, Batman! There is nothing yet on the Comic-Con 2014 website.

U.S. 2014 Scott Catalogue Numbers

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3761A 4¢ Chippendale Chair coil, dated “2013” (Ashton-Potter printing)

CVP89 (46¢) Computer-vended stamp on pre-printed Reindeer label

Numbers Assigned in March:

4846 (46¢) Chinese New Year – Year of the Horse
4847 (46¢) Love
4848 49¢ Fortune’s Holly Fern coil stamp
4849 49¢ Soft Shield Fern coil stamp
4850 49¢ Autumn Fern coil stamp
4851 49¢ Goldie’s Wood Fern coil stamp
4852 49¢ Painted Fern coil stamp
a. Strip of 5, #4848-4852
4853 (49¢) Fort McHenry Flag and Fireworks self-adhesive coil stamp, serpentine die cut 8½ vert. (CCL printing)
4854 (49¢) Fort McHenry Flag and Fireworks self-adhesive coil stamp, serpentine die cut 9½ vert. (Ashton-Potter printing)
4855 (49¢) Fort McHenry Flag and Fireworks litho. self-adhesive booklet stamp, serpentine die cut 11¼x10¾ on 2 or 3 sides (Ashton-Potter printing)
a. Convertible booklet pane of 20
4856 (49¢) Shirley Chisholm

Digital First Days Available To All Members

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[AFDCS press release]
AFDCS Makes Digital Edition of First Days Available To All Members

First Days, the award-winning journal of the American First Day Cover Society, is now available online to all classes of membership. The magazine is one of the principal benefits of membership in the AFDCS.

Each issue will be available in three different versions:

  • A page-flip version which simulates an actual magazine on a monitor connected to a Windows or Macintosh computer;
  • A mobile version for use on tablets, phones and other mobile devices; and
  • A .pdf version, whose file can be downloaded and saved.

The online editions are available to members as soon as the issue is submitted to the printer, allowing earlier access to the journal, and without the problems inherent in postal delivery.

The AFDCS offers several levels of membership: Online, which does not include a printed copy of First Days; Regular, which does; Silver and Gold, which allow members to express their support of the AFDCS and first day cover collecting; and Life, which includes both the online and hard-copy magazines.

Members who want access to these digital editions of First Days, as well as other AFDCS digital publications planned for the near future, and have not previously registered on the site should click on “Member Register”in the top left corner of the AFDCS website, www.afdcs.org.

“Digital publishing of hobby publications is the future, and now, for the AFDCS, it’s the present,” said AFDCS president Lloyd A. de Vries. “I especially want to thank webmaster Todd Ronnei, who spent months seeking and then testing the necessary software.”

Ronnei was also responsible for compiling a digital archive of First Days from the first issue in 1955 through 2011, which is available on a DVD for $79 or a flash drive for $89. An update disk is planned covering subsequent years, although .pdf files of all issues from January 2011 to the present are still available.

The American First Day Cover Society is the world’s largest not-for-profit organization dedicated to the collecting of FDCs. Each issue of First Days is published in full color and includes articles, columns, Society business, a non-commercial Cover Exchange, and the best collection of FDC advertisements anywhere.

For more information on the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org or write to the AFDCS, P.O. Box 16277 Tucson, Arizona 85732-6277, or via e-mail at afdcs@afdcs.org.

70¢ Wedding Cake

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From the USPS:

On February February 22, 2014, in Mesa, Arizona, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the Wedding Cake, 70-cent definitive stamp, in one design in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 587500).

The stamp will go on sale nationwide February 22, 2014.

The Wedding Cake issuance, first introduced in 2009 and sold at the two-ounce stamp rate, accommodates the heavier weight of an invitation, as well as other mailings such as oversize cards or small gifts that require extra postage. The stamp art features a photograph taken by Renee´ Comet of a three-tier wedding cake topped with white flowers. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp.

Item 587500, 70-cent Wedding Stamp Definitive PSA Pane of 20 Stamps

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™, at The Postal Store® website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Wedding Cake Stamp
Postmaster
Main Post Office
135 N Center Street
Mesa, AZ 85201-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers have to pay five cents each. All orders must be postmarked by April 23, 2014.

here are five philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

587510*, Keepsake (Pane & DCP Set), $15.95
587516*, First-Day Cover, $1.14.
587521*, Digital Color Postmark, $1.85.
587531*, Stamp Deck Card, $0.95.
587532*, Stamp Deck Card w/DCP, $2.20.

Technical Specifications:
Issue: Wedding Cake
Item Number: 587500
Denomination & Type of Issue: 70-cent Definitive
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series: Weddings
Issue Date & City: February 22, 2014, Mesa, AZ 85201
Art Director: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Designer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Typographer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Photographer: Renee Comet, Washington, DC
Modeler: Donald Woo
Manufacturing Process: Offset/Microprint “USPS”
Engraver: N/A
Printer: Banknote Corporation of America, Inc./SSP
Printed at: Browns Summit, NC
Press Type: Alprinta, 74
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 30 million stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged, Overall
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Banknote Corporation of America, Browns Summit, NC
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): .7553 x .8667 in./19.18 x 22.01 mm
Stamp Size (w x h): .91 x 1.19 in./23.11 x 30.22 mm
Pane Size (w x h): 5.425 x 5.635 in./137.80 x 143.13 mm
Colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, PMS 874, PMS 9 (Warm Gray)
Plate Size: 200 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “S” followed by six (6) single digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Plate numbers in four corners of pane
Back: © 2008 USPS ● USPS logo ● Plate position diagram ● Barcode (587500) In upper right and lower left hand corners of pane ● Promotional text

Saint Pierre et Miquelon 2014 Stamp Show Welcomes Exhibits

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[press release]

SPM 2014, to be held in scenic St. Pierre, Sept. 24-28, 2014, will take place on the tourism-friendly island of St. Pierre et Miquelon, a French Overseas Department, off the east coast of Canada. It is a national show, recognized by the InterAmerican Federation of Philately (FIAF), with participation of exhibitors from the home country, Canada, the USA, Chile, Colombia,and France. Judging will be by an internationally-accredited panel using the standards of the International Federation of Philately (FIP), and eight levels of medal will be awarded.

This is a chance for exhibitors to hone your skills and get FIP-level feedback before the next U.S.–based international show in New York in 2016.

Categories for SPM 2014 are Traditional, Postal History, Aerophilately, Postal Stationery, Maximaphily, Revenue, Youth, Open (Display), and Single Frame exhibits. Other than the latter, five and eight frame exhibits are being accepted.

More information is available on the SPM 2014 website: www.spm-expo.com. When you access the website, look for the English flag and click on it if you prefer English text.

The application form and show regulations are available there, or can be obtained by writing to John M. Hotchner U.S. Commissioner to SPM 2014 PO Box 1125 Falls Church, VA 22041-0125or by email at jmhstamp@verizon.net.

American Topical Association Newsletter – January 31 2014

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Because You Belong – News from the ATA
January 31, 2014

TOPICAL TIME

The Jan-Feb issue was sent to the printer yesterday and is scheduled to be mailed on Feb. 7. Allowing for the nine business days in which the USPS expects delivery, US members can expect to receive their copy by Feb. 18. This information is regularly posted on our website.  Please recycle the plastic wrapper in which it’s protected.  Before you do so, you might wish to take note of your ATA membership number and expiration date, found just above your name on the mailing label.  (If your expiration date is May 1, 2014, and you mail your dues dollars in February, it’ll save the ATA Office folks time and money in sending you a dues reminder in March.)

New this issue:  Electronic Topical Time (ETT).  All ATA members can access the electronic version of our journal from the home page of the ATA website, www.americantopicalassn.org, or directly at http://americantopicalassn.org/ETT/ETT-2014/ETT-383/

This issue includes a feature on Montenegro Coat of Arms by Miloje Chastven.  The Study Unit Spotlight article is from the Chess on Stamps Study Unit, by Joram Lubianeker.  A new and interesting column written by Dawn Hamman appears:  the first “My Topic” features our own Spiderwoman, Bea Vogel.  You’ll find the prospectus and exhibit application for National Topical Stamp Show (NTSS) in St. Louis; the jury and awards are announced, also.  Gary Hendren highlights the first information about NTSS tours.  And Dottie Smith has performed her indexing magic once again; this issue includes a helpful index of all the 2013 Topical Time issues.

NEXT YEAR’S NTSS
Next year’s National Topical Stamp Show will be at the Monarch Hotel and Convention Center, Clackamas (near Portland), Oregon, July 31-August 2, the venue of NTSS 2008. www.monarchhotel.cc/  (note the / at end)

STUDY UNIT PUBLICATION COMPETITION AT NTSS THIS YEAR
For information, contact Jeff Hayward, Director of Study Units:
PO Box 60180, Staten Island, NY 10306; stamps@jeffhayward.com

WHAT TO DO WITH A FREE EVENING…
We are all so busy that we often marvel at how quickly the time passes. But, once in a while, we have a free evening, and decide to take time for our favorite hobby–topical collecting.
When your free evening comes, and you want to look for new stamps, check first at
www.topicalsonline.com

It’s the ATA site that offers inexpensive topical stamps.  It’s easy to use, and allows you to search by more than 700 topics.  With your checklist in-hand, you can also search by country and Scott number.

When you make a purchase, the ATA receives 10 percent.  So, while adding to your collection, you are helping the ATA.  A great way to spend an evening!

APPOINTMENTS
Donald J Chenevert, Jr as ATA Legal Counsel and Director of Claims Services – To fill unexpired term ending in summer 2015. He fills the term of the late Joseph Frasch, Jr.

Amanda Morgenstern, new interim webmaster – she is the graphic designer who has served in a variety of roles for ATA including the design of our current website. We thank Sean Lamb for serving as our webmaster the past 2½ years. He brought our website out of infancy and into maturity, receiving Gold awards in the 2012 and 2013 APS Web Competitions.

AMBASSADORS WILL REPRESENT ATA AT THESE UPCOMING SHOWS
If you can assist at the ATA table for an hour or two, please contact the ATA Office.
Members may save postage by contacting the ATA Office to request that certain items (eg handbooks, membership directories, checklists, DVDs) be brought to these shows for them.

Jan. 31-Feb. 2
Southeastern Stamp Expo, Norcross, Georgia

Feb. 7-9
Sarasota National Stamp Exhibition, Sarasota, Florida

Feb. 14-16
APS AmeriStamp Expo, Little Rock, Arkansas

Feb. 22-23
Toledo Stamp Expo, Holland, Ohio

Mar. 21-23
St. Louis Stamp Expo, St. Louis, Missouri

Mar. 27-30
ASDA Spring Postage Stamp Show, New York, New York

ATA MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY
In February you’ll receive, by email, a request to supply information for ATA’s 2014-16 Membership Directory.  We will include in the Directory only the information you authorize.  But we certainly hope you’ll share your updated collecting interests and either an email or mail address, to facilitate communication with other topical collectors.  Please respond to our request immediately, to assist the ATA Office with preparation of the Directory.

WANTED – Please contact Jack Denys if you can serve in any of these ways: jdenys@verizon.net
▪  ATA Webmaster
Keeps the website current and secure, posting updates promptly, designing additions, serving as interface with provider
▪  Checklist Proofreaders – Proof new checklists for typos and consistency. Scott catalogue is NOT needed
▪  Catalogue Research Assistant – Someone to provide Scott catalogue numbers of recent issues for author of a proposed ATA handbook on the general topic of Frogs on Stamps (stamp scans provided)

BOLDLY TO THE FUTURE!

Is the Hobby Viable? Some Warning Signs

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By John M. Hotchner

hotchnerI scanned with trepidation an article in Bottom Line Personal (March 15, 2012) titled “Buyer Beware: 10 Collectibles Not Worth Collecting Anymore” by Terry Kovel. Happily, stamps were not included in the list, but there were some surprises, and some object lessons for our hobby.

Among the ten are “Hummel figurines,” “anything made by the Franklin Mint,” “Limited edition Barbie dolls,” “Thomas Kinkade paintings and prints,” and “Autographed sports memorabilia.” Explanations given by Ms. Kovel of why she chose these items provide some tips for us in philately.

She says that the generation that appreciated Hummels is now downsizing or dying off, dumping Hummels back onto the market by the thousands. With few exceptions, most have dropped from hundreds of dollars apiece to less than $100.

Could we see this happen in philately? Yes, indeed, if we do not work to recruit the next generation to stamp collecting and encourage them until they catch the fever as serious collectors. We seem to be doing all right with this if serious auction prices are a guide, but it would be a mistake to leave it to chance in the future. Every generation needs to recommit itself to bringing aboard the next; not just so that our stash retains its value but also because we have a wonderful hobby to share.

Ms. Kovel notes regarding the Franklin Mint that they “sell a wide selection of ‘limited edition’ coins, plates, medals, and other collectibles, but there is little resale market for any of it.” Happily she did not mention commemorative covers, which along with the other material have been packaged with descriptive information and hawked as products with historical significance.

There are other parallels in stamp collecting — fancy first day covers, gold-leaf reproductions of U.S. stamps, subject collections of specialized commemorative cancels celebrating something like Norman Rockwell. This sort of stuff is usually bought by novice collectors with an interest in stamps. The purveyors are careful not to say explicitly that their products have investment potential, but that is implied.

But Ms. Kovel is right, it is not unusual to see those covers selling for 5¢ on the dollar ‘invested’ in the aftermarket. This emphasizes the fact that collectors who approach the hobby as investors are often disappointed. Bad enough that they get burned, but they or their heirs will badmouth the hobby forever after their unfortunate discovery. Thus, we should not be “selling” the hobby for its investment potential, but for its joys as a pastime in everyday living.

Limited edition Barbie dolls were sold as toys, but were toys in name only. Ms. Kovel explains that “most were never played with, just set aside as investments, so they never became any rarer.” The company selling them “issued so many different limited-edition Barbies that few collectors could collect them all, and most stopped trying.”

Early very limited editions still have value, but as time passed and more buyers entered the market, more Barbies were released in larger numbers. Think about the growing boom market in the early stamps of the United Nations, Vatican City and Israel. Though after the very first issues, some were indeed used on mail, the great majority were snapped up by collectors as investments, and were never scarce. As new collectors came into the market (believing the hype about these areas having value potential) and started buying older issues, investors began to ‘dump’ their holdings.

It rapidly became apparent that there were more stamps available than buyers for them, and the bottom dropped out of those markets. The lesson: Beware of new flash-in-the-pan collecting areas. If investing is your game, older, high-quality stamps with established value are a far better bet.

Ms. Kovel’s article was written before his untimely passing in April, 2012, but she reports that Thomas Kinkade paintings and prints were heavily promoted, and sold in huge quantities in the 1990s, and now have “very limited” resale value. Because of his passing and attendant publicity, there is now a boomlet, but over time, I think we will see the market return to Ms. Kovel’s reported level.

It isn’t that the art has no merit. Rather, anything that becomes an instant hit through marketing can also become an instant dud when the hype passes and a new product takes its place in popular culture.

Finally, we have autographed sports memorabilia, which Ms. Kovel reports has declined sharply as it has become clear that many of the autographs are forgeries, and it is difficult to tell the good from the bad.

Like some elements of stamp collecting, proof of authenticity is required from an expertising service for the article to be salable. We are blessed in philately with several very good expertising committees that are able to render authoritative opinions in the vast majority of cases. Thus, happily in the case of autographed sports memorabilia, as with others the problem which has sunk a collectible has affected only a small portion of the broad stamp and cover collecting hobby. Still, the cumulative effects can be a concern, and we who are practitioners and guardians of our hobby need to be watchful.

Are we recruiting? Are we providing information to help newbies make good collecting decisions? Are we gently discouraging fads (recognizing that everyone should ultimately be free to make their own decisions, based upon their interests and pocket book, about what to collect) and refusing to be taken in by excessive hype? Are we collecting for the joy of the hobby, avoiding using stamp collecting as a get-rich-quick scheme? Finally, are we careful to assure that what we buy is genuine?

If we can answer yes to each of these questions, then stamp collecting will not be a subject of future iterations of Ms. Kovel’s article.

Should you wish to comment on this editorial, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.

Or comment right here.

Thoughts on The Replacement of Ken Martin as APS Executive Director

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by Lloyd A. de Vries

kmartin2013aI hate to use this phrase, because it was used to describe my situation seven months ago, but Ken Martin’s position as executive director of the American Philatelic Society “wasn’t a good fit.” It was never a good fit.

His tenure as the APS CEO was uneasy from the start. Ken wasn’t what many on the Board of Directors and other organizational leaders wanted. Efforts to make him into that type of an executive director weren’t successful, and probably weren’t ever going to be successful.

Ken is one of the most popular people in U.S. stamp collecting. Practically everyone likes him. Many older collectors watched him grow up in philately, from president of the now-defunct Junior Philatelists of America into employment with the APS. If you have attended an APS-sponsored or -sanctioned stamp show in the last two decades, chances are you ran into him — perhaps literally! As APS Shows & Exhibitions Director, we called him the Blue Blur, walking rapidly (and sometimes running) from one part of the show to another.

Ken was the only APS executive director I ever saw on his back under exhibit frames, pulling out reluctant screws. (No one does it better.) But as an APS leader told me last summer, “I’m not sure we want to see our executive director on his back under exhibit frames.”

Operations are Ken’s strength, though, and it’s part of why he is so popular with stamp collectors: Although he is a gold-level exhibitor and judge (Chief Judge, in fact), Ken looked and acted like most of us.

Unfortunately, it’s not what the current leaders of the APS feel the organization needs in its executive director. To keep trying to make him conform to that model is like trying to make one of those stripped screws fit into a frame. No one was happy with the result.