Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
https://www.washpress.com/
Sad but probably inevitable.
(Modified by Moderator on 2018-10-30 00:46:10)
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My U.S. collection is in 6 White Ace Albums. I stopped my US collection at 1994 so it doesn't matter to me anymore. Too bad, they are nice albums.
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The mounts that the APS sells for use in the sales circuit books are made by Washington Press.
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I assume someone will acquire the rights to the albums, etc.
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They had ceased supplementing most of their non US albums some years ago. In the end they were done in by their own high standards of printing and page quality that probably became unsustainable. I'd bet someone will step in and keep the US and possibly Canada pages going. I hope so.
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Yes, that is sad, but maybe newer binders will be a bit more affordable now. My U.S. collection is housed in 25 binders, and I bought almost all of them used since they were so expensive, and some are rather worn.
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The White Ace albums were unique in look. I personally never liked the pages with the fancy artworks and probably had a limited appeal and declining. The lower demand drives up costs (create, print, inventory) but think there is still a market for better grade US albums but just with a look that has a more general appeal.
Keep the 8 1/2 x 11 size and thick paper but ditch the fancy design borders (if anything to allow stamps per page) then you may have a more popular product.
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"Keep the 8 1/2 x 11 size and thick paper but ditch the fancy design borders (if anything to allow stamps per page) then you may have a more popular product."
The problem there is consistency. I have over 750 pages of U.S. in White Ace format. When I printed new pages (because I wanted to include something White Ace didn't), I used their blank pages to keep the format consistent. A page without borders would be 68 lb. card stock with the corners cut with a common 3/8" corner cutter.
White Ace never updated their 1950's looking graphics because nobody wanted to replace their existing pages. White Ace tried to cater to niche collectors with their different versions, but niche collectors learned that printing their own pages was not only easy, but empowering. I quit buying White Ace annual pages in 2014. The last 3 packs of formatted blank pages I bought were from eBay for less than list.
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I'd been dickering about trying to buy a few sets of pages, but today found this on their site:
'We posted the notice below announcing our closing on October 26, 2018. Almost immediately we began receiving an overwhelming flow of orders, both from our shopping cart, by phone and by mail. As of today, we are running out of our most popular items, and we have a daunting backlog of orders that we must fill and ship before we can close our doors. To expedite processing of those orders already in hand, we have decided to not accept any further orders. We apologize for cutting short our sale, and we thank you for your enthusiasm for our products.'
So if you haven't ordered already you're out of luck. Probably they didn't realize how much demand they'd get but it just seems kind of a sad footnote.
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For a company that was probably seeing scant orders, they got surprised by the last minute stampede!
The same thing happened in the model car world. Modelhaus was the best resin caster in the business, making replacement parts for old model cars. They announced their retirement, and instantly got TWO YEARS worth of orders! They cut off the orders and worked another 18 months to fulfill the ones that got through.
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I seriously wonder if someone bought them out in one fell swoop. It'd be a good investment, they can then sell them off on Ebay for the next few years at inflated prices.
I have a few unused sets of US pages and may try to see what they go for shortly.
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It is being reported on another discussion board that Washington Press is closing and the White Ace albums will be discontinued with remainders going at 50%.
https://www.washpress.com/
Sad but probably inevitable.
(Modified by Moderator on 2018-10-30 00:46:10)
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re: The End of White Ace Albums
My U.S. collection is in 6 White Ace Albums. I stopped my US collection at 1994 so it doesn't matter to me anymore. Too bad, they are nice albums.
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this post
12:47:22am
re: The End of White Ace Albums
The mounts that the APS sells for use in the sales circuit books are made by Washington Press.
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this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
I assume someone will acquire the rights to the albums, etc.
Login to Like
this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
They had ceased supplementing most of their non US albums some years ago. In the end they were done in by their own high standards of printing and page quality that probably became unsustainable. I'd bet someone will step in and keep the US and possibly Canada pages going. I hope so.
Login to Like
this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
Yes, that is sad, but maybe newer binders will be a bit more affordable now. My U.S. collection is housed in 25 binders, and I bought almost all of them used since they were so expensive, and some are rather worn.
Login to Like
this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
The White Ace albums were unique in look. I personally never liked the pages with the fancy artworks and probably had a limited appeal and declining. The lower demand drives up costs (create, print, inventory) but think there is still a market for better grade US albums but just with a look that has a more general appeal.
Keep the 8 1/2 x 11 size and thick paper but ditch the fancy design borders (if anything to allow stamps per page) then you may have a more popular product.
Login to Like
this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
"Keep the 8 1/2 x 11 size and thick paper but ditch the fancy design borders (if anything to allow stamps per page) then you may have a more popular product."
The problem there is consistency. I have over 750 pages of U.S. in White Ace format. When I printed new pages (because I wanted to include something White Ace didn't), I used their blank pages to keep the format consistent. A page without borders would be 68 lb. card stock with the corners cut with a common 3/8" corner cutter.
White Ace never updated their 1950's looking graphics because nobody wanted to replace their existing pages. White Ace tried to cater to niche collectors with their different versions, but niche collectors learned that printing their own pages was not only easy, but empowering. I quit buying White Ace annual pages in 2014. The last 3 packs of formatted blank pages I bought were from eBay for less than list.
Login to Like
this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
I'd been dickering about trying to buy a few sets of pages, but today found this on their site:
'We posted the notice below announcing our closing on October 26, 2018. Almost immediately we began receiving an overwhelming flow of orders, both from our shopping cart, by phone and by mail. As of today, we are running out of our most popular items, and we have a daunting backlog of orders that we must fill and ship before we can close our doors. To expedite processing of those orders already in hand, we have decided to not accept any further orders. We apologize for cutting short our sale, and we thank you for your enthusiasm for our products.'
So if you haven't ordered already you're out of luck. Probably they didn't realize how much demand they'd get but it just seems kind of a sad footnote.
Login to Like
this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
For a company that was probably seeing scant orders, they got surprised by the last minute stampede!
The same thing happened in the model car world. Modelhaus was the best resin caster in the business, making replacement parts for old model cars. They announced their retirement, and instantly got TWO YEARS worth of orders! They cut off the orders and worked another 18 months to fulfill the ones that got through.
Login to Like
this post
re: The End of White Ace Albums
I seriously wonder if someone bought them out in one fell swoop. It'd be a good investment, they can then sell them off on Ebay for the next few years at inflated prices.
I have a few unused sets of US pages and may try to see what they go for shortly.
Login to Like
this post