Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
MESSAGE FROM A POSTAL SERVICE. (Israel Post)
The Postal service in many countries is in decline. The service itself is in decline as is the management, know-how and just about everything connected to it. Of course there are exceptions. But they are too going down in number.
In my village, the post has been ably dealt with since 1986 by the tried and trusted MP van (Mobile Post). I have taken my Philatelic mailings to our village community office where the mail is picked up, registered or express dealt with and it never crossed my mind back then, or indeed until recently, that things would change so much. I must have been inside my cocoon for too long.
Three weeks ago it started. An innocent little trek to our village office to leave my mail for the Mobile Post Van. I even sorted the registered items by myself, I always have done. All they needed was a handstamp. But three weeks ago I couldn't get a handstamp ! Mobile Post vehicles will no longer carry handstamps with which to cancel registered mail !
The alternative ?
A trek to the larger village a few kilometres away and queue up at the Post Office there ?
Well, yes. And No !
Now we need to make an appointment to visit the Post Office. Fill in the form online, leave your mobile phone number, choose the time to visit (10 minutes per visit) and off you go. Easy, no ? Well yes.
And no !
It now takes that full 10 minutes to fill out a customs form (now required for any international mail, with the exception of postcards).So not so bad eh ?
Actually, yes. Really bad.
From December 1st postage stamps can no longer be used on International Mail, registered or not. This means the end of most MP Vans, cut-backs within the service (it has already started) and I will now need to go to the post office to post simple letter !! Will it mean the end of new issues ? Yes, as we know it. Internal stamps are used on mail within the country and any valued stamps should be used up because they too will be phased out for mail within Israel, probably during 2024.
I made an appointment at the Post Office this morning to send a registered letter. Having dealt with that, I then enquired about the use of stamps, prices, MPV's and more. I most likely annoyed a few waiting customers in the process but they were patient. It was sad news. But was it totally unexpected ?
Not really.
Yesterday I went to visit a Stamp Dealer friend in his shop and auction house in Tel Aviv. In between customers (yes, there were many, stamp collecting is alive and well here in the Middle East), he told me a story.
He mailed a number of packets after his July auction to various customers abroad. He took them like he always did to his local post office. What local Post Office ?
Now the PO is in a Parcel delivery (courier) office and although some of the same staff work there, something was amiss. A few days later half of his International mailings were returned to him with the note 'Postage stamps can no longer be used on International mail' !!!!!Hence my enquiry this morning and the reason for this important post.
IS YOUR POSTAL SERVICE IN DECLINE ? WHAT IS GOING ON WHEN YOU POST YOUR MAIL?
TELL US HERE.
In the meantime, I will try to figure out what I am going to do with all this postage. They are debating whether they can refund me or give me credit. I will not hold my breath !! (why should I worry, it's only $500 and it will end up in a politician's pocket anyway !!).
Londonbus1
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I went Tuesday morning to NYC's main post office; the big one, designed by McKimm, Mead, and White and named after stamp-collecting President Rooosevelt's Postmaster General. There was one person being serviced at the one functioning window. Ten minutes later, a second window opened and I was able to mail my flat (large, first class mail).
No, I couldn't buy stamps; they don't have them.
I guess I won't say more.
a coup de Joy
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over here in the Netherlands the last post office closed 12 years ago. Now there are only agencies left: supermarkets and shops where you can drop off packets and registered letters and even buy a sheet of boring definitive stamps (which is all they have, commemoratives - issued by the truckload these days - can only be bought online or at least I have not seen a shop that has them in stock.) Apart from that, when you come with a letter that needs to be franked, they automatically put a sticker with a barcode on it, no stamp.
So bottomline, this is not really news, at least not for us in the Netherlands, it has been reality here for more than a decade.
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In Mexico sometimes there are stamps for National/International mail, not always. In some offices they ask that we fill out a customs format that is C22 for any letter and in other offices no; They have not yet regularized it, but labels with exact Postal fees are used more than stamps
I have also seen negative things in other countries, for example, a merchant from Poland sent me my envelopes with beautiful Polish stamps and since August 2021 my envelopes have arrived with this:
A friend from Latvia it have the same situation, cannot be used stamps in Registered Mail International
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Thank you. It's comforting to know we will not be the only ones suffering from this ridiculous decision.
I have complained of course and am awaiting reasons why.
Londonbus1
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I came across this cartoon which aptly sums up the lack of any consideration for the customer. Although it refers to train tickets, I think it also applies to the issues I read from members above.
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The cartoon also reflects the decline in phone support. The support line automated messaging tries its best to steer you to online help before allowing you to connect with a real person with layers of questions. It is like a delaying tactic hoping you would give up.
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I see this discussion as two-fold;
those concerned with the end of stamp production and those concerned with loss of personal service and the quality thereof.
And of course, there are those concerned with both.
I for one don't necessarily lament the loss of stamp production from the point-of-view of a collector.
New issues may end - stamp collecting will not.
Many 'products' have been discontinued over time, things people ultimately started collecting at one point or another. When production stopped, collecting did not.
And in many cases, value of those items experienced an uptake. And sometimes so did interest.
Who knows? This might be a way to get a rise out of the continuing flatline in overall stamp values we as collectors have witnessed for decades.
Yes, it might be a bit sad to see stamp production fall by the wayside -
but yet, it COULD prove to be a BOOST for the collector and the hobby as a whole.
As far as the service aspect goes, I have LONG lamented THAT disappearance!
In ALL facets of customer service.
And I am sure to tip generously or comment positively for over-and-above services I DO receive, as I'm sure many of you do as well.
Stamp collecting will go on, of course....with OR without new issues.
It MAY even experience a resurgence!
Who knows?
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Like US MInt commemorative coin glut, the USPS can still release designs for sale.
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Stamp collecting will certainly continue although in my area of collecting I have very little interest in most modern stamps and certainly those with QR codes or that purport to non-fungible tokens. My only concern with the disappearance of post offices and perhaps modern stamps is the possible difficulty of receiving stamps I order from dealers in Europe,Canada and the US. These currently arrive in the mail with postage attached. The disappearance of stamps may make sending orders through the mail a more challenging and perhaps more expensive task for dealers.
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Dan C.
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As Musicman says collectors will continue to collect.
The postal services however have seen the number of letters decrease to such an extent thanks to the invention of the internet and the introduction of email and social media.
Their business model HAS to change due to the reduction in revenue. Whether they have the nuance to do this correctly is another matter.
They cannot continue with the way things were.
We have had the introduction of "agencies" rather than Post Offices. It is cheaper to do it that way than have the overheads of running a post office in small to medium sized towns. Just think how many forever stamps it takes just to pay one postal clerk never mind the property costs and the delivery costs!!
What would we do if the service did not exist at all?
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I just kind of second guess this issue. For a long time most post offices around the world used to issue stamps in moderate numbers, now just by looking at the numbers of stamps issued by just about any country you would think that collecting stamps is very much in demand.
So, if some countries are producing stamps in outrageous numbers and obviously selling then, why would they quit printing them?
By the same token, where are these hordes of new stamps going? All I hear is collectors complaining about the availability of late stamps and I wonder myself
since I'm an avid stamp trader.
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These other "agencies" are the post office itself, for years my local post office has been advertising the "share your other address" slogan.
Which in this case means that I can get deliveries from FedEx, UPS, Prime and etc, etc, in my post office.
Now all I need to do is put the address of the post office itself and instead of PO Box 611, put Unit #611.
The post office still by far the largest deliverer of packages, with, so far, Amazon being the 3rd in package deliveries, even though at the rate they are
growing they will soon catch up or even become the first means of delivery in the country.
And all of this is done without stamps, so yes, I think that eventually stamps will become a thing of the past and now since most people think that stamp
collecting is for all people, well... I guess that we'll never see that happening.
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Aye there are probably a lot more packages now but the handling and distribution of packages is entirely different to letters.
If Amazon is now the third largest package handler which company has lost out?
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It does seem like other post offices, other than the USA have shot themselves in the foot again. One reason I never go to the PO is the fact everyone has to stand in long lines because there are only one or two clerks working at any one time. If it is stamps I need, I buy discount postage anyway, but they are available via the internet, including from the USPS, or use to be. If you have a question about weight of mail, there are plenty of scales available to buy for letters and packages up to about 10 lbs that are also very cheap, which means I don't need to make that dreaded trip to the PO anymore and that makes me very happy. Even Priority Mail can be mailed from home, thanks to the internet. You need a scale and printer for those and also must be done on-line, along with payment. Even though most Priority boxes do not fit in the mailbox I just leave a note for mail person and set the package on the front porch. Of course, our very friendly mail lady didn't mind me doing that, but she has retired and I haven't sent any PM since, but our current mail person isn't even friendly so I don't know if he would bother to pick it up, since he would have to get off his fat derrière and walk the 50 feet or so to the door.
Also, postage stamps are another great source of revenue for the PO, but what do they care? They have already given away the moneymaking portion of their revenue to UPS, Fedex and any others, probably. Now the PO is delivering the items Amazon does not want to deliver, for $1 a package, I have heard. It really is a sad situation, but just another reason the government should not be involved in any business except directing the business of government. They had made a mess of everything they get involved in such as, Welfare, SSI, USPS and the list goes on. I suppose one of these days we will have a robot or drone delivering the mail.
Mike
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Well where we live we have a local post office LPO I can'tsee it ever closing as we have no postal delivery service and our area which 40 years ago was rural has now got housing estates growing like weeds and every new house that wants mail has to pay for a PO box at the LPO. Three times so far they have had to add more PO boxes,I reckon they will soon need new premises .You should see the amount of parcels they get, and we only live 20 miles from the capital of South Australia Adelaide.But no postal deliveries .
Brian
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It's been coming for years, but somehow I didn't want to believe it. Not that it had a huge effect on my collecting. It's happening in other countries too, and sooner rather than later, the time will come. Is this the beginning of the end of stamps ?
MESSAGE FROM A POSTAL SERVICE. (Israel Post)
The Postal service in many countries is in decline. The service itself is in decline as is the management, know-how and just about everything connected to it. Of course there are exceptions. But they are too going down in number.
In my village, the post has been ably dealt with since 1986 by the tried and trusted MP van (Mobile Post). I have taken my Philatelic mailings to our village community office where the mail is picked up, registered or express dealt with and it never crossed my mind back then, or indeed until recently, that things would change so much. I must have been inside my cocoon for too long.
Three weeks ago it started. An innocent little trek to our village office to leave my mail for the Mobile Post Van. I even sorted the registered items by myself, I always have done. All they needed was a handstamp. But three weeks ago I couldn't get a handstamp ! Mobile Post vehicles will no longer carry handstamps with which to cancel registered mail !
The alternative ?
A trek to the larger village a few kilometres away and queue up at the Post Office there ?
Well, yes. And No !
Now we need to make an appointment to visit the Post Office. Fill in the form online, leave your mobile phone number, choose the time to visit (10 minutes per visit) and off you go. Easy, no ? Well yes.
And no ! It now takes that full 10 minutes to fill out a customs form (now required for any international mail, with the exception of postcards).
So not so bad eh ?
Actually, yes. Really bad.
From December 1st postage stamps can no longer be used on International Mail, registered or not. This means the end of most MP Vans, cut-backs within the service (it has already started) and I will now need to go to the post office to post simple letter !! Will it mean the end of new issues ? Yes, as we know it. Internal stamps are used on mail within the country and any valued stamps should be used up because they too will be phased out for mail within Israel, probably during 2024.
I made an appointment at the Post Office this morning to send a registered letter. Having dealt with that, I then enquired about the use of stamps, prices, MPV's and more. I most likely annoyed a few waiting customers in the process but they were patient. It was sad news. But was it totally unexpected ?
Not really.
Yesterday I went to visit a Stamp Dealer friend in his shop and auction house in Tel Aviv. In between customers (yes, there were many, stamp collecting is alive and well here in the Middle East), he told me a story.
He mailed a number of packets after his July auction to various customers abroad. He took them like he always did to his local post office. What local Post Office ? Now the PO is in a Parcel delivery (courier) office and although some of the same staff work there, something was amiss. A few days later half of his International mailings were returned to him with the note 'Postage stamps can no longer be used on International mail' !!!!!
Hence my enquiry this morning and the reason for this important post.
IS YOUR POSTAL SERVICE IN DECLINE ? WHAT IS GOING ON WHEN YOU POST YOUR MAIL?
TELL US HERE.
In the meantime, I will try to figure out what I am going to do with all this postage. They are debating whether they can refund me or give me credit. I will not hold my breath !! (why should I worry, it's only $500 and it will end up in a politician's pocket anyway !!).
Londonbus1
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
I went Tuesday morning to NYC's main post office; the big one, designed by McKimm, Mead, and White and named after stamp-collecting President Rooosevelt's Postmaster General. There was one person being serviced at the one functioning window. Ten minutes later, a second window opened and I was able to mail my flat (large, first class mail).
No, I couldn't buy stamps; they don't have them.
I guess I won't say more.
a coup de Joy
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
over here in the Netherlands the last post office closed 12 years ago. Now there are only agencies left: supermarkets and shops where you can drop off packets and registered letters and even buy a sheet of boring definitive stamps (which is all they have, commemoratives - issued by the truckload these days - can only be bought online or at least I have not seen a shop that has them in stock.) Apart from that, when you come with a letter that needs to be franked, they automatically put a sticker with a barcode on it, no stamp.
So bottomline, this is not really news, at least not for us in the Netherlands, it has been reality here for more than a decade.
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
In Mexico sometimes there are stamps for National/International mail, not always. In some offices they ask that we fill out a customs format that is C22 for any letter and in other offices no; They have not yet regularized it, but labels with exact Postal fees are used more than stamps
I have also seen negative things in other countries, for example, a merchant from Poland sent me my envelopes with beautiful Polish stamps and since August 2021 my envelopes have arrived with this:
A friend from Latvia it have the same situation, cannot be used stamps in Registered Mail International
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
Thank you. It's comforting to know we will not be the only ones suffering from this ridiculous decision.
I have complained of course and am awaiting reasons why.
Londonbus1
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
I came across this cartoon which aptly sums up the lack of any consideration for the customer. Although it refers to train tickets, I think it also applies to the issues I read from members above.
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
The cartoon also reflects the decline in phone support. The support line automated messaging tries its best to steer you to online help before allowing you to connect with a real person with layers of questions. It is like a delaying tactic hoping you would give up.
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
I see this discussion as two-fold;
those concerned with the end of stamp production and those concerned with loss of personal service and the quality thereof.
And of course, there are those concerned with both.
I for one don't necessarily lament the loss of stamp production from the point-of-view of a collector.
New issues may end - stamp collecting will not.
Many 'products' have been discontinued over time, things people ultimately started collecting at one point or another. When production stopped, collecting did not.
And in many cases, value of those items experienced an uptake. And sometimes so did interest.
Who knows? This might be a way to get a rise out of the continuing flatline in overall stamp values we as collectors have witnessed for decades.
Yes, it might be a bit sad to see stamp production fall by the wayside -
but yet, it COULD prove to be a BOOST for the collector and the hobby as a whole.
As far as the service aspect goes, I have LONG lamented THAT disappearance!
In ALL facets of customer service.
And I am sure to tip generously or comment positively for over-and-above services I DO receive, as I'm sure many of you do as well.
Stamp collecting will go on, of course....with OR without new issues.
It MAY even experience a resurgence!
Who knows?
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
Like US MInt commemorative coin glut, the USPS can still release designs for sale.
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
Stamp collecting will certainly continue although in my area of collecting I have very little interest in most modern stamps and certainly those with QR codes or that purport to non-fungible tokens. My only concern with the disappearance of post offices and perhaps modern stamps is the possible difficulty of receiving stamps I order from dealers in Europe,Canada and the US. These currently arrive in the mail with postage attached. The disappearance of stamps may make sending orders through the mail a more challenging and perhaps more expensive task for dealers.
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
Dan C.
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11:13:29am
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
As Musicman says collectors will continue to collect.
The postal services however have seen the number of letters decrease to such an extent thanks to the invention of the internet and the introduction of email and social media.
Their business model HAS to change due to the reduction in revenue. Whether they have the nuance to do this correctly is another matter.
They cannot continue with the way things were.
We have had the introduction of "agencies" rather than Post Offices. It is cheaper to do it that way than have the overheads of running a post office in small to medium sized towns. Just think how many forever stamps it takes just to pay one postal clerk never mind the property costs and the delivery costs!!
What would we do if the service did not exist at all?
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
I just kind of second guess this issue. For a long time most post offices around the world used to issue stamps in moderate numbers, now just by looking at the numbers of stamps issued by just about any country you would think that collecting stamps is very much in demand.
So, if some countries are producing stamps in outrageous numbers and obviously selling then, why would they quit printing them?
By the same token, where are these hordes of new stamps going? All I hear is collectors complaining about the availability of late stamps and I wonder myself
since I'm an avid stamp trader.
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
These other "agencies" are the post office itself, for years my local post office has been advertising the "share your other address" slogan.
Which in this case means that I can get deliveries from FedEx, UPS, Prime and etc, etc, in my post office.
Now all I need to do is put the address of the post office itself and instead of PO Box 611, put Unit #611.
The post office still by far the largest deliverer of packages, with, so far, Amazon being the 3rd in package deliveries, even though at the rate they are
growing they will soon catch up or even become the first means of delivery in the country.
And all of this is done without stamps, so yes, I think that eventually stamps will become a thing of the past and now since most people think that stamp
collecting is for all people, well... I guess that we'll never see that happening.
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01:36:16pm
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
Aye there are probably a lot more packages now but the handling and distribution of packages is entirely different to letters.
If Amazon is now the third largest package handler which company has lost out?
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
It does seem like other post offices, other than the USA have shot themselves in the foot again. One reason I never go to the PO is the fact everyone has to stand in long lines because there are only one or two clerks working at any one time. If it is stamps I need, I buy discount postage anyway, but they are available via the internet, including from the USPS, or use to be. If you have a question about weight of mail, there are plenty of scales available to buy for letters and packages up to about 10 lbs that are also very cheap, which means I don't need to make that dreaded trip to the PO anymore and that makes me very happy. Even Priority Mail can be mailed from home, thanks to the internet. You need a scale and printer for those and also must be done on-line, along with payment. Even though most Priority boxes do not fit in the mailbox I just leave a note for mail person and set the package on the front porch. Of course, our very friendly mail lady didn't mind me doing that, but she has retired and I haven't sent any PM since, but our current mail person isn't even friendly so I don't know if he would bother to pick it up, since he would have to get off his fat derrière and walk the 50 feet or so to the door.
Also, postage stamps are another great source of revenue for the PO, but what do they care? They have already given away the moneymaking portion of their revenue to UPS, Fedex and any others, probably. Now the PO is delivering the items Amazon does not want to deliver, for $1 a package, I have heard. It really is a sad situation, but just another reason the government should not be involved in any business except directing the business of government. They had made a mess of everything they get involved in such as, Welfare, SSI, USPS and the list goes on. I suppose one of these days we will have a robot or drone delivering the mail.
Mike
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re: The end of Stamps ? Message from a Postal Service.
Well where we live we have a local post office LPO I can'tsee it ever closing as we have no postal delivery service and our area which 40 years ago was rural has now got housing estates growing like weeds and every new house that wants mail has to pay for a PO box at the LPO. Three times so far they have had to add more PO boxes,I reckon they will soon need new premises .You should see the amount of parcels they get, and we only live 20 miles from the capital of South Australia Adelaide.But no postal deliveries .
Brian
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