My negative response is "Impossible." The mails are no longer important for communication so the Post Office is really no longer necessary. Just ask Anglobob. Ecuador has gone about its daily business without a postal service for nearly a year now. Just a convenience for some folks, i.e. stamp collectors. However, if one were to try to save it I would recommend slashing entry level pay grades. Postal employees are grossly overpaid. Eliminate the seniority system for promotion and job choices. Eliminate reduced and bulk rates for advertisers and high volume mailers. Put new hires on Social Security only for retirement. Stop Saturday delivery. Halt recognition of the postal workers unions. Don
I would not know,how to re-organize the US postal system. However,maybe,a look at Germany´s postal sytem could give some help. Since 1900 the state-owned Reichspost had the monopoly for Post and Telecommunication.After WW II this remained in both german states. In 1989 the Deutsche Bundespost,with her 544.000 employees was split into three companies: 1.) Deutsche Postbank (15.000 empolyees),now integrated into the Deutsche Bank. 2.) Deutsche Telekom,today the biggest Telecommunications company in Europe,with now 226.000 employees. 3.) Deutsche Post All three were privatized in 1994,after the integration of the Deutsche Post of the DDR (GDR). Today the Deutsche Post is a worlwide acting company with 572.000 employees worldwide.Of these in Germany 190.000. Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom are very profitable and are amongst the top dividend-payers in Germany. Everything was reoganized and rationalized.This year f.i. the last remaining post-offices (bar less than a handful,who serve the headquarters in Bonn and the Philatelic Services),were given up. Now there are agencies only,most of them in private shops, or run by the Postbank. With the privatization,the post-monopoly was abolished in steps and (other) private companies could enter the market.However those were not very successful and exist regionally only,as far as I know. Service has not become worse,although it is done with much less workers,than before. Unlike the USPS what is infamous for slowness and lost mail cases (a nice paraphrase for mail-theft),here the service is efficient and secure but also a bit more expensive.
Molokai, I think the USPS should be privatized. Their quasi-governmental status did nothing to fix the problems of this former governmental department. As has been already mentioned the mandate to fully fund two pension systems has been a liability to their cash flow. The foresight of top executives has been nonexistent. The first class rate should better reflect actual costs. I'm with Don in the belief that there is no fixing this entity.
Hi, Fellows! Thanks for the input. I agree USPS is in a bad way. I think some fixes as I listed would turn it around - but of course, those will never get accomplished so it is a fairy tail. Privatizing is a definite possibility. Both costs and services would go up and that is fine by me. I suspect the more rural areas might suffer some in a for-profit environment. Alas, I am not as sold as I once was on the 'invisible hand' of Adam Smith. I agree with <DON> that the labor force is bloated and overpaid. We saw how that worked for GM... My business experiences - such as they are - tell me there is a lot of 'client equity' market awareness and infrastructure (the post offices) that ought to have lots of potential for making money.
As DonSellos mentioned earlier,Ecuador has been without a functioning post office for over a year.Before it was barely functioning,basically only dealing with internet sales mostly from China.The only people here who I know who want a return of the postal service are stamp collectors.There are private companies which handle letters and internal packages.I recently won some stamps in an auction in Quito.I paid 4.50USD for shipping and received the items the next day by registered delivery.Correos del Ecuador charged 1.25USD for a letter and it would take almost 10 days to arrive.I think people are willing to pay more for a better service with guaranteed delivery. The only problem here is with international mail ,or lack of it.Courier services like Fedex,UPS and DHL are extremely expensive.A lot of people have mail or parcels delivered to contacts in USA and there are always people travelling between the two countries who can deliver these items. Anglobob
I think the malaise with USPS is just a sympton of the state the USA is in. No country has done more to shape the modern world of today. But it looks quite ridiculous,to see how unable the US are to adapt to this modern world. Probably it is the only country,what has not gone metric. They have a nearly 250 years old constitution,what is simply out of time. A nice example (there are many more !) are the presidential elections. They have become the laughing-stock for the rest of the world. Even worse: they lack basic requirements of democratic elections. One principle of modern democracies is,that each single vote has to be weighted the same.In the antiquated election system (state based),it turns out,that presidents can and have been elected with a minority of the votes. A remedy of this undemocratic election-system seems to be impossible, because the culture in politics in the US is one of controversy and not one of consens. But this is not only the concern of the political elite,but splits the whole nation,right down in the middle. Unfortunately this thinking of friends versus enemies is also the credo of the US foreign policies. Instead of talking to Iran,Cuba,Russia and China,just to name a few, the US policy is that of confrontation. This was not just so under president Trump,but is a constant policy. Probably it did work out more or less fine,as long as the US were the most powerful country worldwide. But this is going to change.China will take the no.1 position in a not to far future,economically and,even more important,militarily. In a very long term,the US might then loose the no.2-position to India. Would that matter ? No,not really,if one adjusts. Size is not everything ! Small nations can do very well,just think of Singapore,Switzerland or Luxembourg. The US,who always had a strong pull to isolationism,(there the five-eyes co-operation fits in fine) are loosing out on the international stage. France/Germany and most other countries of the EU are highly critical to US-politics,regarding China,Russia and Iran. The US once more is loosing credibility as an reliable ally,with the decision to retreat from Afghanistan.It means leave the Afghanis, who trusted the West and cooperated with foreign forces,to the mercy of the Talibans.And they will not show much mercy ! It is not the first act of a betrayal of this kind. Sounds bleak and it is a bleak outlook for the US,unless they can pull their act together and reform the nation from the foundation up to the roof. By the way,this is my post # 5000.
ST.PIERRE and MIQUELON I am going to move my adventure studying and collecting stamps of these little French islands here...sort of a diary. So far: I emailed the France & Colonies Society asking if they could locate the book I seek: St. Pierre and Miquelon Specialized Catalog by James Taylor. I also asked them about something called the SPM Philatelic Journal for which I see references but no website. There appear to be articles in that Society's FCPS Philatelist and queried about an index to same. I purchased the Scott 2021 pages for SPM and a couple inexpensive sets. I will probably also purchase album pages soon. Finally, I am creating a Resource Guide similar to what I have done for the N&P stamps. Here is a nice short summary of these stamps, from Linn's: https://www.linns.com/news/world-st...-stamps-of-saint-pierre-miquelon-to-1957.html If interested, stay tuned. If not, don't.
Molokai The early stamps are very attractive,very popular and some also very expensive. Don,t purchase album pages yet,I will be glad to send links for free pages. Anglobob
This is the best link www.album.france-timbres.net On the main page,go to the left hand side and click on Album des Dom Tom.There are pages from 1986.There used to be earlier pages but I don,t see them now.I will do some more research
I received a nice reply from the FCPS's media coordinator: The catalogue has been out of print for many years. You may find a copy at used book dealers. Several philatelic libraries have copies that you may be able to borrow. You can get information from the American Philatelic Research Library catalogue at https://stamps.org/services/library. You do not need to be a member to perform a search. I have, in fact, found a copy of the book at the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library. But, of course, I still want my own copy! I am also informed their publication has not been indexed since 1981. When I go into APRL perhaps it will show some of the FCPS SPM articles. I believe my other question was forwarded to Mr. Taylor regards an SPM Journal. Kudos and a big 'merci beaucoup' to the media coordinator. How many of such inquires just fall into a black hole. I've also purchased these three books on the islands for backgrounder: Rumrunners by JP Andrieux. Apparently during Prohibition running booze to the US became a bigger business than the fisheries! St Pierre and Miquelon also by JP Andrieux St Pierre & Miquelon by Ben Hansen
If you have an interest in philatelic literature, you will enjoy this article by Stanley Bierman. Dr. Bierman wrote the wonderful two-volume work, The World's Greatest Stamp Collectors. https://stamps.org/Portals/0/Awards/17AllenAward.pdf
Hi Molokai, In 1822 the city directory began to be circulated in different cities and counties in this country as well as others. The names of residents were listed alphabetically with their addresses noted. I have seen some that also list occupations. Many times advertising was presented in these directories at both the front and the back of the book, perhaps a way of defraying the costs of printing. In 1883 the first "yellow pages" appeared as is noted by Wikipedia in Cheyenne, Wyoming when a printer ran out of white paper. Then in 1886 Rueben H. Donnelley created the first yellow page directory for Chicago Telephone. In 1906 his company contracted with the Bell System. Actually the city directory book lasted up until 1995 in some form, in some city. I find this remarkable.
Thank you, Hoch! I checked the Wiki must have read too fast... I queried the NYPL and waiting to hear on Manhattan. I think the Yellow Pages would be the best source to get a listing of Most NS dealers...I say most because in the 1930s some of them came-went too fast to get a listing - and perhaps some did not have telephones early on.
Hi Molokai, I think you have nailed the best avenue for a list of Nassau Street stamp dealers. After 1906 when the Bell System adopted the Yellow Pages a search of 1930's, 40's or even 50's phone books should give you a pretty good list. Good luck on that project.
Just an old man rambling about the old days...mid-60s when I first collected. Probably repeating myself on some of it... I bought my first stamps in little orange baggies at Woolworth's. I think they had two sizes, 50-cents and $1.00... My recollection (others?) the hot markets in say 1964 were Israel, Liechtenstein and UN. I haven't heard of anyone collecting UN lately... Acquired a dandy collection of Blackjacks mostly from Linn's old mail-order auctions... I remember purchasing a block of the Baby Zepp at the local stamp show from an out-of-town dealer. I know it was a little over $100. When I asked to look at the block the dealer a acted like, "Don't waste my time, kid." But when I pulled out a roll of $20s he got friendly and helpful all of a sudden. My go-to dealer ran a store, The Penny Black. Wish I could recall his name, he was a real ace. Several times he could have skinned me good because of my lack of expertise - but he never did, taking time to explain what I had and such. I remember going in with a jumbo W-F high denomination thought I'd get $10-$15, he took it for $70...maybe he still got a good deal, I dunno, but I was real happy with the transaction! I was at the shop of a fairly popular dealer in Denver one time - won't mention his name - saw him basically cheat a kid about my age giving him $10 or such for a block of Blackjack's that was easily worth x5 that wholesale. Never went back. I did purchase my first copy of Barbara Mueller's awesome tome on United State stamps for $2.00. Must have read it 20 times! I still have it, one of the few stamp collecting books to survive in my library for 50 years. In those days there were eight or ten full-time dealers in Denver. Don't think there is a single one now totally devoted to stamps. The Internet really changed the game! I wonder how, for example, Herman Herst would have dealt with it? He passed away in 1999 and I believe had Parkinson's for several years before. I miss the old way - stamps are a high-touch hobby - but I would have never accumulated so many Nassau Street covers without the Internet. Something gained, something lost... A little more recent - around 2000 - I wasn't into stamps but saw an ad for a huge run of the American Philatelist - three or four large archive boxes - being sold for like $150 by the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library. They sat around for a few years and I finally sold them probably for what I paid. Man, would I like to have those today. It's my blog, I can ramble all I want! Would like to here some of our old-timers share memories from way back when...
I don't know if this has been posted before: http://www.rpastamps.org/presentations/nassaustreetstampdealer.pdf
