The Last Post

I know I wrote that my last post was my final one for a while , but before my Internet connection gets cut off (like losing my right arm) I just have to post this image. It is so clear that it is just like looking at the original plaster cast. Nice eh?

I have now booked my flight ( August 7th) and arranged to rent a house for a few weeks whilst myself and my wife look at properties in Spain with a view to purchasing one. A little adventure we are both looking forward to. I will post a picture of our actual choice of home at a later date when we know for sure the deal is done and dusted.


Commenting on Larry's post (below) I have signed the petition myself and have to say I also believe that Royal Mail will just dump it in the bin.

I totally agree with Larry's perspective, Royal Mail seem to be following in the footsteps of other countries. Look how much interest (and money) from none philatelists the Star Wars stamps have created. If a product makes money then its here to stay.

Tat tar for a bit

Roy

Too Many Stamps? Not For Royal Mail's Needs

The other day, Roy wrote about the petition urging Royal Mail to issue fewer stamps. The petition was created by dealer Tony Buckingham.

It is a valiant effort. It is doomed to failure.

To see why, look at Royal Mail's situation. Royal Mail is not part of the government. It no longer has a monopoly; it must compete with other organizations that do not have a universal service obligation. Its prices and services are controlled. Its labor unions are restive. And, perhaps most importantly, its primary function is being made obsolete by the internet, cell phones, and other new technologies.

As a result, Royal Mail's need for revenue in this environment is more critical than ever before. One way that it is meeting that need is with an aggressive stamp issuing policy.

Let's look back at the 1960s. The Post Office was a branch of the government. It was the only organization that could carry mail, and as such, its stamps represented the country.

The subjects and designs of postage stamps were important. The Queen was actively involved in her role of approving stamp designs. Members of Parliament took notice of stamps and complained if they didn't like the designs.

Postmaster General Tony Benn (1964-66) wanted improve Britain's image at home and overseas by issuing better stamps. Benn frankly admitted that another of his motivations was to increase postal revenues, but he wanted to do that by having better designs at least as much as by issuing more stamps.

He believed that better stamp designs would encourage more people to become collectors and thereby, over time, create more revenue.

The Post Office (and later its successor, Royal Mail) found other ways to serve collectors. The Philatelic Bureau was created to supply stamps by mail, and the British Philatelic Bulletin was published to inform collectors about what stamps were available, among other things.

Royal Mail continued to invest in increasing the number of stamp collectors. The Stamp Bug Club (remember it?) was created to encourage children to collect stamps. Sponsorship of stamp shows served to encourage adults as well as children to collect stamps.

Now its 2007. The world has changed. The present is very difficult, and the future is cloudy. Royal Mail no longer has the time or patience to invest now to create collectors in the future. Royal Mail may not exist in 30 years, or even 10. There's little else to do but optimize the present and let the future take care of itself.

Thus, the barrage of stamp issues aimed, not at long term collectors, but at anyone who will buy today, and buy a lot. So we have The Beatles and Harry Potter and Bond, James Bond. And we have stamps, souvenir sheets, Smilers, prestige booklets, medal covers, presentation packs, commemorative documents, stamp cards, commemorative medallions, first day covers, press sheets and anything else Royal Mail can think of.

If, as a result of the current policy, a thousand long-term collectors give up buying new issues, so what? There are ten thousand (actually many more) Beatlemaniacs who will buy stamps instead. And Harry Potter fans. And James Bond fans.

It doesn't matter if those are the same fans or different fans. It doesn't matter (not much, anyway) if the people who bought the Beatles stamps come back to buy Harry Potter. It only matters that enough people buy each new issue, and all the variations, to generate revenue.

A petition signed by a few hundred people, even a few thousand, may get a polite response, but it will have no effect beyond that.

I, too, wish Royal Mail would go back to a more restrained stamp issuing policy. It's not going to happen. At least not soon.

More on this later. Your comments, please.

--Larry

A New Machin Forum Hits The Web

There are many groups and forums on the web, but according to Dave Arthur he "can not find one that deals with the subject of Machins other than this one which is not exactly a furum." So he has taken the plunge and created his own.

The Machin forum created on June 7th this year is a welcome addition to our mists, as are all sites that deal in this Mania of ours. I have read all of the posts to date (and added a couple of my own) it seems to have had a good start with several members joining to date and I am pleased to announce it on these pages. Hopefully we can cross reference ideas and recent news between the two.

Dave who is the administrator has been collecting stamps for over 30 years on and off and in the last couple of years has used his knowledge of the PC environment to link it to his stamp collecting. He has 3 web sites up and running and specialises in Machins - especially those from Great Britain but he also has a collection from Hong Kong.

How about posting something here Dave on the Hong Kong Machin? Not my subject im afraid.

In addition to GB he has recently started a specialised collection of Canadian definitives limiting himself to post-1951 at this time.

Dave and his new crew welcome everyone to join this forum and hopes it will eventually lead to some interesting and educational posts.

Please feel free to visit the site and sign up, suggest anything that you believe would improve the forum, reply to existing posts or start a new thread.

This will be my last post here for a while, I will be off line from July 3oth. So its over and out from me ( or should I say adios ) and in with LARRY who takes the reins for a couple of months.

Best wishes to all and dont forget you can post here also, in fact its gone a bit quiet of late.....Are you all on holiday?

keep em peeled.....Roy

Prestige Stamp Book Errors - Machins

Ian Billings has posted news of another Prestige Stamp Book Error - this time it's the Machin pane, and lots of them! Read the full report including pictures of this and the other amazing finds to date.

http://www.norvic-philatelics.co.uk/articles/Machinpsb-error.htm

Hello!

As Roy mentioned below, I will be the guest blogger here at Machin Mania. I'm honored that Roy asked me, and I will try to keep to the high standards he has set.

Although Roy described some of my endeavors, I thought I should introduce myself to you. As Roy noted, I was born and live in the United States, currently in California. I've been fortunate to have been able to visit the U.K. several times, including Stamp World London 90 and The Stamp Show 2000.

I've been collecting British stamps for about 30 years. I used to have several other collections, but I've not worked on them seriously for some time, preferring to concentrate on GB. My specialty is the Machins, of course, but I collect the stamps of all reigns. I was one of the original members of the Great Britain Collectors Club, founded in 1979, and currently I am secretary-treasurer, webmaster, and columnist.

I wrote a monthly column about Great Britain philately for Linn's Stamp News for 10 years, in partnership with my good friend David Alderfer. I retired from writing the column in 2002, but David still writes it. We compiled several years of our columns and added some new content into a book titled Introduction to the Stamps of Great Britain. It is still available from Amos Press at www.amosadvantage.com (click on the link or go to the home page and search for 'rosenblum'.) I'm telling you this because I'm proud of the book, not in an effort to make money, since I don't get any royalties from it.

Roy has mentioned my web site, GBStamps.com. It includes a section that I call Machin Mania and another section that is the home of the Great Britain Collectors Club.

I do like to hear from my readers. If you have a suggestion for a topic, or a Machin-related question, please leave a comment here and I'll respond as best I can. If you disagree with something I have said, please let me know (politely!). And if you agree, please let me know as well.

--Larry