Philatelic News fix

[khj]

Yeah, most people in the world don't care. But we do (sort of). Get your philatelic news fix here...

August 15, 2015

2016 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue Volume 5 is now available, covering worldwide (non-US) countries from Namibia to Samoa. The list price for the print version is $124.99, and the eCatalogue is $75.

There are between 7000-7500 value changes, mostly down. The countries with the most changes (in decreasing order) are:

Romania (<1850) mostly down
Pakistan (>1450) mostly down
Nepal (<800) mostly up
Namibia (>500) mixed up/down
Nigeria (>500) mixed up/down
.
.
.

In the above 5 countries, increases were often clustered in the classic era for "older" countries. For Namibia, most of the increases were actually in the post-2000 issues.

New numbered listings were added for Qatar, Russia, and Nicaragua (again in decreasing order). I ignored new listings of error stamps.


COMMENTARY
-- you must have online access to use the eCatalogue, cannot access entire catalog offline (deal-breaker for me)
-- since all the Scott catalogs are >850 pages, you cannot view the entire catalog using Internet Explorer 11 (deal-breaker for a LOT of people), you must use Chrome or Safari; according to Amos, "A fix for this is expected soon." (probably right after they fix healthcare in the US)
-- I don't have it now, but the print catalog should be ~1600 pages (back-breaker for me)
-- 7000+ value changes is not really a whole lot (those 5 countries alone account for ~5000)
-- Scott continues its annoying practice of re-evaluating half-a-dozen countries and doing "spot" changes here and there in selected areas of other countries
-- the great majority of changes are down, so not much incentive to get this edition
-- if you want the price increases in the classic era, you are better off getting the Classic when it comes out later this year
-- Scott is getting smart by knocking off $50 for the eCatalogue (too bad its fairly useless for me as is); they used to only take off $5-$10 for the digital versions

[Butterfly]

khj,said "cannot access entire catalog offline (deal-breaker for me)"
Were earlier editions available on CD (or whatever they use these days)?
Sounds like an area ripe for black market activities.

[khj]

Earlier editions were pdf files on CD/DVD with varying degrees of security, most of which only succeeded in driving off customers, all of which could be easily circumvented by software pirates. I would say 99.9%+ of the older Scott software that was/is offered for sale are illegal -- that's how bad the piracy was. I blame both the pirates and Amos. Amos shot themselves in the foot because they had made the software version only $5 cheaper than the print version -- making it very profitable for software pirates.

Back then, about the only way to get the genuine software was either directly from Scott, or through an authorized Scott dealer. I can say that the only genuine software I was able to purchase was by the aforementioned 2 methods. After filtering out the obvious pirated software, ALL the ones I purchased at auction that I thought might have a good shot at being legitimate turned out to be pirated (some pretty well done). How can you tell? If you've ever owned a genuine original, you can tell right away. Even if you haven't, there is always one obvious difference: pirated software is "burned", genuine commercial software is "manufactured" (or "stamped").

This problem is why Scott was out of the software market for several years. This time, they made the wise choice of reducing the price by $50 instead of a paltry $5. However, if I can't use it offline, it's a waste of my money.

Older pirated software still sells briskly, even though it's over 7 years old. That should tell you that the problem was with Scott's pricing strategy. Now, if they could just get over this insistence on online access only -- but I doubt it -- it's a big risk

If they would sell the entire software set, for say, $100 every year. I would buy it every year. I know a number of collectors who would also change from buying used catalog sets every few years to a yearly purchase for $100 each year. Before they stopped, I was buying the entire Scott WW print catalog set for $100 each year when they would do their annual clearance of "seconds" to make way for the new catalog year. Shipping cost $10 for the entire 6 volume set!!! Do that for the software, I (and several others) would gladly pay that each year, but NOT as a subscription -- I like to keep the old prices archived for study/research.

But with the current production model they have, I recognize that Scott cannot possibly do this. I think eventually they will need to go to the Michel model of specialized country/area catalogs that are NOT issued every year (i.e., catalogs are revised on a rotation or as needed).

[khj]

Sorry about the long-winded post above. Those who know me know that this has been a pet peeve of mine over the years. Right idea, faulty implementation/marketing, wasted opportunities by Scott...

[khj]

August 16, 2015

Not sure when he announced it, but William (Bill) Weiss, US stamp expertizer, has retired and now indicates this on his website.


COMMENTARY
Bill is one of the truly "good guys". One of the few that I would outright recommend as a dealer with no qualms and no "*". He doesn't know me personally (we've only corresponded once). I've actually NEVER purchased anything from him and NEVER used his expertizing services. So for me to be willing to refer someone to him even without ever having conducted business with him, speaks volumes.

I'm glad to see that he will still be active in philately (can't retire from that). He's always been very good at pointing out obvious problems on the boards he frequents. The lesser professional expertizer would just ask you to pay the fee and send it in. But his departure from the paid expertizing business will leave a major void -- not in terms of competition, but in terms of trust and reliability.

He still maintains his website, and it is full of great info.

Here is a brief mini-biography he wrote of his stamp adventures: Bill Weiss column

[Deleted]

khj I am with you on Scott catalogues. This side of the Atlantic, postage on Scott is too high, except for the Classic catalogue which is on sale from UK sellers. Stanley Gibbons produce only paper catalogues. There is a Simplified Stamps of the World virtually every year - no watermark varieties etc - now costing some £250 new. SG produce GB catalogues annually, and also an annual British Commonwealth to 1970 catalogue. Other more specialised catalogues they issue every few years for much of the world, but they have given up on most of non-Commonwealth Africa and on Central & South America and parts of Asia and it looks like they may have now given up on French colonies - there used to be a France and Colonies catalogue but this year they have issued a new catalogue for just France. I suspect they will now publish just the Simplified world catalogue and specialised catalogues for GB, countries of the British Commonwealth and Europe, the USA, China and Japan. Makes commercial sense for them, but causes problems for some more serious collectors of other areas. So some British collectors may be driven to use Scott online.

[Deleted]

The world's oldest Post Office re-opened in July. It is in the town of Sanquhar in SW Scotland and dates back to 1712. There are hopes to establish a postal museum there. Read more at www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/sanquhar-world-s-oldest-post-office-reopens-1-3830463

[mdroth]

Aug 16, 2015 1:52:53 GMT -5 khj said:

August 16, 2015

Not sure when he announced it, but William (Bill) Weiss, US stamp expertizer, has retired and now indicates this on his website.

Kim - my comments & sentiments mirror yours almost precisely. Can't believe this isn't more widely publicized - it is very big - and very sad - news for the stamp world as a whole. That's one huge repository of knowledge that is retiring!!

Didn't realize you'd become a 'philatelic reporter' (not to mention a 'global moderator'!!) I'll have to check more frequently to keep up on all the news!!

[khj]

Aug 17, 2015 11:29:49 GMT -5 mdroth said:

Didn't realize you'd become a 'philatelic reporter' (not to mention a 'global moderator'!!) I'll have to check more frequently to keep up on all the news!!

I'll do anything to avoid actual work.

[khj]

August 17, 2015

USPS Office of the Inspector General has opened up a blog for comments on their recent report on the controversies regarding the creation and non-random distribution of the upright Jenny panes. Here's your chance to give them kudos or rant... Jenny Come Lately

COMMENTARY
Kudos to them for creating the blog and soliciting comments. Terrible blog title, though. Apparently not many people know about the blog. I know a lot of people care, because there have been pages and pages of thread raving and ranting at other forums. So far, 0 comments, but they just put it up.

Here's our "happy" thread on Stamp Bears: Anybody Buy Any Inverted Jennys???

[khj]

It is with great sadness that I make this post.

Bill Weiss has passed away. He made many great contributions to philately, both in terms of knowledge and through his expertizing business. He was greatly missed after his retirement, and even more so now.

[khj]

The last time the set will be issued in 6 volumes, 2018 will be 12 volumes!

The internet hobby supply vendor iHobb has stated in an advertisement on their website for the 2017 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog set (6 volumes), that the 2018 Scott catalog set will be 12 volumes. No further details have been given.

Amos stated back in November 2015 that the 2017 catalog set would be the final year for the current 6-volume configuration, and that there would be a major re-structuring starting 2018. The new configuration was supposed to be decided in April 2016, but no information has been released to the general public.

Since iHobb is a major Scott vendor, it is assumed that they were privy to some inside information.

As far as I know, still no word from Amos/Linn's as of yet.

[darkormex]

khj, hopefully they have scaled down the size (at a maximum trade size perhaps?) and made them regional like SG and Michel....and, of course, a smaller volume available at a smaller price. I would like to be able to buy just the regions that most interest me and feel like I am able to afford them.

[khj]

They would have exceeded the maximum binding size (I assume in terms of quality assurance) in 2018 for 2 of the volumes if they didn't make any changes.

I had expected they would toy with the idea of breaking the catalog into regionals, and not necessarily updating each volume annually -- similar to what Stanley Gibbons and Michel are doing now.

But if they are issuing 2018 as a 12-volume set, as iHobb states, then I can't help but wonder if Scott is simply taking the easy way out and splitting each volume into 2

As a worldwide collector, the configuration change doesn't really affect me too much. Although the straight A-Z listing obviously is more practical for me. My only real worry is how much the new configuration will increase the cost of an entire set. I am one of the dying breed of collectors that does try to get the entire set (even if one volume at a time). I guess I collect catalogs the same way I like to collect stamps.

[darkormex]

khj , saw this today in my FB feed...

Scott Catalog Reorganization

[khj]

Oct 5, 2016 19:15:58 GMT -5 darkormex said:

khj , saw this today in my FB feed...

Scott Catalog Reorganization

Thanks for the link, darkormex!

Obviously they are reading my thread and decided to put out the long overdue details.

Guess I was right about them dividing each volume into 2. I'll have to rename this thread "Philatelic Predictions Phix". smiley-face-whistle-2

Veteran Scott catalog users will recall that Scott did this 'splitting volumes into A and B' thing briefly with Volume 1 in the 1990s, back when Volume 1 was US, UN, and British Commonwealth. They gave up on this after a few years, and then in 1998 moved the entire British Commonwealth into the alphabetic worldwide listings of the other volumes. They kept US/UN in Volume 1. So the configuration we see today started in 1998.

While this will placate worldwide collectors like me (at least until we add up the new total cost of the set), I'm sure there will be quite a few collectors disappointed that Scott did not go with regional volumes. I have no doubt that Scott will eventually go to regional volumes, but Scott is notorious for changing in super super slow mode. It's only an issue of how many years/decades before Scott takes that step.