DISCLAIMER: The lines of this text are personal views by the undersigned, many times from Finnish perspective. I think there can be as many opinions about the future of postage stamps collecting as there are individual collectors. However, I have referred to some recent media articles to try to reflect the so called public opinion. It can be seen that they represent some optimism but also some criticism.
Suomenkielinen versio (text in Finnish) tästä tekstistä täällä: (linkki). I have also written about the future of philately in Finland elsewhere (link).
I just watched a great video on YouTube from the blogger “Exploring stamps”/Graham Beck (link) that goes through the history of stamp collecting and also evaluates the future.
As a Finnish collector, I have studied the situation both in Finland and in the Western countries, based on some recent media articles (list below). Stamp collecting or philately is no longer as popular as it once was in the last millennium. The world has changed: digitalisation has reduced the use of paper letters and postage stamps, and the declining development is not stopping, let alone turning. According to Finnish Postal company Posti Oyj, the trend in stamps is the same elsewhere in Europe, albeit with a delay.
Although, on the other hand, in Finland the tax office and social welfare office (Kela) experts have recently commented that certain sections of the population still need stamps. Such as those who do not know or want to use electronic services (older people or have limited cognitive skills) and those who do not have bank identifiers (poor economic situation). But otherwise the communication is handled electronically, paper letters are rarely seen at all and the number of Christmas cards is steadily declining. Of course, the remaining consumer paper mail can also be handled without postage stamps.
The digitalized media world has created a flood of stimuli, aiming at immediate satisfaction. It may not favor stamp collecting, which involves pedantic concentration. Not to mention sophisticated, investigative motives, with features of scientific research. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of competing leisure activities. Also in collecting: Finnish tabloid paper Iltalehti’s special issue, Lifestyle Collecting magazine (spring 2021) claims that there are 200,000 to 300,000 Moomin Mug collectors, compared with my estimation of 5,000 to 10,000 stamp collectors in Finland (less than 3000 in philatelic associations). Colin Fraser notes in Flash (link) (pages 27 – 35) that the U.S. American Philatelic Society APS has dropped 50% of its membership from 1990 to 2019, and I don’t think the downward trend is reversing. When the membership is reduced through natural causes of elderly members.
Not a word is mentioned about stamps in Iltalehti’s spring 2021 Collecting magazine (as well as in similar special publications in tabloid Ilta-Sanomat or Kodin Kuvalehti magazine). When you no longer see the stamp, can you develop an interest in it – the kind of emotional bond you have with Moomin Mugs in Finland? Stamp collecting is one of the so-called. traditional hobbies, as well as ballroom dancing and numismatics. There are few young enthusiasts.
In Finland, Postal company Posti is no longer a partner for philatelic associations. Probably due to business pressures, the “runners” have been pruned away, as an example philatelic stamp cancellation service for stamp collectors.
Retro boom?
One would think that a stamp is a similar printed matter to a paper book. How a Christmas novelty book can be in a discount camp after the holidays. How book-antique shops and the hobby of book collecting has decreased and a paper book has been presented with a dull future. However, that may not be the case, at least based on the latest Helsinki book fair 2022 (link), which attracts huge crows every year.
Although the popularity of stamp collecting has declined globally, in certain developing countries such as China and India, as the prosperous middle class grows, stamp collecting is on the rise. Graham Beck of “Exploring stamps” blog believes that as the volume of paper letter mail decreases, those with stamps may become more interesting because of it. Similarly, when stamps are less seen and their subjects are more self-interesting than before (e.g., popular culture like sports, movie characters), there may be a desire to collect them.
For example, collecting vinyl music recordings is said to have gained new popularity among those who have grown up in the world of digital recording and online streaming. Who are “tired of sterile digital sound”. Would such a retro enthusiasm be a wake-up call for stamp collecting too, as the British newspaper The Daily Mail says (link)? Even so that the hobby would make a “comeback”?
According to The Daily Mail, as well as The Guardian (link), millennial youth who aren’t much used to stamp collecting are interested in the hobby in a retro sense, to pre-digital time to romanticize. If millennials, by definition, have grown up around the turn of the millennium, they are now in their fourties. However, the interviewees (representatives of philatelic organizations and auction houses) have a need to advertize their business and therefore may not be necessarily entirely objective. I have heard that sending postcards is popular in England.
Internet and social media
The Internet opens up easy and free access to information related to hobbies. Examples of great international sites include ”Exploring stamps” (link) and ”The Digital Philatelist” (link). There are also stamp cataloques on the Internet in electronic form – although the usability of the cataloques seems to be lagging behind that of other digital applications today. Related with this issue, in this blog I wrote earlier about the difference between ”modern and traditional philatelists” (link).
The interviewees in the article of Daily Mail talk about social media as a new opportunity for philately. Now that the stamp shops are almost gone (at least in Finland) and reaching out to local philatelic associations has its own challenge. Regular meetings on weekday evenings can be overwhelming due to work, family life, or just too long distances. Discussions related to stamp collecting are also held in Finland around the clock in the specific Facebook groups. Admittedly, most new interlocutors seem to try to figure out the value of a collection they have taken over, in order to ”take the money and go”. But there are also some younger ones who are interested in the items in a collectible sense.
Representatives of traditional, organized philately are also waking up to the possibilities of digitalization and social media. Colin Fraser, a spokesman for the Federation Internationale de Philatelie, writes a long article (link) in Flash (pages 27 – 35) about the impact of the COVID pandemic on philately. He states that as a digital leap made possible by social isolation, the exhibition activities of the future could be the so-called hybrid model, i.e. the physical exhibition frames and their online versions together. He does seem to condemn the presentation of stamp collecting on Instagram. To my understanding, his problem with that is because Instagram does not obey the traditional philatelic presentation format. But which Instagram posting will disappear when COVID disappears? Even if Instagram doesn’t succeed as a format for a stamp exhibition, using it to present stamp collecting won’t go anywhere.
Fraser, on the other hand, questions the way traditional, over-formalized and rule-bound philatelic organizations operate, which stifles creativity and innovation. Which, I think, can be of the reasons for the decline in the popularity of the hobby. Or at least the reason why these organizations seem to be so helpless to do anything to stop the decline.
Exploring Stamps blogger Graham Beck also noted that new stamp enthusiasts are likely to be inspired by the stories associated with stamps. And as I see it: perhaps not so much on aspects those favored by traditional philately, such as differences of paper quality, perforations or printing technology, which are non visible to naked eye.
In addition to digital media, a good example of the new winds of the hobby is the Postcrossing activity, which, however, traditional philately hobbyists seem to be indifferent or hesitant about. This reaction can be a matter of age and understandable in that respect: if you have been involved with the postage stamp material of classical Finland or USA, for example, since your youth in a certain way, there is hardly any need to renew the collection items.
Stamp-themed blogs are free content that is easily accessible even via a mobile phone, around the clock. I myself have written blogs, e.g. a story about collecting Moomin stamps (link). I might suspect that a few of the hundreds of thousands who are inaugurated in the Moomin Mugs may be excited to also get stamps from the area. Despite the fact that moomin products can be found no matter what kind. Another example is my continuously updated collection of Ukraine war related stamps (link). Which was also noticed by the international blog #bittergrounds (link).
Corona boom?
In Finland, both in terms of numismatics and philately, I have read that in 2020, hobby activity has been growing. Vesa Järvistö, who maintains a second hand online portal called Systeemi.com, states in Pirkanmaan Yrittäjät magazine that in 2020 the number of registered people increased by 40% and sales by 15%. Similarly, in philatelic online auctions, I have noticed record high bids for items of some of my own interests.
The same so-called corona boom as an increase in demand for internet services is also noted in an article in The Wall Street Journal (link). The same article also talks about how the “analog world” can appeal to younger people. How more and more millennials and women are coming into the hobby. On the other hand, in his article in the Flash magazine, Colin Fraser seems to deplore the fact that the WSJ article does not highlight the possibilities offered by traditional organizational philately. Well, would those organizations have a place for introspection here?
It is obvious, as entrepreneur Järvistö states, that people are looking for something new to do, out of COVID social isolation. But what happens when the situation returns to normal?
Are stamps an investment?
My answer to this question is: no. The “reward” comes on the intangible side, as in all collecting: as experiences, educational experiences, etc. The average price of the stamp collection material decreases because supply no longer meets demand. This is especially true of the material of the last century.
In the golden age of stamp collecting, it might be seen as an investment activity. This investment idea has also been a marketing and sales ploy for collectors (“sought after item/ buy now”). However, stamps have been published enormously. One stamp can be published in hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of copies. Certain so-called banana states of stamps, may issue stamps several times over their own need. And on topics that have no connection to their own country.
When the buying and selling of stamps has gone digital, to internet sites, stamp shops have no longer been able to control price levels. The price estimates stated in the stamp catalogs have diverged from the real prices a long time ago. In Finland, stamp dealers are left with the fingers of one hand, making business with supplies and auctions.
Especially after the Second World War, there are hardly any rarities of top monetary value, the price of an ordinary stamp with cancellation is less than a cent. For example, from the 70’s onwards, the so-called first day covers (FDC) have lost their collectible value. As a kind of climax, blogger Graham Beck mentions in his video the flood of stamp and FDC material published in 1981 about the wedding of British Princess Diana and Prince Charles.
Admittedly, the media threshold is occasionally crossed by a rare postage stamp for which the price of a car has been paid at auction. However, such an example is not representative – and I do not know whether it is worthwhile to deduce anything from the state of the hobby. As stated in the more critical story ”The long and slow death of philately” (link), the so-called a new class of super-rich (“Russian oligarchs, Chinese millionaires, CEO’s of Silicon Valley technology companies”) can compete with each other for who gets the rarest of the items. And no more than two are needed to compete for which “trophy” to hunt. Those wealthy enough to pay the price of a car for a postage stamp exist in Finland as well. What if the presentation of the expensive prices makes the impression that stamp collecting is an expensive hobby?
Collecting is likely to continue to polarize: the price of the so called ”mass” is falling, but the top rarities hold their own, thanks to the “trophy hunters”. Similarly, rare, ie. expensive stamp items are bought for competition collections. This view of mine follows the article “Wealthy Still Investing In Stamps Amid Overall Slide in Value” (link).
If you tell the questioner about the collection in his possession that it is worth nothing but a five or ten euros, it will hardly inspire, say, to preserve the collection and continue it. These questioners are seen in social media every day. On the other hand, when the material is cheap, it is easy to get started. A multi-barreled thing. As Colin Fraser points out, there is a need for a stamp collector too to act in a financially responsible manner.
Optimism, pessimism or realism?
Predicting the future is always just as difficult. Would you be pessimistic, optimistic, or realistic? It depends on who you ask: philatelic organizations and the still in business Finnish merchants (about 5) are likely to remain optimistic. Many other traditional hobbies in the form of associations are hoping for an upward turn. In the competition for people’s free time. The declining popularity of the registered associations is already visible, since many small philatelic clubs have little or no activity and most of them will fade away within say, end of this decade.
The hobby of collecting is a subjective and speculative thing. As for the retro boom, one can follow how it materializes in amateur numbers in the longer term, after the corona pandemic. As is said in the investment world, the past is no guarantee of the future.
With the internet and social media, it is possible to collect stamps creatively, innovatively and in your own way. Or like the aforementioned Postcrossing enthusiasts, without the rules and competition of the registered philatelic associations. The digital leap created by corona pandemic may also push the associations to modernize their social procedures.
Similar kind of conclusions have been found in an article in Linn’s Stamp News (link): As the trade of stamp products on the Ebay web portal shows, stamps remain of interest. The fate of organized philately (clubs and societies) is a different matter and ultimately the question is about the future of stamp exhibitions and professional stamp dealers.
My own guess is that stamp collecting has a future, as do vinyl records and paper books, although it will never reach the numbers of enthusiasts of the last millennium again. However, even young collectors can come through retro enthusiasm and I have seen signs of it on Facebook. In addition, as new age groups come closer to retirement age and are in a reasonably good financial position, some of them may start stamp collecting or revitalize the hobby of their youth.
Traditional association activities are in crisis in general: the members are aging, young people are not interested, responsible persons and leaders are increasingly difficult to find. It is obvious to me that philatelic associations are based on the culture and values of the post-war baby boomers (b. 1945 – 1950). Their natural decline alone is about 3% per year. It cannot help but be affected. Young people still do voluntary work, but they are interested in the activity itself, not the bureaucracy. In the case of philatelic associations, the development can be seen: When the activity is regular meetings in some club venue, young people and most of the middle-aged people do not participate in them either – that is, if you sit quietly as in a school bench, listening to senior’s monologues and presentations. Due to many other obstacles in everyday life, young people can’t get there, even if someone wants to. Likewise, the elitism and snobbery belonging to philatelic associations (exhibitions, competitions & judges, awards, gala dinners) forms a threshold of its own – although this is cherished as honorable traditions. (And usually associations have a built-in mechanism to ensure that the ones make the decisions who think tradition is everything).
When it comes to sharing information as efficiently as possible, in my opinion, it would be best if the information related to a voluntary activity such as stamp collecting were all free and easily available. Of course slow, limited publishing can be justified by quality assurance. But as a consequence, membership-related paper magazines and guide books do not reach young people. Because associations should receive monetary compensation either in the form of a separate payment or a membership fee. Which money is usually taken by the association for its activities, not by the member sharing information. Philatelic paper publications are not available through newsagents or bookstores, and on the other hand, there is no commercially viable demand for them either. Likewise, you have to travel separately to stamp events and exhibitions, and perhaps pay an entrance fee. Associations have made experiments to renew themselves, with the help of digitalization. But when the age structure of the membership is what it is, thorough modernization is unlikely. Especially when we meet to refer to traditions. For example, associations’ social media sites (Facebook, YouTube) are controlled, with high publication threshold. That makes them look passive, like bulletin boards, with little or no reactions or comments by the audience. That is not the point of social media. Therefore, the attention and exchange of information about stamp collecting is located on other social media pages.
I also read the statement of an entrepreneur who sells philately as a profession, that new hobbyists, who acquire material through the internet and social media and also from his portal, do not participate in exhibitions and meetings organized by associations, even if they are invited. Collecting hobby is obviously more individual thing.
My prediction is that the so-called the modern way of practicing stamp collecting and philately becomes prevalent, while the share of those who collect according to the traditional way dwindles, largely due to natural causes. It means that the presentation of the collections, as well as the interaction, is largely done through digital channels. There will remain a couple of national philatelic associations per country, to which modern philatelists who are interested in sophisticated research pursuits apply to become members. In these, too, the operation is largely via digital channels. The fate of professional stamp dealers is not very good or they have to take other collectibles into their business.
Not to mention hunting for medals in philatelic competitions – creating a ”career”? Why should the reward of collecting be anything other than collecting itself? If competing is justified as an opportunity to develop, then I myself haven’t learned to understand what ”development” is in being able to please the judges’ taste. Sure, medal incentives have the potential to control collecting – the thing Colin Fraser was talking about, i.e. risk of stifling creativity and innovation.
However, as the number of letters and cards with postage stamps in Finland continues to decrease, being about 3% of Posti’s distribution volume in Finland in 2020, issuing new postage stamps will stop at some point, as long as it becomes non-profitable. Paper letter mail may convert to be delivered with bar code stamps, instead. The Postal office in Iceland already stopped issuing new stamps in 2020 because it was no longer economically viable.
P.S. And what has happened after corona pandemic (November 2023)? The CEO of Posti Oyj stated, that because of the constant decline, the business of paper letter and postcard mail will probably die in Finland towards the end of the decade. Considering philatelic items in auctions, the polarization continues: prices of some top rarities remain high but at the same time the supply of regular ”mass” material increases, thus decreasing their price levels further. Most of the big auctions, if not all, are now only online. The already mentioned enterprenour Vesa Järvistö told recently that he has a lot of customers who only seem to buy or sell material online, not participating in any meetings or exhibitions – despite of his invitations. Besides, some statistics prove that the meetings and exhibitions are not efficient to recruit new members to associations. The associations’ recent recruitment campaigns seem to have slowed down the downward trend a little. However, on Facebook you can constantly see collectors obviously buying new material, even though more than 90% of the inquiries are inquiries about the value of the collection in their possession, i.e. realisation.
Other blogs about collecting in English (link).
Some referenced articles
YouTube-video “The History & Future of Stamp Collecting” by account ”Exploring stamps” (Graham Beck) (link).
Michael Baadke: Summit on the Future of Philately considers concerns and ways to take action. Linn’s Stamp News, 3.5.2021. (link)
Colin Fraser “Can a pandemic finally change the world of philately?” Flash vol. 130, Sept 2020, pp. 27 – 35. (link)
Financial Poise: ”Wealthy Still Investing In Stamps Amid Overall Slide in Value”. March 2021. (link)
Nicole Mowbray / The Guardian: Post modern: Why millennials have fallen in love with stamp collecting 11.4.2020 (link)
Andrew Nelson / The Wall Street Journal “Why Stamp Collecting Is Suddenly Back in Vogue” 5.6.2020 (link)
Blog Antique Sage: “The long, slow death of stamp collecting” (link).
Pirkanmaan yrittäjät – lehti “Kohtalokas EBay-ensivisiitti. Vesa laittoi hakusanaksi Finland – Sen jälkeen se olikin menoa” 1.5.2021. In Finnish. (link)
Alex Ward / Daily Mail: “Stamp collecting makes a comeback as millennials use social media to fuel interest in philately” 13.4.2020 (link)