Postally Used Stamp Collections - Popular or Not?

We've recently read that nowadays, stamp collectors are not as interested in postally used stamps as they are in mint never hinged stamps (unused and unmounted).

We disagree. And we disagree quite strongly. Here's why:

1. The number of stamps now being issued throughout the world makes it an almost impossible task to collect worldwide mint never hinged new issues.

For the vast majority of stamp collectors, the expense of collecting worldwide mint never hinged new issues would simply be too large, because of the now-huge number of stamps that would be involved. And in a time like now, when several countries issue more than 100 stamps per year all by themselves, the amount of time involved to assemble the thousands of new stamps coming out each year would also be prohibitive.

It's easier to collect mint never hinged new issue stamps when you only collect stamps from one or two countries. But take a country like the United States just as an example. The first class, one ounce letter rate stamp is now 42 cents. Multiply that by one hundred or so (an estimate for the number of new stamps that will be issued) and that's $42.00 if all those new stamps are purchased at face value at the post office - the cheapest way to buy them. But wait - there's a new Express Mail stamp and a new Priority Mail stamp. Between just those 2 stamps, there's another almost $20. So now we're at about $62.00, and we haven't even included the postcard rate stamps, the 2 ounce stamps, the international letterpost stamps, etc. The total could easily be $80 or $90 or more. And that's just one year and one country, purchased at the post office. If a stamp collector is buying older mint never hinged stamps he or she would need to buy them from a stamp dealer, at a much greater cost.


2. While it's true in many cases that mint never hinged stamps have a higher catalog value than their used counterparts, there are many exceptions where the postally used stamp is worth much, much more than the same stamp in mint condition (even when never hinged).

3. Finding specific postally used stamps for a collection is generally a much greater challenge - and usually much more fun and rewarding - for the stamp collector. You can't just go to the post office and buy them. And most stamp dealers don't stock inexpensive used stamps - they just don't want to spend the time that would be required in order to catalog and stock inexpensive used stamps (for an exception to this general rule, visit www.thestamppeople.com - they sell expensive, classic stamps, but they also sell wholesale bulk lot stamps and individual inexpensive stamps).

4. How many people enjoy buying a "mystery box" of stamps, or bags of stamps, or bulk lots of stamps? You might be surprised by the answer. For a very long time, this has been one of the all-time most popular ways of buying stamps. And as popular as they've always been, sales of postally used, wholesale priced bulk stamp mixtures are going up even more, not down. This is true for kiloware (on paper stamp mixtures) and also off-paper stamp mixtures.

So bottom line, we think collecting postally used stamps is alive and healthy.