When it comes to matters of money, people vote with their feet. If a business or organization gives good value it will thrive. The fact that the membership of the APS has been declining has many factors but, most significantly, membership is not seen as important enough by many stamp collectors to spend $45 a year on. The major benefits of APS membership -sales, insurance, and publications can be obtained on line from other sources. We need to make the APS a value again, especially for new members.
The APS should assemble a new members package similar to the restaurant and store books many cities put together for tourists. I know that Apfelbaum would give a $25 or $50 off coupon on any purchase to new APS members (it costs us far more than that for each new customer that we get from our Linns ads). I am sure that many other dealers would do the same. Linns could probably be induced to offer a subscription discount and maybe a Scott catalog discount. By marketing this idea to APS dealers as a way to get new customers and help the APS with their membership difficulties it should be easy to put together a membership package of discount coupons that would entitle new members to several hundred dollars worth of free goods and services. Add to that a free APS certification service submission or two, and you’d have a package that would have collectors clamoring to join. Membership in the APS is not like virtue- it is not its own reward. It is time that society started acting like it really wanted new members.
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