Summertime

Fifty years ago, the stamp business shut down for the summer. There were several reasons for this. First, the entire country took more vacations than than we do now and so there was usually fewer people at home collecting stamps. Americans have progressively worked more and more hours each year for the last fifty. Part of this is the need for more income, but also two wage earner families make it harder for the family to coordinate their vacations so, often, time earned is simply not taken. Life seems to have less of a seasonal quality now, from cantaloupe in January to shortened vacation schedules. But most important has been the advent of air conditioning. It’s ubiquitous today and has transformed our hobby into a year round occupation. Thus we have stamp auctions in July as good as any in January. Witness our sale this weekhttp://www.stampauctionnetwork.com/ba/1072.cfm.