I came across an interesting item last night in Sloane’s Column, which I was rereading recently. In a 1930s entry, Sloane discusses a current proposal before the board of the American Philatelic Society that would authorize the spending of $10,000 to promote philately to the general public. Sloane reports that this proposal was supported by the philatelic liberals who think we should do something to increase the appeal of our hobby and was opposed by the true conservatives who feel that money is best unspent.
My estimate (based on the membership size of the APS in 1935 (about 4,000 members) and the dues (about $5) indicate that spending $10,000 on philatelic promotion then would have amounted to about 50% of the annual budget of the APS. Today that would mean about $1,500,000. Now no one is proposing a current APS expenditure of that amount to promote philately, but if they did, what could it buy? A 30 second spot at the super bowl goes for over $3 million; so I could imagine Ernest Borgnine just about pulling off his LT Cmdr McHale cap and settling in a chair in the 15 seconds we could afford. The problem is that even $1,500,000, which is far more than anyone proposes to spend, wouldn’t go very far.
So, I propose the classic American solution. Hire a lobbyist. Ask them to lobby the Post Office to promote our hobby pointing out to them the benefit of hundreds of thousands of collectors squirrelling away worthless new issues. Lobby the national education societies to endorse philately as a “learning Hobby.” Get McDonalds to have a philatelic happy meal. In short, stop trying to do everything ourselves. Ours is a solitary hobby, but we shouldn’t try to promote it alone.