USPCS Meeting and Seminars at WESTPEX in California

March 9, 2015…The U.S. Philatelic Classics Society is pleased to announce it will hold its Annual General Meeting at WESTPEX on 25 April. WESTPEX will take place on April 24-26, 2015 at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront located at 1800 Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA. More details on the show can be found on the show website at www.westpex.com. Along with having a booth, we will host a series of seminars and urge all those interested to attend. Moreover, individuals who wish to become members are encouraged to visit our booth and discuss the benefits of membership to the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society.

Here is a listing of event during the WESTPEX Show including seminars:

Friday, April 24th:
11:00-12:00 pm: Seminar by Michael Laurence on “Publishing/Editing The Chronicle” in Anaheim Room.

6:30 pm onwards: U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Dinner (in conjunction with the American Revenue Association) which will take place at Kincaid’s at 60 Bayview Place in Burlingame. SOLD OUT.

Saturday, April 25th:
8:00-10:00 am: U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Board Meeting (Members only) in Room 8024.

10:00-12:00 pm: Seminar (Western Cover Society) by Gordon Eubanks on “The Issues of 1851-1856 Used in the West” in Irvine Room.

1:00-2:00 pm: U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Annual General Meeting (Public welcome) in Bayside 1.

2:00-3:00 pm: Seminar by David Snow on “Nesbitt’s Invention of Postal Stationery” in Bayside 1.

We invite members and those with an interest in classic philately to attend the show and seminars as they are free of charge. This will be a well-attended event and will feature some of the premier dealers and exhibitors in the United States.

About the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, Inc.

The U. S. Philatelic Classics Society (USPCS) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) association of people interested in the pre-1894 stamps and postal history of the United States. The goal of the USPCS is to promote interest and knowledge of philately through the encouragement of philatelic research, and through exchange of information among our members as well with other philatelic organizations. The USPCS does this in part by preparing and distributing philatelic literature and periodicals, particularly The Chronicle of the U. S. Classic Postal Issues and the Chairman’s Chatter. The USPCS is operated entirely by volunteers, and welcomes anyone interested in the “classic era” of American philately. Visit the USPCS on the web at www.uspcs.org.

For media inquiries, please contact:

John Barwis
President, USPCS
jbarwis@charter.net

or

Andrew Titley
Director and Publicist, USPCS
andrew@siegelauctions.com

Society Survey indicates Member Preferences for Enhancing the Website

2015-02-05…

In December 2014, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Board of Directors met to review options for improving the website to make it more appealing to members, increase traffic, and to help recruit new members. Subsequent to that, directors Gordon Eubanks and Mark Schwartz designed a short survey that could be administered on-line via SurveyMonkey. On January 15, 2015, an email was sent to 733 regular members and 126 Life members.

After 2-3 days the number of responses reached 345, an excellent response rate of over 40%. At this point, the analysis contained in the report was done. While the response rate eventually reached 48%, a review of the additional data indicated that did not have a meaningful effect on the results.

Prior to the annual meeting at WestPex, the Board will meet again to discuss the results of the survey and to recommend the steps that will be taken to continue to improve our website and make it more valuable to our members.

  USPCS_Website_Survey_20150205.pdf (468.2 KiB, 757 hits)

Ongoing USPCS Efforts Require Dues Adjustment.

2015-01-25… Beginning with the USPCS dues mailing 1 May, 2015:

(1) The Annual Membership dues will be raised to $35 per year.  The additional mailing fee for International members will increase to $16 per year.

(2) New Life Memberships will continue to be offered but will be raised to $1000; with existing Life memberships remaining unchanged, of course. Life Members will need to confirm, either by email or by returning a form sent out in May, whether they wish to receive the Chronicle and Chatter in hard copy, or ONLY through the USPCS website (as the Web Chronicle).

(3) International members will have an option of a non-paper/web-only subscription to the Chronicle and Chatter, without the $16 additional mailing fee. The Web Chronicle version will be available approximately 30 days after the paper publication date.

Watch for your dues mailer in early May 2015.

There are several reasons for these increases.  Since our latest price increase in 2003, inflation has risen 30% and the Chronicle now costs $7+ more per member than current dues, despite our many cost containment efforts. In addition, we have dramatically increased what we provide to our members. We have:

• Changed to a full-color Chronicle, and expanded from 80 to 104 pages
• Increased our website content by 10,000%
• Made the Web Chronicle available in searchable digital form
• Improved the speed and access of our web resources
• Added numerous collections to the web site
• Posted 18 well known philatelic reference books on the site as e-Books
• Sponsored several Young Philatelic leaders
• Had The Chronicle of the U.S. Classic Postal Issues recognized as one of the leading philatelic journals by the international community.

Most of these projects were accomplished by the generous donations of our members, without which they could not have been accomplished.  Special thanks to those donors.

The Chronicle is Awarded the CG International Philatelic Promotion Award

November 6, 2014… The U.S. Philatelic Classics Society is pleased to be awarded First Prize in the annual CG International Philatelic Promotion Award by Auktionshaus Christoph Gärtner. The award was presented on October 24 at the Internationale Briefmarken-Borse Sindelfingen (Germany) show.

The award is given annually to either a group, society, club, association or publisher that “promotes the presentation of philatelic knowledge by supporting new publications” in either print or digital format. A panel of judges chose the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society over numerous other international publications including some of the philatelic world’s finest academic journals and literature.

This highly sought after award highlights The Chronicle and its cutting edge research by leading philatelists.

To read more about this award and see the others in the final rankings, stop by the C.G. web site HERE