*** APS Membership Special ***

Thanks for this post, Steve.  I was not aware of these discounts, either.

I notice that many of the coupons are valid for a "first use" of a particular service.  I wonder how strictly they enforce that, and if, by looking up my APS number, they can tell if I have previously used a specific service.  The Stamp Store discount did not indicate a "first use" pre-condition, so I should be able to use that one in any case.

I agree with you, Frog.  Prices in the APS Stamp Store are not the cheapest around, but it is a decent way to buy individual stamps at fair prices (in my opinion).  The prices are cheaper than those typically offered by dealers for individual stamps.  The best prices, of course, are almost always when buying in bulk.

Among the reasons that I like buying from Stamp Store is that there is a 30-day money-back guarantee, and if a stamp you buy fails in expertizing, you get your money back, including the expertizing fee.  I have also found stamps to be misidentified or damaged once I received them, and I was able to return them, no problem.

The APS does not impose unreasonable shipping charges on purchases, either, which is another thing I like about Stamp Store compared to some eBay sellers.  Anyway, I hope that you may find a couple of interesting items on Stamp Store at some point and see for yourself.  Happy hunting!

member # 228684 disappointing welcome mailer not at all philatelic but that's just me I guess.by the way no coupons enclosed or notice of the same.

I rejoined the APS last year after a deliberate lengthy absence.

But I didn't rejoin for the stamp privileges mentioned in the flyer.  I think I might have gotten a couple of discount inserts in my welcome back mailing, but nothing as comprehensive as the coupons posted in this thread.  I doubt I would have used any of those coupons anyway.

The reason I rejoined?  Not for stamps, but because APS members get a pretty hefty copy center discount at Office Depot (which is same company as OfficeMax)!  The discount varies depending on the service.  But for copying, some of the discounts can be 60%+!!!  That beats the 25% discount I was getting for my small NPO.  Since it is a % discount, your actual price will vary by region.  But for me, I'm getting letter-size copying at 22¢ color and 2.5¢ for b/w.  The discount for other copying/services will not be as much, but you get the idea.  The b/w copying, I can do cheaper with my own copiers (2¢ per page) -- but for bulk copying (hundreds) or copying with graphics, I outsource to save toner & wear/tear on my copiers.  Can't beat the color price, especially using my own printer.

The money saved in copying costs for my NPO has already been many many times the APS membership costs.  I had a very large oversized color copying job a couple of years ago.  If I had the APS discount then instead of just 25%, the savings probably would have covered a lifetime APS membership!

So, something to consider if you use a lot of office copy/services.

There are other discounts as well, but I am only interested in the copy/services discount.  Here is the relevant page at APS listing the member savings:

APS Exclusive Savings

So the experiment (for me) APS

This is the cover sheet simple to the point.

This one set me off.FOUR pages from Hugh Wood. Is APS partners in an insurance firm? It more than doubled the rest of the contents.I've priced their insurance and if you think it's a good deal I got a bridge for sale cheap.

I'm sorry that you're disappointed with your membership experience.

The fourth paragraph of the letter explains when you'll receive the coupons.

The use of donated postage stamps helps keep costs down. Had the USPS not damaged the cover, you would have seen a very clean strike of the APC's postmark.

Frog, Although I have never used the I.D. service, $5 seems a more than fair price.  After all, when you figure the examiner's time, he/she is probably performing the service at much less than minimum wage.  As far as purchases go, I have shopped the Stamp Store on occasion and picked up some outstanding bargains, almost always at 25% or less of catalog value.  The insurance?  Never felt the need for it, but I have heard good things about Hugh Woods (don't know the ownership structure, but I do not believe APS owns any of it as it might impact their nonprofit status).

In my opinion, the best benefit of APS membership is that fellow collectors know I been vetted by the APS and found trustworthy.  

APS could learn from the experiences of new members - positive and negative.

Frog, I use Hugh Wood for insurance and curious who you think has better rates for similar terms. They do not require extensive documentation. It was cheaper than an adder to my homeowner's insurance. This is the primary benefit (beyond the monthly magazine) I use.

I just use online forums for quick ID but not sure how others use it.

As for emailing dealers, I continue to be amazed how slow some can be in responding to email. I use email everyday in work and elsewhere so always quick in reading and responding to email. One collector gave me his business card with his contact email yet after sending emails to two of his email addresses I have never received a response. I was told email was not his forte. 

I don't believe that APS is any different from AARP, AAA, or any other organization that negotiates with other entities for products and services that will benefit their respective memberships.

In addition to Hugh Wood and the U.S. Postal Service Federal Credit Union, APS has arranged exclusive savings for its members with a number of different entities.

From my perspective, it is good if both APS and I can benefit from such arrangements.

Al is correct about the APS insurance.

The insurance will depend on how the amount you are asking for insurance coverage. Most collectors/dealers do not insure the full catalog/retail value of their collection. Even the insurers don't recommend it. Common advice (including from insurers):

-- insure up to your original cost, not the retail value nor the replacement cost
-- insure up to the amount of your collection you may lose at one time (for example, parts of my collection are spread out over 3 locations, so I would insure up the the largest holding location rather than the total collection)
-- insure the loss that you are unwilling to swallow if you lost it (i.e., factor in your own "deductible" even if the insurance deductible is only $50 or so).

That being said, the APS does have requirements of its exclusive insurance provider. This may have changed over the past decade when I wasn't an APS member -- but this included things like not requiring listed property (i.e., not having to itemize/inventory), coverage of items in transit...

I briefly had insurance with one of the previous APS insurers before they switched back to Hugh Wood. Back then, the base $10K coverage plus underwriting fee was easily under $100 a year. I think (I don't remember) I had the $20K (or $25K?) coverage and it was just about $100 total per year.  Those are premium numbers from over 10 years ago.

Oh, yeah, remember -- stamp insurance does NOT cover certain things like bug damage...

If you are getting quoted $1400/month, there is definitely some sort of misunderstanding somewhere. That's more than 10x my house insurance, and I live in a part of the country famous for high house insurance rates. Of course, then again, maybe your collection is worth more than 10x the value of my house!

This is just my personal opinion. I insure things for replacement value only if I absolutely need to replace it and cannot afford to replace it. For example, my house/contents would be at replacement value (cash value is useless if most of your belongings are over 5 years old because of depreciation). Cash value of personal effects is very little if you have few "new" things and is just a waste of money. Items I have to replace, but could readily afford to pay extra to replace myself if necessary, I would insure for cash value (e.g., my car).

My stamps, I don't have to replace them. They are for leisure, not investment. They don't suffer accounting depreciation, only market value changes. So if I insure them (I currently do not, although I probably will within the next 5 years), I would insure them for my cost (plus approximate conversion to present value of cost). My purpose in getting stamp insurance would be to minimize my basis loss, not to insure against financial gain loss.

I can tell you that almost all the dealers I know that have insurance all insure at estimated cost, not retail value. Admittedly, it is a very small pool of dealers that I know.

I would suggest 3 realistic options considering premium cost associated with insuring for full retail value of your collection:

-- insure for original cost
-- insure for wholesale value
-- insure for auction value
-- insure for original cost, adding value for specific listed items (see below)

Only the rare stamps (<500 known) or highly specialized stamps or speculation stamps will consistently get at or above catalog values. If you look at auction realizations, you will see that even most $1000+ stamps frequently get sold for 10%-50% of catalog value!!! I'm not talking about damaged stamps, but FVF and VF stamps with very minor or no faults. You can consider factoring in $100+ stamps at 10% of catalog and $500+ stamps at 25% of catalog to your insured value, and then any rare stamps at full catalog. I do try to keep a list of $100+ stamps, but it's more to remind myself that I already have it "somewhere".

Best wishes on getting a good insurance coverage and quote!

Indeed, our needs are different. I can understand you wanting to provide better insurance coverage for your collection. My health insurance -- much more expensive then most, but I need the additional coverage.

Meanwhile, keep enjoying your stamps! -- you have a lot of goodies to be enjoying!

angora, Thank you for confirming my suspicions they are getting a piece of the action.It was a gut feeling which I have learned to trust a long time ago. While it may be innocent it shades things for sure.In my eyes not a great idea however innocent to take more money from the very people you claim to serve.If they didn't take their cut would members save even more...YES.Most businesses don't operate without the "one hand washes the other" approach.