On Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:07:21 -0800 (PST), Ralphael
wrote:

On Dec 15, 4:12 am, "Victor Manta" wrote:
"Ralphael" wrote in message

...

Just the reason I no longer collect countries. Some issues are
definately generated for the collector and this drives the price up.
Several countries issue just too many stamps.

Ralphael, the OLD one

IMHO, quite all stamps issued in the last 100 years or even more, with the
exception perhaps of some definitives, were and are issued for stamp
collectors. Today some electronically readable labels were be actually fully
sufficient for the postal purposes.

The fact that the PAs continue to issue, in big quantities, more or less
nice stamps, shows that a lot of people still buy them. Of course, I don't
speak here about the knowledgeable participants in this ng, who buy new
issues very selectively or not at all :-)

snipped text...Christmas stamps are big for many prople who feel their
Christmas Cards must have a Christmas stamp. Not me, I use all my
extra precancels which means the postal clerk handstamp each one.

Grinch!