STAMP BANK
What is the Stamp Bank?
The Stamp Bank is an avenue and tradition for the guild to generate some income towards our operations and events. This activity is both fulfilling and allows for participants to journey down the memory lane of the golden age of postal services.
How Does the Stamp Bank Work?
For the Stamp Bank to generate the income as in the past is now somewhat limited by our use of the computer, and the automation of postage.
Email has replaced our letter writing to family and friends, and business now use automated postage machines, stamps are not as common as they once were. You can even go on line and purchase stamps rather than go to the post office.
Still we have generated some income for the Stamp Bank, because some of the Guild Members continue to use only postage stamps and continue to faithfully collect them for us. We have had wonderful support from the 57th Guild in Montreal from whom we have received several interesting parcels of stamps in which every inch of the packages where covered in stamps, one wonders who at Canada Post added up all the stamps to ensure adequate postage and member John Horvath has kept us informed about their Guild activities.
Also, Sandra Goodkey from 22nd Peace Arch always supplies us with a newsy letter with their bundle of stamps. Likewise Barbara Stover of the 48th west Vancouver, although we haven’t met we feel like we know her. These are just a few of the Guilds who support the Stamp Bank and doing a great job.
Our own Guild the 15th Canadian Baden-Powell Guild are fortunate in having a local recycling company keep all their invoices from all over the island for us and 95% have real stamps!
In July we had an unexpected windfall, Kent Withycombe of the 44th Guild in St John’s Newfoundland who emailed that he had 25 pounds of stamps from a member who had gone home, who had been saving stamps for twenty years.
He was interested in getting the stamps to us and we learned he and his wife Mary were planning a trip to Vancouver for a visit with their son and family and they were prepared to bring the twenty-five pounds of stamps with them! My fellow Guild Member Alice Hay and I made arrangements to meet them and relief them of their cargo in Tim Horton’s, at Canada Place. We did attract some strange looks from fellow patrons when Kent started pulling plastic bags from his suitcase and put them in mine. We had a great visit with Kent and Mary only wish we had more time to visit.
How to Support the Stamp Bank?
The bottom line is we are a small Guild but we can contribute and we hope to continue for some time.
We are often asked how we wish to receive the stamps they have collected. We do prefer they remain on paper, soaking them off the paper they will stick together if they not completely dry. When you trim the stamp please leave at least a quarter of an inch all around the stamp, however, if there is a particularly interesting cancellation please keep it intact. As to sorting we can certainly do that and there are certain categories that our outlet prefers.
Some members and Guilds have made little boxes that they place in their church, and perhaps some smaller post offices will allow you to place box to collect used stamps.
We will never make vast amounts of money with our Stamp Bank venture, but any money we do make is a bonus when you consider that the majority of people still just toss the stamps in the garbage. So remember fellow Guilders instead of tossing your stamps into the garbage toss them into an envelope and send the off to your Stamp Bank, become a Stamp Bank Depositor!
Stamp Bank Contact
Alex Hadden @ Richmond, BC
New address as of January 2023
To Make deposits mail them to:
Alex Hadden
19-7651 Francis Road
Richmond, BC V6Y 1A3