Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!
That’s the German expression used at New Years, literally “a good slide into the New Year”. 2026 will bring a number of Changes to the society. First, we will have a new editor of the Specialist. Peter Weisensel decided to retire in October after many years of faithful service to the society, but he graciously agreed to stay on until this issue, the last issue of 2025, to ease the transition. He began in July 2014, so he oversaw our journal for a bit over a decade. Thanks are also due to Rudi Anders, our past president, who assisted Peter in this role over the last few months.
There will be other changes. I’ve taken a look at our finances. While I can assure the membership that there will be no dues increase, we have some challenges, especially with the Specialist. It currently costs $70 per member per year to produce the Specialist. We receive $40 per member per year in dues. Advertising is minimal, covering about 8% of our costs. The society also has other expenses, such as a small salary for our Secretary/Treasurer, awards, convention, and office expenses. We’ve only been able to stay afloat through the generosity of members as well as bequests by members who have passed. We appreciate their generosity.
This method is not sustainable. Costs continue to rise. We have received a new, higher quote from our printer, and as all stamp collectors know, postage costs are rising as well.
Our first proposal is to scale back the Specialist to six issues per year. Many similar publications of small philatelic hobby groups follow this plan, such as First Days and The Airpost Journal. Even the much larger American Topical Association publishes Topical Times on a bimonthly basis. So will we. If we do this, our cost per member per issue will come down to a much more sustainable $42 per member per year. Now we do hope to make another change. We plan to increase the journal size slightly to 6” X 9” from the current 5.5” X 8.5” and add a higher quality cover stock, like the above-mentioned journals. That will give us an additional space and an 4 pages per issue and will align us with comparable journals in the philatelic world.
Second, we’ll be working on increasing our advertising revenue. Vice President Van Siegling has agreed to act as interim advertising manager. He is a former board member of the APS, has served as interim executive director of a major dealer organization, and has managed both gaming and science fiction conventions in Columbus and the US. We also invite members who are dealers to consider advertising with us. We hope to have a new rate chart posted on our website by the end of the year.
To edit the Specialist, we will use a new system similar to that used by scientific journals. There will be an Editor in Chief responsible for managing the journal and a Board of Editors who will handle the copy editing. I am happy to announce the first three members of our Board of Editors. They are myself, Gary Loew, who was the long time Editor of the American Philatelist, and board member Oliver Wyrtki, who also edits the Vorläufer, the magazine of the German Colonies Collectors Group, a Study Group of the GPS. Jason Youngblood will remain Production Editor and will collate the articles and prepare the magazine for the printer. We are still looking for an Editor in Chief, and would be happy to receive suggestions.
Finally, I’d like to give a brief update on Boston 2026 and the 14th German American Salon. Plans are proceeding nicely. We will have a show table, where members can meet up, a full slate of talks during the show, and our Annual General Meeting. There will be a social meeting time during the show. The Welcome Reception for the Salon will be held at a nearby restaurant, across the street form the convention center, and we plan to have a city tour. There will be a Tour of the Salon Exhibits and an Salon Awards Reception to close the Salon. We have 35 Salon exhibits from 27 exhibitors from Germany and the US. All GPS members will be welcome to attend all Salon events, including the free opening reception (with refreshments), the tour (fee charged), and the award ceremony. However, we will ask people to sign up in advance for the last three items so we can have a proper count for the restaurant and tour. There will be a sign-up form in an upcoming issue of the Specialist. We reserve the right to cap attendees for these three events if necessary.
Finally, I’d like to invite suggestions, questions, and comments. Please write to me at conventions*at*germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org.
Happy New Year to All!
Ken Gilbert
President