Future postal and stamp issues and NVPH catalogue

Dutch flag Written in: Dutch • redactie •
From January 2026, it will be much more difficult to send a letter in Denmark. The Danish state-owned company PostNord is ceasing the delivery of letters and postcards. The 1500 letterboxes will be dismantled starting in June and will all be gone by the end of the year. Consequently, the postage stamp and philately scene there will be turned upside down in the relatively short term. The Danish postal service is therefore on the verge of collapse. Stamps and philately in rough waters The reason? In 2024, 30 percent fewer letters were sent than the year before. Several European countries are already trying to abandon the 24-hour delivery requirement, including the Netherlands and England. Deutsche Post is cutting 8.000 jobs in the short term. Will the Netherlands soon follow the Danish example? Paper mail still plays an important role in our country. Letters from government authorities to citizens, traffic fines, invoices, condolence cards, and banking matters for people who do not wish to conduct themselves digitally are still being sent despite the rise of digital alternatives. In the long term, the Netherlands will undoubtedly follow the Danish example. The government will have to look for a solution. Postal service provider DHL has already announced its intention to focus on the letter market if the need arises in our country, and to deliver within 24 hours. What does this mean for the postage stamp as a means of franking? The end of postal delivery also means that the raison d'être and issuance of the postage stamp as a means of franking has disappeared. The consequence? From now on, the postage stamp designer will no longer need to design stamps. In addition, the chronological inclusion of postage stamp issues in the NVPH catalogue will also be terminated and discontinued. The production of stamps for collectors (as is still wrongly happening today with an excess of issues) will undoubtedly also have to be terminated. After all, cigar bands and sugar packets were no longer produced due to a loss of function! The end of chronological collecting is in sight The current zeitgeist, with its changes and dynamics, will eventually affect stamp collecting as well. The chronological collecting of stamps, primarily practiced by subscribers to the Collect Club, will soon be a thing of the past. The philatelic world in our country will also eventually be turned completely upside down. Future thematic stamp entertainment? The remaining collectors will henceforth primarily want to engage with stamps thematically. Hence my proposition: “Meet the collector with a completely renewed layout of the NVPH catalogue through a thematic classification and listing of all issues from 1852 up to and including the latest stamp issue, but in chronological order!” With the thematic chapter structure below, the collector could be helped and engaged in a targeted manner. An updated NVPH catalogue as an answer The thematic catalogue structure has existed for years through special chapters on, among others, airmail stamps, postage due stamps, and internment stamps. In fact, it is therefore building upon a traditional path long established, but now specifically for all postage stamps. Children's stamps and thematic specialization: a good example A collecting section of the Association for Children's Stamps and Maximaphily has, over the years since 1984, become increasingly specialized in all facets of the children's stamp. I myself have been working with children's and summer stamps in a particularly structured way for decades, while Red Cross stamp collectors have also been particularly focused on this type of stamp (national and international) for years. In other words, mathematical collecting is in.

10 comments

  1. This blog is about the fact that stamps and philately are about to be turned upside down. It was a good idea to illustrate this with upside-down images on the blog.

    To answer

  2. There comes a time when the postage stamp runs out.
    Now we have to put €1,21 on a letter, and on July 1st probably a few cents more again. Who knows what the rates will be in 10 years—that is, if PostNL's letter mail department still exists then, because by then nobody will be sending a letter or card anymore.
    At some point, it is no longer profitable for PostNL to issue special stamps for the few people who still buy them.
    The higher the rates, the more collectors quit. Collectors who are, on average, already quite old.
    Even in about 10 years, it might no longer be profitable at all to publish a paper catalog.
    After all, how many collectors and dealers will there be left then? And what if the NVPH no longer exists?
    I have been saying this for years: From 2030 onwards, things will move very fast. Or am I still too optimistic?

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  3. I think you'll be proven right. Physical stamps will eventually disappear. I don't buy individual stamps anymore either. I use a stamp code. A 9-digit code written with a ballpoint pen on an envelope. Digitization is continuing, and in a few years, we'll be able to send a postcard in whatever way. It might also be a blessing that stamps are no longer being printed. Then it is clearly defined for the collector, and you won't have to buy an annual collection costing over 100 euros anymore either.

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  4. Philately is no longer dealing with an era of change, but with a change of era containing innovative views, goals, and implementations!

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  5. That paper NVPH catalogue with chapter divisions by theme obviously won't work. Many series contain multiple themes and would therefore have to be included twice in different chapters. Moreover, what you propose already exists. Go to freestampcatalogue.com, select 'Netherlands' as the country, or whatever, and choose a theme. Voila, there is your thematic catalogue, optionally sortable chronologically or in another way.

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  6. As you, esteemed readers of the stamp blog, may already know, I will only be able to post articles again after my daughter Elske returns home.
    Then, in an abridged version, two articles in one simultaneously on Roman Giants (exceptionally interesting in design à la Escher) and the Post-Europ issue.
    Current official news: The Camping in the Netherlands mission has been moved from May 9 to June 10.

    To answer

  7. In Denmark, the delivery of domestic letters was left to the market some time ago. Letters have been delivered by DAO for a while now. They have issued three rather simple stamps. A solution must be found for handling international mail (universal postal service). From 2026, Postnord will become purely a parcel service. So it is not going to collapse.

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