Japan Post not accepting stamps

Asahi.com in Japan reports "Elderly men clutching stamp collections are heading to discount ticket shops to unload their prized possessions."

According to the report, stamp prices have nose dived considerably since Japan Post stopped accepting stamps to pay for certain types of postal transactions.


"Living on a pension, I cannot continue to collect something that will further drop in price," a shop quoted one customer as saying.

Much of the decline - and anger - is attributed to new accounting methods.

The article goes on to say, "Japan Post's predecessor, when it was part of the postal ministry, sold a large number of stamps because sales were simply counted as revenue. But now, under private-sector accounting methods, stamps sold but not yet used must be booked as debts, just like prepaid cards and merchandise coupons."

Yosuke Naito, deputy chief of the Philatelic Museum is quoted in the article as saying of Japan Post, "Changing the system to serve its interests alone is like passing its debt from rampant stamp sales in the past on to collectors and direct-mail businesses."

To read the entire article, click here.