APS TRYING TO SOLVE DEALER RIFT AT STAMPSHOW

In the spring of 1997, postal history dealer Jim Forte appeared before the Board of Directors of the American Philatelic Society to plead that the counters provided for dealer booths at the APS' annual Stampshow were too high (originally 42 inches---which later became 36 inches) and were very inconvenient not only for the dealers, themselves, but for elderly and/or handicapped collectors. He pleadings were not successful---but not because the APS didn't try to solve the problem. They were and are just as concerned about it as Forte.

Although the APS board stipulated that its Executive Director, Robert Lamb, and their show director, Ken Martin, immediately see to it that this problem was corrected, it was not---and not because Lamb and Martin didn't try. The booths and dealer counters at Stampshow were and are in the control of the U.S. Postal Service, which provides a substantial portion of the financing for the annual show. Thirty-six inch high counters continued to be installed by the Postal Service's decorators at both the 1997 Stampshow (Milwaukee) and the 1998 event (Santa Clara) even in the face of pleadings by APS officials.

An attorney member of the APS is just as miffed as various stamp dealers about this problem. He says the current high counters violate the Americans for Disabilities Act and that he will make a formal protest to have the situation corrected.

Meanwhile, Forte, Dann Mayo and other show dealers are solving the problem in their own way by refusing to take a booth at the APS show---and instead setting up their own separate bourse in a hotel near the show. Forte and Mayo did this exact thing this year in Santa Clara---while at the same time making many show dealers mad at their actions. Any bourse that is set up away from the show takes business away from the dealers who pay booth rental at the Stampshow event.

Even worse, it appears that Forte and Mayo are assembling as many as 20 dealers to set up yet another "separate bourse" at the 1999 APS Stampshow next August in Cleveland, Ohio.

APS Executive Director Lamb is trying to solve the impasse. He has secured a number of lower-in-height counters for the Cleveland show and intends to help make sure the Postal Service allows them on the floor of the show. In addition, he is negotiating with Forte to see if a solution can be reached---thus bring Forte, Mayo and other dealers back into the show. Certainly, a separate bourse at another location is not only counterproductive for all concerned, but it could affect the overall success of the STAMPSHOW event, itself.

The problem, however, has become so significant to the APS that Lamb may approach his Board of Directors about investigating the overall arrangements with the Postal Service. Clearly, if a sizable number of dealers are willing to bolt the main floor of the show because of this issue, the APS MUST reach a solution with the Postal Service. Barring that, the Society may have to re-examine its overall arrangements for the show.