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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations January 3-4, 2004:

Rumors of our demise might be premature.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

To read some recent print articles or Internet discussion, you'd think stamp collecting 
is dying -- not enough kids, too many collectors aging. But the hand-wringing and tears 
aren't new.

"I found an article that was printed in American Philatelist back in the 1940s that 
pretty much said exactly the same sort of thing that we read today."
RUNS :10

In fact, says Janet Klug, president of the American Philatelic Society, the largest group 
of stamp collectors in the U-S... thanks to the Internet and other factors, stamp 
collecting is doing just fine.

"Oh, absolutely it has a future. As long as there are people interested in history, 
there's going to be stamp collectors."
RUNS :06

So why the doom-and-gloom?

"I think that stamp collectors just are so passionate about their hobby, that they want 
everything to be perfect, and of course, we don't live in a perfect world."  
RUNS :09

But philately, as stamp collecting is known, IS changing...adjusting to today's world 
and different interests.

And that's Stamp Collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 

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