They are to decide NOT the Post Office! And they have weapons - stamps can be excluded from the catalogues and pre-printed albums and hardly anyone - especially the newly started collectors - will dare to collect differently.....
I realize that this is not always so but in some countries the Stamp Dealers Association has got a monopoly as to catalogues and the Stamp Societies are all to willing to cooperate and not offend the dealers....
My own experience refers to the Netherlands and Belgium and in this respect I am in a continuing state of war with the SDA over here ....
A few examples and questions:
A stamp that hasn't been announced far ahead - that is wasn't planned on the Year's Programme - can or should be neglected as the dealers hadn't had the opportunity to prepare and print their FDC's?
According to the Ethical Code of Philatelics of the UPU (Beijing, Bukuresti) the Post Office should provide ample information [not necesarily years in advance] and the access to the newly issued postage stamps.
The following Belgian postage stamps were not on the Year's Programme but were advertised in the Belgian Post Office Bulletin. The very stamps are available to the general public in almost every post office in Belgium. The general public does buy them and uses the postage stamps as can be proven by the occurence of these stamps in lots we can get in return from mail order houses.
So, where is the stamp collector??? Their official representatives [the Association] will not be bothered to inform their members about the existence of such stamps.
To a lesser extent the same goes for all variations of all other - this time accepted - stamps. With the exception of course of the varieties since they can make money for our dealers...
