Industry Indicator
Here you will find up-to-date industry statistics, letting you in on the state of the industry a full month earlier than our print publication.
Half Dreadful
by David Hachmeister
What is the definition of half dreadful? We're not exactly sure, so we'll leave that up to you, but that defines the rate of decline in sales for December. It was only half of what it was last month. In December, sales for stamps fell 12 percent. This is actually a major improvement (gulp!).
Just a word about other product sales. They did rise by more than 3 percent. Those sales have actually held up very well, but they tell us more about one company with a huge new market—not really in the industry at all. If their numbers were taken out, the other products would look much more like the stamp numbers for the past several months.
We are hearing good things about January, so let's hope for better things soon.
Click each graph for a larger view.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |