The first topic of the meeting, which was attended by nine people this time, was the trade fair in Ulm, the results achieved and the results of the survey of the working groups by the BDPh, above all the (current) impossibility of organising a stamp fair in northern Germany similar to those in Ulm or Munich.

Initial ideas for giveaways or items to be purchased to mark the 10th anniversary of the ArGe Baltikum in 2025 were discussed. In addition to motif postcards, individualised stamps were also discussed. Please send any further suggestions to the board!

Thanks to a small dealer at HAFNIA in Copenhagen, the list of rare Estonian 8 centi leopard stamps as single frankings has now been extended to over 10 items.

Finally, Thomas Löbbering reported on the testing of a Rakvere counterfeit using state-of-the-art equipment.

Overprint forgery Rakvere - not a one-off proof!

Our monthly video chat, where anyone with an interest in Baltium philately is welcome, takes place on every first Saturday of the month at 17 h CET (more technical information on this here).

Next date: December 7, 2024

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Join the Zoom meeting with:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85338222428?pwd=WGpZRXJTZVpnSnB6eHg4Ukx2aFVHdz09

87 points and thus (national) gold for the ArGe web (third place out of 13 in the category "Websites") and 86 points and thus also gold for the BALTIKUM (seventh place out of 26 in the category "Newsletters, Magazines") - this is the result of the 5th BDPh ArGe Literature Competition 2024 for the ArGe Baltikum.

We were also successful with third place in the Rauhut Prize for Literature 2024 in the "Websites" category. This is endowed with 100 €, which will go to the association's treasury.

This is a great overall success and a fitting tribute to our active team!

Exhibition stand and staffing

With 44 working groups present at the trade fair, it was to be expected that the small rented conference room would not be sufficient for a meeting with the BDPh board. Frank Blechschmidt announced the results of the ArGe survey (see the latest issue of "Philatelie"). Spontaneous wishes were expressed by those present: annual face-to-face meetings of this kind for 2 hours in Ulm (plus virtual meetings in between). Otherwise, there was a lot of talk about the fairness of contributions and representation options for working groups in the BDPh. BDPh President Alfred Schmidt could imagine participation options, but would need people from the working groups who are willing to actively participate in the BDPh.

As a result, Ulm was once again as diverse as every philatelist is unique - there is almost nothing that does not exist!

The ArGe Baltikum had travelled to the event with a five-man stand (from left to right): Reinhard Heinrich, Olaf Hoffmann, Thomas Löbbering and Torsten Berndt; not in the picture: Friedhelm Doell (who took the photos).

In addition to more or less material, which individuals were able to purchase from the dealers for their own collections, the greatest benefit for our visitors was the expert information and for the stand staff, as always, the conversations and exchanges with many old and new acquaintances, friends and each other.

Soooo long was the list of wishes from the working groups that Frank Blechschmidt from the BDPh board presented

Foto: Siim Lõvi/ERR

Source of information: Estonian State Broadcasting Corporation (ERR) www.err.ee/1609490329/tulevikus-saab-omniva-pakiautomaadiga-ka-kirju-saata

We have already reported on the removal of letterboxes due to reduced usage and the expansion of the parcel machine network in Estonia. Omniva announced current developments in mid-October:

There are actually 369 parcel machines in Estonia (or about one for every 3,650 inhabitants) with around 30 devices added each year. On the other hand, around 50 letterboxes, which are hardly used anymore, were removed each year. There are currently still 970 letterboxes in Estonia (which is about one per 1,450 inhabitants – by way of comparison, at the end of 2023, there were about 5,650 people per packing station and about 780 per letterbox in Germany).

For those who are interested: the exact location of Omniva parcel machines and letterboxes in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can be found on this continuously updated map: www.omniva.ee/abi/kaart, where you have to click on "Pakiautomadid" for parcel machines and "Kirjakastid" for letterboxes at the bottom left.

In recent years, letterboxes have been moved ever closer to parcel machines. The addition of a letterbox flap to parcel machines is also currently being tested. "If we find a suitable prototype, we can immediately use it on a larger scale in Estonia," Kristi Unt, head of Omniva's logistics and delivery network in the Baltic States, told ERR.