MARE BALTICUM 2024 – Programm
The Exhibition Program
Friday July 27
11:00 Opening
14:00 Presentation of the 2nd edition of the Estonia Stamp Guide by Martin Bechstedt
15:00 "From polar journey to polar philately"
Saturday July 28
10:00 Meeting of all Baltic philatelists (hosted by ArGe Baltikum)
15:30 Open Philately – a new exhibition class
18:30–23:00 Palmarés (for registered guests, in the Athena-Center, Küütri- Street 1, Tartu)
Sunday July 29
13:00 Award ceremonies
39. monthly video chat and Invitation for Tartu
The topic of our monthly meeting was exhibitions – the past DEBRA 2024 in Haldensleben and the upcoming MARE BALTICUM 2024 in Tartu.
Despite 86 points for the BALTIKUM and 87 points for this web www.arge-baltikum.de – and thus two national gold medals –, a strange feeling of incomplete satisfaction remained in addition to pride and joy, which could hardly be put into words.
We are looking forward to the exhibition in Tartu and invite all Baltic collectors to a joint meeting on Saturday July 27, 2024 from 10 am to 12 noon in the adjoining room of the Estonian National Museum in Tartu!
Gold for the BALTIKUM...
...and for the Web of the ArGe
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: August 3, 2024
Special theme: Reports from Tartu This email address is being protected from spambots. JavaScript must be activated in order for it to be displayed.
Join the Zoom meeting with:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85338222428?pwd=WGpZRXJTZVpnSnB6eHg4Ukx2aFVHdz09
100th Anniversary of Lithuanian Song Festival
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first Song Festival in Lithuania, a Lithuanian Post souvenir sheet was issued on June 28, 2024 with four face values of € 1.55 (each for a standard domestic letter up to 20 g)).
It is the first stamp block in Lithuania to feature a QR code which, when scanned with a simple photo app, leads to the official website of the Song Festival www.dainusvente.lt.
In 2003, the Baltic song festivals were recognised by UNESCO as masterpieces of the oral and immaterial heritage of humanity..
The first song festival took place in August 1924 in the then capital Kaunas. This year's anniversary event was held in Vilnius from June 29 to July 6; here is the special postmark for the first day of issue.
38. monthly video chat
In our monthly video chat, Olaf Hoffmann showed us letterboxes from all over the world, as real photos and depicted on stamps. The designs vary, as do the differences in the destinations per slot and the labelling as a whole.
Further topics were::
– The elaborate procurement of a photo of the Junkers F13 aeroplane leased from Germany with the registration "D 335", with which the Finnish Aero OY carried out ice flights between Tallinn and Helsinki in 1924 (Michael Wieneke)
– Notifications from Eesti Post about restrictions on postal services in 2024 (Friedhelm Doell, see separate news article below)
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: July 6, 2024
Special theme: None announced yet. If you would like to show something, please contact the webmaster at This email address is being protected from spambots. JavaScript must be activated in order for it to be displayed. .
Join the Zoom meeting with:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85338222428?pwd=WGpZRXJTZVpnSnB6eHg4Ukx2aFVHdz09
Estonian Post reduces postal services
Foto: Siim Lõvi/ERR
As already partly announced, the Estonian postal company Omniva will reduce further postal services in 2024:
Discontinuation of the PO box service as of May 31, 2024
As part of the reorganisation of its service offering, Omniva has discontinued it's mailbox service after many decades as of May 31, 2024. The service was available to business and private users and last cost &euor;18.30 per month. The only alternative left for customers with such a need is the mail storage service ("poste restante", Estonian "nõudmiseni").
Source of information: https://www.omniva.ee/meie/uudised/koik_uudised/news/omniva-kaotab-nimekasti-teenuse and the personal information of our Estonian member Lehho Jõumees.
Closure of 10 post offices and other announcements
Omiva currently has 57 post offices across Estonia, but by the end of July there will be ten fewer, i.e. 47. For example, Omniva will close the post offices in Põltsamaa, Sindi, Paldiski, Pähklimäe in Narva, Mustamäe and Nõmme in Tallinn, and Raadi and Lõunakeskus in Tartu. However, in some places, such as Kehra or Lõksa, the post office will become a "post point", which means that a parcel or letter can be sent via a library or shop. Apart from the closure of these post offices, no major changes are expected this year in the area of universal postal services, i.e. the dispatch and delivery of letters. Omniva's main focus this year will be on improving the efficiency of delivery routes, i.e. delivering more items with the same courier or allowing couriers to concentrate more on parcel delivery.
In the next few years, when the new postal law is passed, there will probably be further major changes to letter delivery. Omniva made a loss of 1.3 million euros last year. While letter delivery currently has to be affordable, Omniva hopes that in the future it will be cost-based. This means that sending letters would also cost a few tens of cents more. And that would also mean that letters would no longer necessarily have to be delivered five times a week, but could also be delivered less frequently. Only 1.2 million letters are sent in Estonia every year, 900,000 of which are Christmas cards. "We will certainly deliver the Christmas cards to your home by Christmas," promised Mart Mägi, CEO of Omniva.
Source of information: Estonian State Broadcasting Corporation (ERR) https://www.err.ee/1609357953/omniva-vahendab-postkontorite-arvu-veel-viiendiku-vorra.
A completely normal general meeting
This is what it looks like when members of the ArGe Baltikum and guests come together, swap ideas, chat, show each other their latest achievements, ask questions, give presentations and enjoy seeing each other. Simply relaxed, restful and informative. No stress.
When inspecting exhibition sheets,..
...chatting...
... talking shop...
...in lively exchange...
...or during a relaxed chat...
...whether with beer...
...or still without...
...there was a lively exchange throughout the days, and in addition to the formal members' meeting, there were of course – as usual – interesting presentations, this time by these 3 active members:
Thomas Löbbering
Money and value covers 1864–1945
Martin Bechstedt
Fluorescent overprints on Lithuanian and Latvian stamps
Bernhard 'Tony' Fels
Digital database of modern date stamps of the Republic of Lithuania
We have gathered all our strength and replenished our inner stores of motivation – and are looking forward to our monthly video chat, the BALTIKUM 2024 editions,
the MARE BALTICUM in Tartu and our next members' meeting in 2025, on May 23–25, also in Hennef!
37. monthly video chat
The cover shown here illustrates one of the topics of the above video chat: a member asked about the origin of this Latvian postal stationery without nominal value from December 1990, long before Latvia issued its own stamps again. The answer: Mi U2, PS for domestic use.
Other topics were: Questions about the Baltic States on philaseiten.de, new acquisitions by individual members, transport problems of our exhibits on the way to Mare Balticum, discussion about the advantages of video chat (article on this coming soon).
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: June 1, 2024
Special topic:
Postboxes from around the world (Olaf Hoffmann)
Join the Zoom meeting with:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85338222428?pwd=WGpZRXJTZVpnSnB6eHg4Ukx2aFVHdz09
Valuable talks in Munich
Torsten Berndt and Wilhelm van Loo in dialogue
The trade fair team in conversation with a visitor
Good attendance, lots of contacts - the most recent PHILATELIA in Munich was again a success all round. The concept of limiting the trade fair to two days simply meant that the visitors were well distributed over both days and there was never a day on which there was more or less low tide, as we often experience at trade fairs with three days. Of course, in the last hours of Saturday and especially on Sunday afternoon, the crowds slowed down considerably. But that happens at all trade fairs. Therefore, it cannot be emphasised often enough that less is more, that both visitors and exhibitors prefer events that run over two rather than three days. The concept of mixing non-commercial and commercial exhibitors and not separating them is just as convincing.
Our trade fair team this time consisted of Friedhelm Doell, Reinhard Heinrich, Olaf Hoffmann and Torsten Berndt.
We not only answered the visitors' questions, but also learnt a thing or two. Who knows, for example, that in the period before the German occupation in the First World War, only comparatively few postcards were produced in Lithuania? There are many offers from Estonia and Latvia, as a visitor specialising in philocartography explained to us, but you have to search a long time for Lithuanian items. Lucky the Lithuania aficionados in our working group, whose albums also contain picture postcards!
The trade fair team, from left to right: Reinhardt Heinrich, Friedhelm Doell, Torsten Berndt and Olaf Hoffmann
On Saturday, a veteran of philately and expertising visited us: Wilhelm van Loo had found his way to Munich from the far west. More sprightly than some people 20 years younger, he wandered around the hall, taking photographs and finding time to exchange ideas. It's not just because of his rich experience that it's always a pleasure to chat to him.
This time, our monthly video conference took place "Live from PHILATELIA". For the team at the stand, the conference camera and audio worked as usual; however, the travelling video message from Friedhelm Doell, who took participants on a virtual tour of the exhibition hall, was received by colleagues at the stand – unlike the external participants – without audio. So there is room for improvement.
With its contemporary concept, the organising trade association APHV has positioned PHILATELIA for the future. At the farewell, the motto was: "Next year, same wave, same place".
Latvian Post to close 105 post offices
As of January 25, 2024, there are 173 post offices and 423 locations in Latvia where postal services are provided on request (www.pasts.lv/en/Category/Post_Offices). In relation to around 1.875 million inhabitants, this currently means one post office for approx. 11,500 inhabitants and a total of one postal facility for some 3,150 inhabitants.
On January 24, 2024, Latvian Post announced that it intends to close 105 post offices (from 176 at the beginning of the year) by the end of 2024, with 12 ceasing their services completely and 93 "changing their format", i.e. also only providing postal services on request. This means that by the end of the year there will only be 71 post offices in Latvia, one for every 26,400 inhabitants. Some residents already have to travel 20 to 25 kilometres to their nearest post office, a distance that will soon double.
In the postal service centres with the "modified format", customers who wish to use postal services must call the customer support telephone number and a postal employee will come to their home the next day.
The reason for the closure of the post offices is the unprofitability of their management for the Latvian State Post. Desperate reactions from the population, such as the offer by the local council of South Kurzeme (Latvia's largest municipality by area) to take over some of the tasks of the postal staff, have so far been unsuccessful, as the Latvian Post is not willing to hand over its offices and competences to the municipality.
My opinion: The times in which a postal system for the general public was seen as a state welfare service are clearly over. Capitalism has arrived in the Baltic States.
Image source: Latvian State Broadcasting Corporation
Source of information: Latvian State Broadcasting Corporation eng.lsm.lv/article/economy/transport/24.01.2024-latvian-postal-service-to-close-most-offices.a540108/
Estonian Post (brand name Omniva) addition as of January 26, 2024:
Also in Estonia, another 10 to 15 post offices will be converted into postal points this year (which are not owned by Omniva, but are operated by local authorities, for example in libraries or shops). Post points are also being replaced by parcel machines. Sending and receiving parcels is the most used postal service at 80%, and with outdoor parcel machines, people are not tied to opening hours. The hoped-for savings amount to 1 million euros per year; up to 10 full-time jobs will be cut in 2024.
There are currently 57 post offices and 59 post points as well as around 350 parcel machines in Estonia. "There will not be a wave of closures like in Latvia, as these changes have already taken place in recent years," assured Mart Mägi, CEO of Omniva.Source of information: Estonian State Broadcasting Corporation www.err.ee/1609234572/omniva-vahendab-tanavu-postkontorite-arvu-kuni-kumme-protsenti.
New status of the Latvian Post as of February 2, 2024:
The head of Latvijas Pasts, Beate Krauze-Čebotare, said on Thursday (February 1) that the plan to close 105 post offices had been put on hold. Latvian Transport Minister Kaspars Briškens also confirmed this. The Latvian Post's plan had caused great resentment in the country, as the decision would have left some municipalities without a post office. An individual solution is now being sought for each location, whereby the costs must also be seen in the context of small subsidies, said Krauze-Čebotare.
My opinion: Why not just like this?
Source of information: Estonian State Broadcasting Corporation www.err.ee/1609241208/lati-pani-postkontorite-sulgemise-plaani-pausile.
Consequences at the Latvian Post on February 7, 2024:
The Chairman of the Board of Latvijas Pasts, Raimonds Duda, and Councillor Ivars Blumbergs resigned because they felt that cooperation and communication with the Ministry of Transport had stalled and the common goal of developing the Post as a competitive company had not been achieved. For over a year, the new strategy to change the company's business model with significant process improvements had been developed with the involvement of the relevant officials from the Ministry of Transport. They had been aware of the restructuring plans for a long time, but had not raised important issues with the Post directly after the planned measures were publicised, but via social networks. The Ministry of Transport then instructed the Latvian Post to suspend and reconsider the planned closure of each post office in order to reduce Latvia's economic independence in postal services, taking into account the views of local residents, authorities, municipalities and employees in the sector.
Source of information: Estonian State Broadcasting Corporation www.err.ee/1609245840/lati-posti-noukogu-astus-tagasi.
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Baltikum e.V.
(Working Group Baltic States)
in the BDPh e.V.(Association of German Philatelists)
Philately of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
Association register entry VR 3542 at Siegburg local court
Latest News
- MARE BALTICUM 2024 – Programm June 1, 2024
- 39. monthly video chat and Invitation for Tartu july 6, 2024
- 100th Anniversary of Lithuanian Song Festival June 28, 2024
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Torsten Berndt, Chairman
+49 (0)7531 9414133
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