Have the culture of coin collecting changed?

Yesterday I sent a 7 pound package to Vancouver, Canada. It is traveling up the I-5 north on a truck from LA. Due to arrive Friday. Cost...$109. Some airlines have specials that would let me fly from here to there for that price

 

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I used to work for a local newspaper. I started there in 2006 with about 50 staff members. I stayed for five years enduring constant layoffs, downsizing, "turnaround plans," etc., before leaving in 2011. That paper still exists technically but I'm not sure they even have a single staff member. They're just part of a larger company that uses a few freelancers and staffers from other publications to throw something together. You can be sure the local coverage is almost nonexistent. It's a huge problem. I think every single person I knew in journalism is working outside the industry now or retired.

 

Same thing happened to the paper in my parents' hometown. It's basically a USA Today branch now.

Our "local" paper is based in the state's capitol, and still has real reporters and editors - just not as many as it used to.

 

Yes

 

Regarding trash, I agree with you. However, you can minimize this with where you shop. Everyone has different life circumstance, (I am with @Randy Abercrombie where I never dreamed of owning old US gold, yet now I have a whole box), but Ebay has simply become a garbage pit for most offerings. If not trying to score that 1 in a thousand deal, I simply look at offerings at better auction houses and ignore Ebay and similar selling locations.

Besides time, another huge issue with looking at Ebay is training. If you see fakes over and over your eye will become desensitized to them. I tell people my eye knows long before my brain when something is wrong. My eye stops and then my brain figures out why the coin is fake. This is because I have seen many, many examples of authentic ones. If I start looking at fakes over and over my eye no longer can tell the difference.

 

My interpretation of the most basic, root cause, of the change in coin collecting is the credit/debit card and the disappearance of actual cash when tendering commerce transactions.

When I started collecting in the late 1960's it wasn't uncommon to not only get wheaties in your change but the occasional silver dime, quarter, or half dollar. As time passed, those occurrences happened with less frequency. As we moved into the age of plastic and digital transactions, the frequency of tendering in any hard currency also became less and less. Kids these days have become so accustomed to conducting commerce without cash they don't relate to coin collecting, unless they're introduced to the hobby by a parent or even more likely, a grandparent. I do all I can to promote the hobby to my grands.

All the reasons this hobby has changed that are presented in this thread by the fine members of CT are also very apropos. I don't believe it's any one reason exclusively. It's a culmination of all these factors.

 

We have 25 great grandkids. So far I have been able to securely hook 3 of them on coin collecting. But I will keep trying.

 

Hey, 3 for 25 is actually pretty good! I only have one grandchild and that will most likely be it, but many nieces/nephews that I have tried bringing into the hobby with no luck yet.

But definitely keep on trying, I know I will.

 

@masterswimmer . I have a different opinion on new young coin collectors. I too am part of the generation that found coins because coins found me. In my day it was a matter of having something or some experience that became the nexus for becoming a collector. Usually thru collecting from circulation.
Today's young collectors are NOT getting their start with coin collecting as naive individuals. They have access to massive amounts of information. We (I) was trained to think only stodgy old men with thick glasses were experts. I have had the chance to chat with 3 different young collectors over the summer. All 3 were under 16. All 3 allready had in depth information and specialized fields of interest. This ain't your gramma's approach to coin collecting. James