Royal Mail defends decision to deny Paralympic gold medallists own stamps
Basically, The Royal Mail made the decision to make Stamps for each and every individual gold medal winner of the Team GB Olympic team. However, They are refusing to do the same thing for the paralympic team. They say that logistically, it would be impossible.
I don't understand their reasoning... how come they can do it for the able bodied competitors but not the paralympians?
On the Paralympics GB website, they made this statement:
"In Beijing, ParalympicsGB won 42 gold medals over 10 days of competition, including nine in one day, and we are expecting a similarly world-class level of performance from our athletes this time around. As a result, it is logistically and practically impossible for Royal Mail to produce an individual stamp for every one of the gold medallists for ParalympicsGB."
So let me get this right... because the paralympians perform better than the Olympians, they should get less recognition? Am I being to sensitive? Am I right to be angry at this? I told my wife this and she said:
You can be bloody sure that if the Olympic team won 42 gold medals there'd be stamps of all of them
"Damaged people are dangerous because we know we can survive"
I guess they have budget limits like the rest of us... Though I'm sure if they really thought about it there are ways around it - like having 2 winners per stamp. Smaller picture, but what the heck, they already have gold medals, what more do they want!
So let me get this right... because the paralympians perform better than the Olympians, they should get less recognition?
I don't think it's a case of performing better, because due to the different categories there are a lot, lot more medals on offer. Take the swimming, in the Paralympics there are 148 medal events , compared with the 34 (I think) that are in the Olympics. In the athletics there are 170 medals events, and 47 for the Olympics.
So not only do they have to take into consideration the cost of producing indivudal (they will be producing group ones) stamps, they also have to take into consideration the public interest in such stamps. These stamps are not available to buy singly, they come in sheets, and so they have to ask themselves whether people will be willing to buy them?
As an aside, Royal Mail have contributed £200,000 to the Paralympics for a prize fund that will be divided between the gold medal winners. If it was me, I think I'd prefer a few grand rather than a stamp.
Last edited by The One Who : 11-08-2012 at 10:56 AM.
Eek, sounds like a political nightmare. They shouldn't make any and therefore avoid being put in this position.
Is there really that much demand? Personally I couldn't care less what's on my stamps as long as they work as postage. I would never buy one just for the picture.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break
that its heart may stand in the sun,
so must you know pain.
There are only two ways in which one can live their life. One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is.
I was so unimpressed when I heard about this but Claire what you say makes sense.
I don't know it will be interesting to see how many golds we win.
When we lose twenty pounds... we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty. ~Woody Allen
Is a chocolate muffin loving glitter ball
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,
Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!"
Thomas Parke D’Invilliers
Maybe but it seems a bit unfair to do individual for the olympics and groups for the paralympics as though the paralympians are less important.
When we lose twenty pounds... we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty. ~Woody Allen
Is a chocolate muffin loving glitter ball
Seems really unfair but I can understand why because of the amount of events and stuff. In my opinion they should just design a paralympic set of stamps OR (more preferably) just man the f*ck up and make the stamps as and when they happen (so all of them probably won't come out at once but it will be fair). Then no one gets left out and everyone is happy.
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I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, divide within me. - Frankenstein.
Maybe but it seems a bit unfair to do individual for the olympics and groups for the paralympics as though the paralympians are less important.
Important is the wrong word, but the Paralympians are definitely less well known, and there is definitely less public interest in the Paralympics generally. Perhaps this year there will be slightly more interest, what with it being hosted by London, but generally fewer people bother with the Paralympics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by reappear
I agree that maybe they shouldn't bother doing either. It seems unfair to just make stamps for the Olympian medalists and not the Paralypmians.
Just stick to painting the postboxes gold, for both teams, I say. Or like Katie says, two people per stamp.
They are doing stamps for the Paralympians, but they will be groups rather than individuals.
Yes, apparently they will now do individual (or team) stamps. Now just to see how many people will actually buy them, considering you can't buy them as single stamps.
I think they only release a certain number of them and stamp collectors will like them!!
I'm glad they have done a uturn!
When we lose twenty pounds... we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty. ~Woody Allen
Is a chocolate muffin loving glitter ball
I think people shouldnt have got annoyed about it. If the paralympic athletes were upset fair enough, but i think really for the vast majority of people it wont affect them
He was no longer jean valjean but no. 24601 -les miserable
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I am reaching, but i fall, and the stars are black and cold, as i stare into the void of a world that cannot hold- les miserables
