submit to the ETOAS • design a stamp
write indeterminate thing • design your chop

How To Become A Fully-Realized Member Of The EPS

The Elsewhere Philatelic Society is an art collective that focuses on the drive to achieve Philatelicism (“[...] the study of the study of stamp collecting, collectors, and collections”): an amorphous mish-mash of public space reinterpretation, street art/environmental installation, publications, machine-augmented concerns, and philately. Currently EPS members are engaged in a series of training sessions to better become fully prepared mail carriers.

The following steps can be followed in almost any order, but the suggested path below is probably the most advantageous and practical one. However, you may be presented with an opportunity to attend a stamp window (which is not discussed until step five) before you have done all or any of the below. Please attend when presented the opportunity!

(some of this you will already have done/know about; this is a stem-to-stern guide that can be printed and given to friends, etc)

Step One: Apply For Membership, A Walkabout In San Francisco

The Elsewhere Philatelic Society has created a free "self-serve" method for you to apply for membership! Read on to learn how to unlock the key to the door to the room that contains the keys to the doors of Philatelicism!

First, you're going to need the application! You can either "download" it from here, or purchase a color copy for one dollar at the following location:

• 34 Trinity. 12-6 Tuesday through Friday (34 Trinity Place between Sutter and Bush in San Francisco).

If you are looking for the online application, here it is! On the left, a minimal one-page version in black and white! On the right, a glorious color version! The choice ... it is yours! Click on the one you want! Print one copy per person! That is important!

Here are seven unique audiostamps! You should get all of these stamps and put them in a portable audio device to take with you! Listening to the stamps now would destroy their value!

If you don’t have a portable audio device, take this two-page transcript!

Finally, get to San Francisco, California! Now you are ready! We await your application! Good luck!

Step Two: Tune Into EPS Frequencies To Learn About Upcoming Events/Walkabouts

Once you complete your journey to become an EPS member and send in your completed application, you will receive in return a member packet that contains important EPS information. The most important part of this packet is the login name and password you have been given to access the private EPS website

The Hexnook

This website will contain all sorts of information about past events, upcoming ones, interesting side projects, collections, various members of the EPS, etc. Additionally the packet will indicate how to sign up for the EPS mailing list and the EPS community Slack application. Finally, the EPS also announces events and such through our Twitter account and via our Facebook pages.

Step Three: Gather Intel On A Mysterious Numismatist Project

You should continue your training by exploring some of our other concerns, starting with the Elsewhere Numismatic Society. You can read more about our history with them here. We recommend applying to the ENS as all EPS members have done, just to keep apprised of their machinations ... on top of this, currently there is an ongoing situation that the ENS is involved in that you should investigate. The ENS twitter account was apparently compromised recently and there was a hidden message that indicated people should visit either of the following two stores and ask for the named item:

Please follow these threads and please report back, thank you.

Step Four: The Berkeley Training Session

One you have completed these tasks, you should continue your training by purchasing the EPS in-field current training session packet, which is available at the following location:

Look for a longish yellow flyer, in a clear plastic bag. It is two dollars. This is a more involved training session, so please set aside around two hours for it.

Step Five: Passports, Stamp Windows, Shiny Things, Activities

Having successfully applied for membership, explored our history with other groups, and completed more intensive training, you should explorinate the best way(s) for you to obtain your passport and also become a more immersed/entrenched member of the Elsewhere Philatelic Society. The paths that you should follow to do this is below. First, the path to obtain an EPS passport:

To acquire your passport, you must partake of one major event (the Berkeley mail carrier training session for example) or attend two stamp windows. In addition to this, you must either submit to the ETOAS or design your stamp. You can of course do this in any order.

Once you have completed the path to the Passport, you must send a letter to the EPS PO Box 411553 San Francisco CA 94141, in writing, including your mailing address and your existing passport pages (which you received with your member packet and which are no doubt covered in delicious stamps by now). Alternately, you may turn in your passport pages and your mailing address (please make sure this is attached to the passport pages with a paper clip or sticky note, etc) to an EPS official at an official event or stamp window.

Now, the path to follow to obtain a mysterious "Shiny Thing Of Great Import":

To acquire a shiny item of great import, you must first acquire your passport, then either design your stamp or submit to the ETOAS ... whichever one you did not do to acquire your passport.

There are also other things you can do to become a more fully involved EPS member. You could write an indeterminate thing for the next EPS magazine, or design your own chop and register it with the EPS. These are optional events, but are also fulfilling.

So there you have it! The steps you will need to take! We await your stepping and good luck!