Hermes Handbags Arriving in Stores with No Date Stamp (blindstamp)

News of Hermès handbags arriving in some of the stores without a date-stamp (blindstamp) have some people talking.

Word on the street is that Birkin (and to a lesser degree Kelly) handbag sales are down. Way down. The Rumor is that Hermès is going to stop using date stamps (unlike the photo above) on bags so that merchandise sitting in the stores doesn't begin to appear old to the trained eye (read: people knowledgeable of blindstamp dating). As it is it's already difficult to sell certain people (from certain countries) a bag with a blindstamp from a previous year...so one can only begin to imagine the turmoil if bags were to sit around in the stores with old date stamps (quelle horreur). Perhaps this is meant to squash that mess before it even happens?

One also has to wonder if years from now Hermès handbags with blindstamps will become collectible?