UK Stamps On Airmail

mimi1234

Hope someone might know the answer to this.

I sent an item to Italy and I put some 1st class stamps on the packet and I got a major shouting at. I was told that 1st class stamps cannot be used for airmail. So I stopped using them.

This week at the same Post Office I got a major shouting at for using 2nd class stamps on a packet I was sending to Ireland. Apparently, all stamps used when sending an item abroad must have an A on them.

Can someone clarify if this is correct? Must one purchase a postage label from the Post Office if they want to send something abroad? I had a lot of stamps I wanted to use and get rid of hence using them.

Obviously_the_best

Completely not true. You may use any combination of stamps as long as they add up to the correct value. If using stamps the PO should stick a blue airmail sticker on the package / letter.

porto_bello

mimi1234 wrote: »

Hope someone might know the answer to this.

I sent an item to Italy and I put some 1st class stamps on the packet and I got a major shouting at. I was told that 1st class stamps cannot be used for airmail. So I stopped using them.

This week at the same Post Office I got a major shouting at for using 2nd class stamps on a packet I was sending to Ireland. Apparently, all stamps used when sending an item abroad must have an A on them.

Can someone clarify if this is correct? Must one purchase a postage label from the Post Office if they want to send something abroad? I had a lot of stamps I wanted to use and get rid of hence using them.

Your Post Office are absolutely clueless! :wall:

I routinely use 1st and 2nd class self-adhesive stamps without a value for all airmail, throughout the world and RM special delivery. You can't use them for Parcelforce, but that's about the only major exception.

BigJonnyB

You can use any stamps on any royal mail item, inland/ overseas/ 1st/ 2nd/ special delivery etc etc.

There are two exceptions - as noted above you can't use stamps on Parcelforce items.

Secondly, special delivery stamps and recorded delivery stamps can only be used for these particular services, and not anything else.

mimi1234

Thanks all. I think with Post Offices losing trade, especially this one, they are putting frighteners on clueless people like me so that they can sell more postage labels and make more money.

I will definitely be telling both staff members off the next time I see them. Cheers again.

RFW

I think it used to be that you could only use stamps marked "1st" or "2nd" for that purpose but it changed some time ago.

campdave

A stamp marked as 1st is always worth whatever the current value of a first class stamp is, and similarly with second class, and they can be supplemented with any other stamp as partial payment for any service.

zerog

RFW wrote: »

I think it used to be that you could only use stamps marked "1st" or "2nd" for that purpose but it changed some time ago.

I use 1st class stamps (+ several 10p) for 2nd class services and it always arrives in 1 day...

campdave

zerog wrote: »

I use 1st class stamps (+ several 10p) for 2nd class services and it always arrives in 1 day...

I do similar. Doesn't always arrive next day, but seems to most of the time. Apparently it's because post made up of multiple stamps can't be machine sorted and must be sorted by hand, so it;s lumped in with the first class items.

martindow

I always understood that for international you could use stamps with their value in pence printed on them but not 1st or 2nd stamps. I presumed this is so the receiving PO can add up the price paid to check it is correct.

This is based on what I was told at a PO some while ago - a dangerous thing to rely on!

zerog

martindow wrote: »

I always understood that for international you could use stamps with their value in pence printed on them but not 1st or 2nd stamps. I presumed this is so the receiving PO can add up the price paid to check it is correct.

This is based on what I was told at a PO some while ago - a dangerous thing to rely on!

Every PO knows the value of 1st and 2nd class stamps... how else would they sell them?

If you're talking about overseas postal operators, how do you expect them to know how much every other country in the world charges, they just bill RM for each item received, and RM bills them for items coming to the UK, then they net it off.