Kantar - Royal Mail Monitoring and Posting Panel

Primrose

And I thought my accumulated stamps would represent a tiny bulwark against their ever rising cost due to inflation.  I suggest we collectively contact Royal amail via Kantar and ask if there's any purpose in participating in their mail surveys now if their "reward" is going to become worthless in two years time.

The results.of the main survey is something Royal Mail needs to show that their service is meeting the standards required by the regulator.  If people refuse to participate they are somewhat snookered.

I really don,t see why the stamps can,t be used indefinitely as long as posters realise theywill be  mailing an item,which is incapable of being tracked.

Damio

Reinventing stamps for the future | Royal Mail Group Ltd

Transition to Barcoded Stamps

Non-barcoded stamps will be phased out but will remain usable until 31 January 2023. Customers are encouraged to use their non-barcoded stamps before this date. Alternatively, non-barcoded stamps can be exchanged for the new barcoded version through Royal Mail’s ‘Swap Out’ scheme. 

The ‘Swap Out’ scheme will open on 31 March 2022. Forms will be available via a variety of channels, including local Customer Service Points; the Royal Mail website and via our Customer Experience team. Customers will be able to use a Freepost address. Further details will be announced shortly.

Primrose

Don,t act too hastily in selling surplus stamps below their current value.  The Telegraph is reporting that "Royal Mail is encouraging customers to use up their existing stamps but they will be able to swap any old ones with  the new barcoded versions from March 31 Via  a freepost address.   

Suggest all Kantar survey participants don,t all send in their  "old"stamp collections for swapping in the first few days though.  The system could well get overloaded with us all trying to "bail out" quickly and "old" stamps will still be valid for another 10 months or so.

NBLondon

Primrose said:

I have loads of accumulated stamps too.  People will doubtless be surprised to see me using my freebie First Class stamps on Christmas cards this coming December and will think I,ve won the lottery to be so extravagant, although I still don,t understand how this new QR "thingy" will work.

The QR code is unique to each stamp - effectively a serial number.   This will be picked up in the sorting process and if a serial number is detected for a second time - that will indicate either a) the stamp is a forgery or b) is being used for a second time.  So the recipient will be charged postage.

I'm dubious about whether every stamp can be checked but if enough are samples, it might be a deterrent.

Primrose said:

And what a blow  to all the hobby stamp collectors and those who save used postage stamps for charity fund raising?

The stamp collectors most affected are those "completists" who want every variant and will now have to purchase all the colours.  Many of them already have a standing order with RM so will be getting a package this week.

Don't see how it will affect fund raising though...  the used stamps are mostly sold by weight to dealers who search through for rarities or errors.  In fact, there might be some collectors who would like the first of a new barcode series (in the same way that banknote collectors like early serial numbers of a new design).

NBLondon

Primrose said:

Don,t act too hastily in selling surplus stamps below their current value.  The Telegraph is reporting that "Royal Mail is encouraging customers to use up their existing stamps but they will be able to swap any old ones with  the new barcoded versions from March 31 Via  a freepost address.   

Suggest all Kantar survey participants don,t all send in their  "old"stamp collections for swapping in the first few days though.  The system could well get overloaded with us all trying to "bail out" quickly and "old" stamps will still be valid for another 10 months or so.

The key question is whether there will also be a price rise... trade early to beat the rush or trade after the price rise to make a theoretical profit?    There are organisations who buy 1000s at a time for mailshots - they are going to be calculating how fast they will use up/run out of old stock or is it worth trading in.

Money_Grabber13579

I posted a few pages back with a question about whether the stamps would become invalid in the event that the Queen passes away but little did I know that virtually all stamps might be invalidated by Royal Mail at the drop of a hat anyway!

It seems that this announcement leaves significant unanswered questions by Kantar, with updates hoping being published pretty quickly:

• The new booklets will comprise 4 x 1st large, 4 x 2nd large, 4 x 1st, 8 x 1st and 8 x 2nd (there is no 4 x 2nd). Will we now received 3 books of stamps, including a 4 and an 8 x 1st, so that we still get 12 every month?
• When will Kantar stop sending out the old definitive stamps? It would be typical if these continue to get sent out up to and perhaps past 31 January 2023!
• Perhaps less relevant for us but what happens to stamps for other rates, for example, 50p, £1 etc which are used on parcels? Are these going the same way?

NBLondon

I did say back then that I would ask Kantar what was happening - so I'll send that message today and post any reply here...

I'm assuming that Kantar get supplies of current (red) stamps from Royal Mail on a regular basis,  So it's unlikely that they will have enough current style to keep going to next year - I'd expect them to use up any stocks already at Swan Lane and switch over to new style when RM send them some.   First person to get plum-coloured incentive stamps post it here please...

As for other values...  I'd expect the £1.70 (Europe) and £2.55 (Rest of World) definitive stamps to follow suit at some point.  Then maybe there will be new barcoded stamps for the Small Parcel Rates of £3.20 and £3.55. Anything else will just die out in favour of the printed-on-demand labels I guess.

adamp87

That’s really frustrating. I’ve been saving the special presentation packs but will probably need to sell them before January unless they are going to swap them out for the new style stamps in a presentation pack. Which I guess they won’t 

littlemoney

If we exchange our stamps via Royal mail service will this identify us as panellists and automatically mean we can't do the survey? As of now I think it will be difficult to sell our stamps on eBay as people won't want to buy many due to the limited life. I hope Kantar will help us but ....

Money_Grabber13579

NBLondon said:

I did say back then that I would ask Kantar what was happening - so I'll send that message today and post any reply here...

I'm assuming that Kantar get supplies of current (red) stamps from Royal Mail on a regular basis,  So it's unlikely that they will have enough current style to keep going to next year - I'd expect them to use up any stocks already at Swan Lane and switch over to new style when RM send them some.   First person to get plum-coloured incentive stamps post it here please...

As for other values...  I'd expect the £1.70 (Europe) and £2.55 (Rest of World) definitive stamps to follow suit at some point.  Then maybe there will be new barcoded stamps for the Small Parcel Rates of £3.20 and £3.55. Anything else will just die out in favour of the printed-on-demand labels I guess.

I’ve just had a look at the last batches of stamps I received from my last time on the panel and it would seem that they maybe receive 3/4 months supply (that is very much a guess but my logic is as follows). Every stamp has a source code printed into the backing text of the stamp and in the case of non large 1st and 2nd class stamps, that is a year code e.g. 19, 20, 21. That year code represents the year of printing and as such stamps will be printed on a regular basis, the new year code generally appears quite early in the new year i.e. I’d ordinarily expect stamps with the 22 code to be available around now. When looking at the stamps I received for my last stint (Jan to July 21), about half have the 20 year code and the other half have the 21 year code. So Kantar still had supplies of the 20 code stamps into about April 21, which would suggest they hold at least 3-4 months stock.

Of course, that could all be a wild guess on my part and if so, ignore all of the above!