Kantar - Royal Mail Monitoring and Posting Panel

NBLondon

NBLondon said:

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 learned this morning through stamp collector acquaintances that the definitive values 1p,2p,5p,10p,20p,50p,£1,£2,£3,£5 (as seen on pre-stamped cubes)  will be barcoded from 4th April.  So presumably if you have stocks of any of these then you'll be able to swap them as well.

No mention of £1.70 (Europe) or £2.55 (Rest of World) which people might have in hand for overseas correspondence.   Or whether the country definitives for Scotland, Wales, NI are also going to get barcoded versions or will just be quietly dropped.

Money_Grabber13579

Rianam said:

Hopefully they will get a system sorted where you can’t buy any normal stamps anymore but
still can use them if you have some 

I think that is very unlikely to happen. The biggest reason for this change is not to help consumers track their mail or provide recipients with a link to a comedy video, but it is to try and defeat the huge numbers of forged and reused stamps that are being sold on eBay. If they allow old stamps to continue being used whilst they remain available, the people producing forged stamps will continue to do so, thus eliminating the main purpose of making the change in the first place.

Money_Grabber13579

NBLondon said:

NBLondon said:

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 learned this morning through stamp collector acquaintances that the definitive values 1p,2p,5p,10p,20p,50p,£1,£2,£3,£5 (as seen on pre-stamped cubes)  will be barcoded from 4th April.  So presumably if you have stocks of any of these then you'll be able to swap them as well.

No mention of £1.70 (Europe) or £2.55 (Rest of World) which people might have in hand for overseas correspondence.   Or whether the country definitives for Scotland, Wales, NI are also going to get barcoded versions or will just be quietly dropped.

It’s expected that a price increase for the Europe and RoW rates will shortly be announced, at which point, barcoded versions of those stamps are also likely to be released.

kerri_gt

NBLondon said:

Jonty6262 said:

"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."

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps

The key thing to note is that Post Offices won't be involved. You can't just swap there and they won't have the paperwork.  Customer Service Points (at Delivery Offices) will have the forms but it isn't clear whether they will be able to swap there and then (and if they do - what stocks they will have...)

That's an interesting one as our local DO has a big notice saying it doesn't sell stamps (hasn't done for years) Wonder if they'll send them a stock for the swap out 

molerat

kerri_gt said:

NBLondon said:

Jonty6262 said:

"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."

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps

The key thing to note is that Post Offices won't be involved. You can't just swap there and they won't have the paperwork.  Customer Service Points (at Delivery Offices) will have the forms but it isn't clear whether they will be able to swap there and then (and if they do - what stocks they will have...)

That's an interesting one as our local DO has a big notice saying it doesn't sell stamps (hasn't done for years) Wonder if they'll send them a stock for the swap out 

I think it is pretty clear that the only way to exchange is using the postal option.

molerat

My first item for my new session is showing in the app for 24 Feb and it is a real one and not a training item.

NBLondon

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...

and I've had a reply...

Kantar said:

Thank you for getting in touch, I hope you're well.

We're currently in the process of working out how this change will affect our panellists and will advise all panellists in due course. 

Please keep an eye on your messages and the newsfeed for further information in the coming weeks.

Kind regards,

Aimee

CRISPIANNE3

Not quite sure what is happening now. I received an invitation to take part 0n the main survey again on the 17 December 2021. I accepted and then further advised I would receive my first postal  pack by 31 January 2022.  Another message appeared on the 28 January from the support team advising what changes have been made since the last time I participated. 

However I have not received any postings and checking the app nothing scheduled for me in the future. I did try phoning but only got the answerphone. I can only assume there is a hold up some where. 

elsien

Sometimes they put you on hold for a bit longer then you’ll sudden get a posting pack without any more warning. 

The joys of Kantar. 

quoia

CRISPIANNE3 said:

Not quite sure what is happening now. I received an invitation to take part 0n the main survey again on the 17 December 2021. I accepted and then further advised I would receive my first postal  pack by 31 January 2022.  Another message appeared on the 28 January from the support team advising what changes have been made since the last time I participated. 

However I have not received any postings and checking the app nothing scheduled for me in the future. I did try phoning but only got the answerphone. I can only assume there is a hold up some where. 

I'd give it a few more days, even a couple of weeks or more.

I had an invite last October, on the 22nd, which I accepted.

I received the Welcome Aboard on the 23rd.

It said I'd receive my 1st posting pack week commencing 6th December.

I received the "While you were away… " message on 3rd December.

I can't remember exactly how close to Xmas it did turn up but it definitely wasn't during either of the weeks commencing 6th December or the week after (13th).

The 1st item received was 31st December

The 1st item I had to post was January 4th

Applying the same(ish) time periods of mine to your dates I'd say your 1st item to post will probably be the last couple of days of February or not until the beginning of March, so still plenty of time for the posting pack to arrive.