Royal Mail barcoding stamps - existing stamps valid only until 31 Jan 2023

custardy

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

Only positive I could see is charging straight postage for a period vs the existing set surcharge bands.
However simpler just to continue with the existing IMO

davidian84

Will these expire, 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121061164407
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165314775298

soolin

davidian84 said:

Will these expire, 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121061164407
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165314775298

The 1955 one is already expired as pre decimal stamps cannot be used for postage. 

Money_Grabber13579

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

I suspect the item will be treated as postage unpaid and the surcharge will be the same as what is currently applied to such items which don’t have stamps attached at all (i.e. cost of unpaid postage plus a fee, which might be £2 although I’m not completely sure on that). Whether there is a grace period remains to be seen.

Rantband

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

Think that should be non Christmas stamps first.

cx6

Price of a first class stamp is to rise to 95p so those stamps with 1st on them are worth more now!

Second from 65p to 68p.

Edit: from 4 April

cx6

NBLondon said:

Quick update.  The £1.70 rate will go up to £1.85 from April 11th and the current stamp (light blue £1.70) will be replaced with a barcoded one.   I'd expect these also to be swappable but as the rate is changing you might as well use them if you can.  Time to send a postcard to any distant relatives on other continents....

I normally put 2 x 1st to make the £1.70.

It's going up to £1.85 as you say but since the 1st stamps are going up from 85p to 95p and I have lots of them I will still be able to use 2 x1st !

Money_Grabber13579

Rantband said:

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

Think that should be non Christmas stamps first.

Not quite, as non Christmas stamps can include definitive stamps (which will need to be swapped) and commemorative stamps (which don’t need to be swapped).  It’s only definitive stamps (for now) which are being withdrawn; these are the ones with only the Queen’s head on them and the plain coloured background (and possibly the same sized country specific definitives which have an emblem or symbol related to that country).

soolin

custardy said:

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

Only positive I could see is charging straight postage for a period vs the existing set surcharge bands.
However simpler just to continue with the existing IMO

Money_Grabber13579 said:

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

I suspect the item will be treated as postage unpaid and the surcharge will be the same as what is currently applied to such items which don’t have stamps attached at all (i.e. cost of unpaid postage plus a fee, which might be £2 although I’m not completely sure on that). Whether there is a grace period remains to be seen.

The bit I quoted about surcharge was directly linked to the swap out scheme, it could be read as meaning that it won’t be a straight swap and some sort of ‘surcharge’ will be made when stamps are swapped. However, I don’t always find the RM announcements entirely clear as to mea in.

I am doing as best I can to use my huge stock of stamps, even going as far as to preference listing items that go as a large letter , if the commemoratives are ‘safe’ for a while longer that suits me as probably several hundred pounds worth of mine are those. I also have a lot of Christmas stamps which I can hold for longer as well, which leaves just the standard definitives to use quickly. 

Money_Grabber13579

soolin said:

custardy said:

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

Only positive I could see is charging straight postage for a period vs the existing set surcharge bands.
However simpler just to continue with the existing IMO

Money_Grabber13579 said:

soolin said:

This line concerns me a bit I don’t like the word ‘surcharge’. Still at least I know now to concentrate on using the non commemorative stamps first. 

Royal Mail said it will announce full details of the scheme, including what the surcharge will be and how it'll work in practice, soon.

I suspect the item will be treated as postage unpaid and the surcharge will be the same as what is currently applied to such items which don’t have stamps attached at all (i.e. cost of unpaid postage plus a fee, which might be £2 although I’m not completely sure on that). Whether there is a grace period remains to be seen.

The bit I quoted about surcharge was directly linked to the swap out scheme, it could be read as meaning that it won’t be a straight swap and some sort of ‘surcharge’ will be made when stamps are swapped. However, I don’t always find the RM announcements entirely clear as to mea in.

I am doing as best I can to use my huge stock of stamps, even going as far as to preference listing items that go as a large letter , if the commemoratives are ‘safe’ for a while longer that suits me as probably several hundred pounds worth of mine are those. I also have a lot of Christmas stamps which I can hold for longer as well, which leaves just the standard definitives to use quickly. 

Oh, I see what you mean now. I’m not sure if MSE have more info that hasn’t been published by RM or if it’s just badly worded, but the only mention of a surcharge being applied on the RM website is if a non barcoded definitive stamp is used after 31 January 2023. It doesn’t seem to mention (as far as I can see) any surcharge being applied as part of the swap out scheme.

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

Whether people will be expected to make up the difference in face value for stamps that have increased in rate, I don’t know. For example, there is currently a £1.70 stamp but no barcoded version of that will be issued, so people might have to pay the additional 15p for the new equivalent.