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

NBLondon

Royal Mail actually say:  https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps

If you post an item with a non-barcoded stamp after 31 January 2023 it will be liable to surcharge — as it will be the equivalent of it having no postage.

That surcharge is currently £2

NBLondon

And while we're at it...  in the new price list from 4 April 2022

1st Class goes up to 95p, 2nd Class to 68p
Large 1st to £1.45, Large 2nd to £1.05

soolin

NBLondon said:

Royal Mail actually say:  https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps

If you post an item with a non-barcoded stamp after 31 January 2023 it will be liable to surcharge — as it will be the equivalent of it having no postage.

That surcharge is currently £2

On the link that MSE posted though they refer to surcharges in the same paragraph as the swap out scheme. They don’t mention any current or future surcharges for having the wrong postage attached. 

 

Rantband

Money_Grabber13579 said:

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  It’s only definitive stamps (for now) which are being withdrawn; these are the ones with only the Queen’s head on them and the plain coloured background (and possibly the same sized country specific definitives which have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).

I think you will find commemorative stamps will need to be swapped,it is only Christmas ones that have been excluded from the swap out.

Money_Grabber13579

Rantband said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

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).

I think you will find commemorative stamps will need to be swapped,it is only Christmas ones that have been excluded from the swap out.

I’m glad you know better than Royal Mail. Special stamps = commemorative stamps.

Until 31 January 2023 all non-barcoded Definitive stamps remain valid for use. Thereafter it will remain possible to use Royal Mail Special Stamps which will not be barcoded.

custardy

Money_Grabber13579 said:

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.

If you only charge the postage difference then there's little incentive to put the correct postage on

Surcharges were simplified to move away from variables depending on what was paid. I dont see RM returning to it

Money_Grabber13579

custardy said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

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.

If you only charge the postage difference then there's little incentive to put the correct postage on

Surcharges were simplified to move away from variables depending on what was paid. I dont see RM returning to it

That’s not what I meant, it was supposed to be a separate point, aside from the surcharges (sorry if that wasn’t clear - I was thinking primarily about the swap out scheme and firstly that I didn’t think a surcharge would be applied to that, contrary to how the MSE article is worded). But then I was wondering how the swap out scheme would work for stamps with specific rates on them, when the price for the service covered by that stamp increased.  As in, when £1.70 stamps are swapped, what will you get back? A barcoded version won’t exist so will you end up with a £1.50 stamp and a £0.20 stamp? That’s probably an easy one to solve but I’m sure there will be others where multiples of stamps would be required to make up the rate, which just gets cumbersome.

srhysh

Unbelievable that prices are going up again - and quite big jumps - considering they are being phased out and won't be accepted next year.

Surely just wait until barcoded stamps takeover in 2023.

Money_Grabber13579

srhysh said:

Unbelievable that prices are going up again - and quite big jumps - considering they are being phased out and won't be accepted next year.

Surely just wait until barcoded stamps takeover in 2023.

Why wait to put up prices until next year, when you can put them up this year and next year? That’s the price of inflation I guess.

soolin

srhysh said:

Unbelievable that prices are going up again - and quite big jumps - considering they are being phased out and won't be accepted next year.

Surely just wait until barcoded stamps takeover in 2023.

Barcoded stamps are already available so there will be an overlap between bar coding stamps being Introduced  and the prices going up.