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

MACKEM99

Nicholas said:

I posted my stamps off on Tuesday, and when I arrived home yesterday in the afternoon (Friday), they had been delivered.

Envelope had a "Do Not Bend" on it.  So what does postie do?  Sticks it halfway through the letterbox with some junk mail and left bent in half -  in the letterbox -  until I returned home yesterday afternoon.  

Fortunately,  nothing was damaged and stamps were (more or less) still sticking firmly to shiny backing paper.

Envelope had a "Do Not Bend" on it.

Reminds me of an envelope I received many years ago which was marked:

"photographs - do not bend"

Some funny begger had written next to it:

Oh yes they do!

Chomeur

I have several thousand pounds worth. Has anyone used the service they offer for this which is mentioned on the swap out form for over £200?:

"The delivery of £2,500 or more can be accommodated by Tallents House but is by strict appointment only. To arrange an appointment,

please email: TH_Bookings@royalmail.com

"

This all seems a bit much really. I could have sworn the stamps were valid in perpetuity when I bought them. And why on earth don't they exchange them at post offices? It seems like a recipe for disputes having people send them in without anyone checking what is being sent before they go in the post box.

martindow

Chomeur said:

I have several thousand pounds worth. Has anyone used the service they offer for this which is mentioned on the swap out form for over £200?:

"The delivery of £2,500 or more can be accommodated by Tallents House but is by strict appointment only. To arrange an appointment,

please email: TH_Bookings@royalmail.com

"

This all seems a bit much really. I could have sworn the stamps were valid in perpetuity when I bought them. And why on earth don't they exchange them at post offices? It seems like a recipe for disputes having people send them in without anyone checking what is being sent before they go in the post box.

If you are over the maximum of £2500 you could send them in several Special Delivery batches.  As you have so many stamps, do you post a lot of items annually?  If so you may use a goodly amount before the deadline next year and have fewer needing to be exchanged.

Chomeur

martindow said:

Chomeur said:

I have several thousand pounds worth. Has anyone used the service they offer for this which is mentioned on the swap out form for over £200?:

"The delivery of £2,500 or more can be accommodated by Tallents House but is by strict appointment only. To arrange an appointment,

please email: TH_Bookings@royalmail.com

"

This all seems a bit much really. I could have sworn the stamps were valid in perpetuity when I bought them. And why on earth don't they exchange them at post offices? It seems like a recipe for disputes having people send them in without anyone checking what is being sent before they go in the post box.

If you are over the maximum of £2500 you could send them in several Special Delivery batches.  As you have so many stamps, do you post a lot of items annually?  If so you may use a goodly amount before the deadline next year and have fewer needing to be exchanged.

Yes, I know, I could just send them off in batches. Or maybe they will work the scheme out a bit better in the months to come. 

Seeing as prices looked like soaring ten years ago, I bought myself a lifetime's supply. It would be better if I could sell them though, really.

gt94sss2

Chomeur said:

 And why on earth don't they exchange them at post offices?

The Royal Mail and the Post Office are separate businesses, with different ownership

jon81uk

Chomeur said:

And why on earth don't they exchange them at post offices?

Post Office is a seperate company to Royal Mail

Chomeur

gt94sss2 said:

Chomeur said:

 And why on earth don't they exchange them at post offices?

The Royal Mail and the Post Office are separate businesses, with different ownership

I see. Still I think the Royal Mail should employ the Post Office to do the job. Maybe once they start getting into disputes with people about the number of stamps actually sent to them, they will decide that it might be a good idea.

custardy

Chomeur said:

I have several thousand pounds worth. Has anyone used the service they offer for this which is mentioned on the swap out form for over £200?:

"The delivery of £2,500 or more can be accommodated by Tallents House but is by strict appointment only. To arrange an appointment,

please email: TH_Bookings@royalmail.com

"

This all seems a bit much really. I could have sworn the stamps were valid in perpetuity when I bought them. And why on earth don't they exchange them at post offices? It seems like a recipe for disputes having people send them in without anyone checking what is being sent before they go in the post box.

Well for starters as mentioned previously.
This is down to RM. How do you see POs having stocks to handle this ,time, ability to verify stamps and for a fee of ? from RM
Also why would PO want to deal with this? Mosrt already suffer from excess waits for customers queuing 
Tallents house is RMs stamp office. I would expect most would simply use SD for high amounts.
As for your comment on stamps. I was surprised they didnt raise the issue of stamp lifespan at privatisation.
Anyway as is often the case. Everyone's fine with change, until something changes

petersy

The current system is open to fraud.

1) The swap address clearly identifies what is in the envelope/package i.e. valuable stamps, which could potentially leave the package open to theft.

2) If Royal Mail contest the contents and value of the swap package, you have no recourse - their word is final.

A better idea would be to have the (local) Post Office check the stamp quantity and then issue the same quantity in barcoded stamps.

This way, both parties are covered.

Chomeur

The main purpose of this huge exercise, according to this page https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps seems to be to allow people to watch a video of Shaun the Sheep. But they also mention that it enables the introduction of added security measures. I guess that means to stop use of fake stamps. 

I do wonder if the Royal Mail isn't in breach of contract in doing this, and whether you could sue them to compensate you for the time it takes you to sort this out.