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

petersy

anotheruser said:

petersy said:

anotheruser said:

petersy said:

molerat said:

It would have been  nice to get books back but you sent in 1st class stamps and got 1st class stamps back.  Just tear them off in strips of 4 x 2 and fold in half into a booklet, simples.

I think you've missed the point.

We purchased booklets from the RM website (which is what we paid for and what we wanted) and now through no fault of our own we have to change what we originally purchased with no recourse. Would you accept this with any other product purchased online? I doubt it.

No, you purchased stamps.
How they're transported or stored is irrelevant.

I buy a product online.
How it arrives or method of arrival is of no concern to me (obviously so long as the product isn't damaged).

You won't see it like that because you're desperate for books but it's just one of those things.  You're not missing out, so just manage as best you can with the sheets and go back to buying books.

We purchased books of stamps and we expected books of stamps back.

If you bought a new red car from a dealer and they delivered a green one, I suppose you would be happy with that.

Just because you don't use books of stamps, don't assume that others don't want them.

You purchase stamps.
The method of how they are stored is irrelevant.

If I purchased a green car that was due to come on the back of one of those multi-car carriers but it arrived on the back of a low loader instead, I wouldn't care - I still have the green car.

You purchased stamps, you got stamps in return.
You did not purchase 1st Class stamps and got a different product (like 2nd Class stamps) in return.

If I purchased a green car, that is the product and I expect a green car.
If a red one arrives, I am not receiving the product I bought.

The stamp books are not the product, the stamps are.
I appreciate sheets are not ideal (I have had my books back on sheets too!), but I store all my stamps in a little tub anyway so just split the stamps along the perforated lines and they al fit in the tub, better than the books did I should add.

I'm sorry you won't see it the way nearly everyone else does but there is NOTHING that you can do to change the fact of what you have.

Yes, we have to put up with a different product from that which we originally purchased.

It's a con.

Doc_N

petersy said:

anotheruser said:

petersy said:

anotheruser said:

petersy said:

molerat said:

It would have been  nice to get books back but you sent in 1st class stamps and got 1st class stamps back.  Just tear them off in strips of 4 x 2 and fold in half into a booklet, simples.

I think you've missed the point.

We purchased booklets from the RM website (which is what we paid for and what we wanted) and now through no fault of our own we have to change what we originally purchased with no recourse. Would you accept this with any other product purchased online? I doubt it.

No, you purchased stamps.
How they're transported or stored is irrelevant.

I buy a product online.
How it arrives or method of arrival is of no concern to me (obviously so long as the product isn't damaged).

You won't see it like that because you're desperate for books but it's just one of those things.  You're not missing out, so just manage as best you can with the sheets and go back to buying books.

We purchased books of stamps and we expected books of stamps back.

If you bought a new red car from a dealer and they delivered a green one, I suppose you would be happy with that.

Just because you don't use books of stamps, don't assume that others don't want them.

You purchase stamps.
The method of how they are stored is irrelevant.

If I purchased a green car that was due to come on the back of one of those multi-car carriers but it arrived on the back of a low loader instead, I wouldn't care - I still have the green car.

You purchased stamps, you got stamps in return.
You did not purchase 1st Class stamps and got a different product (like 2nd Class stamps) in return.

If I purchased a green car, that is the product and I expect a green car.
If a red one arrives, I am not receiving the product I bought.

The stamp books are not the product, the stamps are.
I appreciate sheets are not ideal (I have had my books back on sheets too!), but I store all my stamps in a little tub anyway so just split the stamps along the perforated lines and they al fit in the tub, better than the books did I should add.

I'm sorry you won't see it the way nearly everyone else does but there is NOTHING that you can do to change the fact of what you have.

Yes, we have to put up with a different product from that which we originally purchased.

It's a con.

It must really upset you when you’ve left a deposit on something and get back banknotes with different serial numbers…..

BooJewels

Well, it upset Paddington - he gave the bank teller a hard stare.  And we all know how that works out.

I'm truly not getting this 'con' perspective.  When you buy a postage stamp, that is the visible receipt that you've paid the appropriate fee for the conveyance of an item of mail from point A to point B.  When you send your soon to be outdated form of receipts [stamps] in, they exchange them for a new format of visible receipt, which will still allow for the same conveyance of an item of mail from A to B.  How can that be a con?

I can only assume that you bought your stupendously large amount of stamps for purposes slightly outside their intended remit, so this exchange is somehow curtailing your activity or profitability. That's hardly Royal Mails fault.

NBLondon

BooJewels said:

I can only assume that you bought your stupendously large amount of stamps for purposes slightly outside their intended remit, so this exchange is somehow curtailing your activity or profitability. That's hardly Royal Mails fault.

Like a collection?  Your logic is sound if the stamps were bought for the purposes of postage.  If they were bought specifically as booklets to be collected or possibly traded at some point in the future then exchange of booklets for sheets does have an impact.  The question then becomes - was that made clear to RM at the point of purchase?  (Pretty obvious that it wasn't part of the original purchase agreement).

molerat

Just been sorting out the house of a relative who has gone into care.  They were a collector and have folders full of these booklets which currently do have a value other than as a collectible.  From next year they will become pretty much worthless.  We had another relatives' collection valued after they passed several years ago and it was valued at less than £1K but had cost many many times that to accumulate.

Olinda99

i genuinely don't understand this. If the booklets were bought for collection then they won't be used for postage and so no point swapping them out anyway

also, since some people will be swapping out their old booklets then there will be fewer around and so the remainder will become more valuable

NBLondon

molerat is right.  Before barcoding the booklets have both value as a collectible and a backup value as they could be broken up for postage.  After Jan 2023; that backup value has gone.   The collectible value is a movable thing too - it might have more value to the original purchaser than to anybody wishing to purchase it at a later stage.

Olinda might have a point - if enough collector/dealers cash in their stocks and duplicates then there will be fewer around and prices might rise for some.  But that's a gamble if you decide to keep them in the hope of realising that rise; because the backup value will have gone.

What I'm reading in philatelic circles is that many are deciding to swap out duplicates because they will no longer be able to use them for postage.

Olinda99

thanks for the clarity. One question - if you decide not to take the risk of keeping the old booklets and decide to swap them out, then does it matter if you get sheets or booklets in return? It may do but I can't see how - but maybe i am missing something ?

izawa

This whole idea of barcoded stamps just seem nonsense. I haven't heard of other countries having this barcoded stuff.

NBLondon

izawa said:

This whole idea of barcoded stamps just seem nonsense. I haven't heard of other countries having this barcoded stuff.

Germany introduced them last year...
Belgium, Italy and France all use some form of barcode on stamps.  US machine-vended stamps have had them for 20 years!