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

Olinda99

RM have not given an expiry date for barcoded stamps, or even said there will be one, although I can pretty much guarantee they will not be valid 'forever'.

GaleSF63

jeffuk said:

There's a lot of it about

I thought I was doing well sending letters with 10 stamps on. I'm obviously outclassed!

soolin

GaleSF63 said:

jeffuk said:

There's a lot of it about

I thought I was doing well sending letters with 10 stamps on. I'm obviously outclassed!

My excuse is that I don’t use stamps on parcels due to the extra 50p it costs, so I only use them on large letters which limits me a bit creativity wise. However on a higher weight LL recently I did manage 7 stamps , there was virtually no envelope still showing! 

NBLondon

allison445 said:

Forgive me if this has already been asked and answered I am just getting round to swapping my hundreds of stamps over can anyone tell me do the barcode stamps need to be used by a certain date ? I don't want to find myself in a few years time having the same issue by thinking they will be valid forever.

Olinda99 said:

RM have not given an expiry date for barcoded stamps, or even said there will be one, although I can pretty much guarantee they will not be valid 'forever'.

They are a direct replacement so they should be valid until further notice in the same way that a 1971 post-decimalisation stamp is still valid today (until next Jan).  The only reason to invalidate them might be if the monarch changes.  Last time that happened there was an 18 year wait. So I think you're safe for now...

amandapeart

Hi, I'm completely new to this & the question may have been asked and answered before ... 
I have lots of "machin" stamps which have an amount of money on not 1st or 2nd - are they "definitive" & therefore need swapping or will they still be valid - typically they are for £2.60 or 10p or £1.17?

gt94sss2

You will need to swap them

amandapeart

gt94sss2 said:

You will need to swap them

But all they send me is multiple 2nd class barcoded stamps - and will there no longer be any mechanism to "make up" values, which 5p, 10p, 50p, etc. stamps have always done? RM are still advertising them for sale, as "useful".

Money_Grabber13579

amandapeart said:

gt94sss2 said:

You will need to swap them

But all they send me is multiple 2nd class barcoded stamps - and will there no longer be any mechanism to "make up" values, which 5p, 10p, 50p, etc. stamps have always done? RM are still advertising them for sale, as "useful".

If you send in 10p stamps, then you should get barcoded 10p stamps in return. But if you send in £1.17 stamps, then you will get back 2nd class stamps to the value of the £1.17 stamp because there is no barcoded £1.17 stamp. Barcoded make up stamps will be available but for some reason, only in currency denominations e.g. 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p etc. It used to be the case that specific make up stamps were also issued, to make up the value between rates, such as a 19p stamp to make up the difference between 1st and 2nd but that no longer happens.

https://shop.royalmail.com/postage-and-packaging/make-up-values

amandapeart

Thanks for that link, Money_Grabber13579, the last time I looked RM were still advertising the non-barcoded ones. I wish they would send me ones nearer to the value of what I send in - say, 10 £1 ones plus the rest as 2nd class if I send in 10 x £1.17, instead of just endless 2nd class ones (and they do round up so it can cost them up to 67p more!).

soolin

amandapeart said:

gt94sss2 said:

You will need to swap them

But all they send me is multiple 2nd class barcoded stamps - and will there no longer be any mechanism to "make up" values, which 5p, 10p, 50p, etc. stamps have always done? RM are still advertising them for sale, as "useful".

I had loads of small denomination stamps, like 2p 5p 10p 20p et and they were all swapped like for like. So for instance at the moment for a LL 2nd class up to 100g I am using a definitive 1st class (95p) and a new barcoded 10p to make up the correct value.