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

Spoonie_Turtle

MiserlyMartin said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Over whose counters?  The Post Office and Royal Mail are two different companies.  It takes long enough to do the swaps by post, without being restricted to Customer Service Point opening times (which are neither long enough nor at the right times for people to get there, queue for a couple of hours, and have their thousands of stamps swapped).  And if they imposed a limit, saying you have to make multiple trips, the uproar that would cause!  It's not like the odd person going to the bank to swap some old notes like-for-like.  We're talking potentially millions of stamps, of all different types and values, not just a few books of your standard 1st and 2nd class.

I don't, and neither do the general public care that they are two different companies. The Post Office is the place where you go to use postal services from Royal Mail (and others). If the Royal Mail insist that they will make stamps invalid, due to their change of policy then they need to allow people enough time to swap them out securely at Post Offices. If there are millions out there, then they should allow as many years as is practical to allow this change to be made.

They have, by post.

Whether we care about the difference between the two companies or not, the fact remains they are separate businesses with separate employees and separate premises. 

The Post Office are hardly going to employ extra staff to do a job that has only been made necessary by a Royal Mail business decision, and they're hardly going to dedicate counter space to it either (which is what would be needed, someone on the job full-time, assuming people can come in at a steady rate during opening hours … which they won't, so we're back to the logistics of people having to queue for ages and not be guaranteed to be served).

You may disagree but I much prefer that they're not using a scheme costing any more than it needs to, pushing the cost of stamps yet higher still.

Money_Grabber13579

MiserlyMartin said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Over whose counters?  The Post Office and Royal Mail are two different companies.  It takes long enough to do the swaps by post, without being restricted to Customer Service Point opening times (which are neither long enough nor at the right times for people to get there, queue for a couple of hours, and have their thousands of stamps swapped).  And if they imposed a limit, saying you have to make multiple trips, the uproar that would cause!  It's not like the odd person going to the bank to swap some old notes like-for-like.  We're talking potentially millions of stamps, of all different types and values, not just a few books of your standard 1st and 2nd class.

I don't, and neither do the general public care that they are two different companies. The Post Office is the place where you go to use postal services from Royal Mail (and others). If the Royal Mail insist that they will make stamps invalid, due to their change of policy then they need to allow people enough time to swap them out securely at Post Offices. If there are millions out there, then they should allow as many years as is practical to allow this change to be made.

They are allowing enough time. They haven’t put an end date (yet) on the swap scheme so what’s the issue?

It doesn’t matter whether you don’t care that the Post Office and Royal Mail are two separate companies, the fact is that they are. I don’t go into Sainsburys and insist that they take my Tesco loyalty card, just because it’s a bit inconvenient for me to get to Tesco.

soolin

MiserlyMartin said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Over whose counters?  The Post Office and Royal Mail are two different companies.  It takes long enough to do the swaps by post, without being restricted to Customer Service Point opening times (which are neither long enough nor at the right times for people to get there, queue for a couple of hours, and have their thousands of stamps swapped).  And if they imposed a limit, saying you have to make multiple trips, the uproar that would cause!  It's not like the odd person going to the bank to swap some old notes like-for-like.  We're talking potentially millions of stamps, of all different types and values, not just a few books of your standard 1st and 2nd class.

I don't, and neither do the general public care that they are two different companies. The Post Office is the place where you go to use postal services from Royal Mail (and others). If the Royal Mail insist that they will make stamps invalid, due to their change of policy then they need to allow people enough time to swap them out securely at Post Offices. If there are millions out there, then they should allow as many years as is practical to allow this change to be made.

The ‘general public’ might not care that the PO and RM are different companies but they are, and not understanding that is hardly a reason to start merging or allowing one to take over another. I have £5 coins properly issued by the Royal Mint yet they can only be easily exchanged at the Bank of England, perhaps I should insist on my right to use them to buy something at my local corner shop! 

As I said earlier, this has all be argued over and over before on this thread. The fact remains you can swap your stamps without penalty and with no end date in sight at the moment - it isn’t difficult nor should it be beyond the ability of most people. 

NBLondon

soolin said:

 I have £5 coins properly issued by the Royal Mint yet they can only be easily exchanged at the Bank of England, perhaps I should insist on my right to use them to buy something at my local corner shop! 

To be pedantic - and off topic...  The Bank of England will NOT exchange £5 coins for you - only old banknotes (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes and scroll right down).  However, Post Offices (at least the Main Post Offices) accept them in payment so you can buy barcode stamps with them 

soolin

NBLondon said:

soolin said:

 I have £5 coins properly issued by the Royal Mint yet they can only be easily exchanged at the Bank of England, perhaps I should insist on my right to use them to buy something at my local corner shop! 

To be pedantic - and off topic...  The Bank of England will NOT exchange £5 coins for you - only old banknotes (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes and scroll right down).  However, Post Offices (at least the Main Post Offices) accept them in payment so you can buy barcode stamps with them 

  Thank you. I asked on a specialist coin forum and was told it was just The Bank of England that would accept the coins  - our PO certainly won't take them, but if they are mandated to do so I'll try again. That would be very convenient, thank you.

NBLondon

soolin said:

  Thank you. I asked on a specialist coin forum and was told it was just The Bank of England that would accept the coins  - our PO certainly won't take them, but if they are mandated to do so I'll try again. That would be very convenient, thank you.

I'm not sure if they are mandated to... Royal Mint says that Post Offices agree to https://www.royalmint.com/help/coinage-faqs/how-can-i-dispose-of-commemorative-crowns/ but elsewhere suggest that you check as Main PO will but not necessarily at sub-post offices.    I was once given one in change and I spent it at the old Trafalgar Square PO with no questions asked.

molerat

Some thoughts wanted from any knowledgeable stamp people please.

A friend is sorting out a relation's belongings.  They were a collector and amongst all the other stamps and covers there is a folder full of 1st class stamp booklets, there must be 100+ of them, obviously all the different print runs or whatever.  A web search seems to indicate they are of no real value apart from as stamps. Some years ago we had a family stamp collection valued and were disappointed and shocked so they are not expecting much for the rest but the current stamps do have some real value so would the best plan be to trade them in with RM ?

TIA

soolin

molerat said:

Some thoughts wanted from any knowledgeable stamp people please.

A friend is sorting out a relation's belongings.  They were a collector and amongst all the other stamps and covers there is a folder full of 1st class stamp booklets, there must be 100+ of them, obviously all the different print runs or whatever.  A web search seems to indicate they are of no real value apart from as stamps. Some years ago we had a family stamp collection valued and were disappointed and shocked so they are not expecting much for the rest but the current stamps do have some real value so would the best plan be to trade them in with RM ?

TIA

Personally I would trade in anything eligible , standard Queens head type booklets rarely sell for more than about 3/4 face value. Any pictorial ones are worth a very quick check on ebay 'sold' listings, it is unlikely they will even make face value but always worth a quick look. At the moment they can't be traded in so either use them or take a loss and sell them.

NBLondon

molerat said:

They were a collector and amongst all the other stamps and covers there is a folder full of 1st class stamp booklets, there must be 100+ of them, obviously all the different print runs or whatever.  A web search seems to indicate they are of no real value apart from as stamps. 

Another collector might want one or two to fill gaps in their own collection but you'd have to identify all of them, list hem correctly and hope for the best - which would be that 5 sell for a good price and the rest for less than face value.  So I agree with soolin - trade them now for barcoded 1sts and then use those over the next few years.  Or then sell the barcoded ones on eBay; you won't make face value but you will selling them as sheets so fewer transactions.

Doc_N

Anyone remember all that fuss back in the 70s about collecting gutter pairs and traffic lights? One of my first jobs involved going down to the local Post Office for the guy in charge to buy entire sheets of stamps for him for the traffic lights and gutter pairs. Regularly, every time there was a new issue.

All doubtless now worthless, apart from a very small face value.