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

HonestJohn

jrawle said:

Just found this discussion and the associated article while looking for information about the extension to the deadline, which I thought I'd heard somewhere.

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if it's been raised already, but I don't agree with the article saying the stamps will become "worthless" after 31 January (or July now). They won't be "worthless" after that deadline, you simply won't be able to use them to post items until they have been swapped. "Worthless" implies that they have zero value and can no longer be swapped, yet no deadline for swapping the stamps has been announced. I feel this is an important distinction.

With the extension, I'll be holding out for stamps with the King's portrait on them so that I won't be stuck with a whole load of stamps with the late Queen, given that I may well be using them for years to come.

Yes, that is how I see things. I too am holding off swapping until the new monarch appears on stamps. Should be no supply problems then.

inspectorperez

So sent back second class non barcoded stamps for swapping and eventually received back in exchange same money value in first class stamps.

We only use postage stamps these days for Christmas/birthday cards so in terms of that profile of usage I am 10 cards short of the equivalent position if I were sending by means of second class post.

Have tried to make contact with the telephone number indicated on the Royal Mail covering letter with no success. Left in the perpetual never ending queue which seems to be the norm these days. Local Post Office unable to swap!

Okay there are far worse things in life especially at the moment, but I am seriously cheesed off with this organisation for their presumption in thinking this sort of treatment for customers is okay.

Just wondering if anyone has any helpful solutions to this situation before I actually start thinking of the "E" card alternative.

NBLondon

The T&C in the latest version (Nov) do say that they will usually send 2nd class but can send anything - clearly they totally misjudged underestimated the amounts coming back. The time and effort in getting an exchange out of RM is probably not worth it. So the practical solution is buy 10 2nd class stamps. You may well get them under face on eBay e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385243247793?hash=item59b24974b1:g:C8cAAOSwkgJjeTE8 then you have 2 1st class in hand for birthday cards

NBLondon

elsien said:

I’ve sent mine special delivery using some of the stamps that I already had. I may or may not get the postage cost reimbursed but I’ve got 400 quids worth of stamps so if I  lose £8 odd it’s still better than losing the whole lot.

If you used the over £200 Bulk Form which specifies to use a secure method then you should get the refund in extra stamps and worth complaining of you don't.

NBLondon

jrawle said:

With the extension, I'll be holding out for stamps with the King's portrait on them so that I won't be stuck with a whole load of stamps with the late Queen, given that I may well be using them for years to come.

That's an interesting thought....   I would have thought that there would be millions printed to account for the Swap Out so there will be no new stocks of Charles III printed until the QEII ones are close to being used up.  There's no word on how long the QEII stamps will remain valid but it could be 10 years plus based on previous cases.

jrawle

NBLondon said:

That's an interesting thought....   I would have thought that there would be millions printed to account for the Swap Out so there will be no new stocks of Charles III printed until the QEII ones are close to being used up.  There's no word on how long the QEII stamps will remain valid but it could be 10 years plus based on previous cases.

Yet the posts above imply that they have already run out of second class stamps and are sending first to similar value as substitutes.

It's not so much the validity of the old stamps I was thinking about, but rather the thought of using stamps featuring a deceased monarch many years after she died. Once few other people are using such stamps, it will seem at best odd, probably somehow cheapskate and maybe even macabre. I bought my current stamps in bulk in 2012 in anticipation of the huge price increase, and could well be using them for another 10 years.

Doc_N

NBLondon said:

jrawle said:

With the extension, I'll be holding out for stamps with the King's portrait on them so that I won't be stuck with a whole load of stamps with the late Queen, given that I may well be using them for years to come.

There's no word on how long the QEII stamps will remain valid but it could be 10 years plus based on previous cases.

There’s no logical reason why there should be any end date for validity at all. Any more than for outdated ‘event’ type stamps.

HonestJohn

Doc_N said:

NBLondon said:

jrawle said:

With the extension, I'll be holding out for stamps with the King's portrait on them so that I won't be stuck with a whole load of stamps with the late Queen, given that I may well be using them for years to come.

There's no word on how long the QEII stamps will remain valid but it could be 10 years plus based on previous cases.

There’s no logical reason why there should be any end date for validity at all. Any more than for outdated ‘event’ type stamps.

Agreed. Decimalisation invalidated a lot stamps but I don't think anyone would dare invalidate QEII stamps. RM would probably like to. Stamps though might become obsolete eventually.

martindow

jrawle said:

Yet the posts above imply that they have already run out of second class stamps and are sending first to similar value as substitutes.

It's not so much the validity of the old stamps I was thinking about, but rather the thought of using stamps featuring a deceased monarch many years after she died. Once few other people are using such stamps, it will seem at best odd, probably somehow cheapskate and maybe even macabre. I bought my current stamps in bulk in 2012 in anticipation of the huge price increase, and could well be using them for another 10 years.

We may be using stamps for some years, but queen's head coins will be around for decades I imagine.  Before decimalisation coins were in circulation with several monarchs going back as far as Victoria.

johnb2

Other people have complained of getting 2nd when they sent 1st. I assume the staff are just grabbing the nearest. With the ramping prices and collapsing demand I expect most organised people have a multi-year supply, so RM revenue from actual stamps is low at present. Unless they can get people to buy all the stamps they didn't swap properly....