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

in_my_wellies

I took my old stamps to the PO and the postmaster asked if I had taken a photo of the form and the stamps - he jokingly said he would refuse to take my letter until I had so I took it home and took a photo.

They were returned quickly, 76, but when I checked my photo I realised I'd sent 86. If it hadn't been for the photo I wouldn't have believed in myself or checked. 

So the moral is TAKE A PHOTO!

I rang and the  number and the missing 10 were sent. 

knightstyle

kayleigh  I sent a lot of old stamps, including pictorial ones and some 1/2p ones from old stamp books and got back almost double the value in new 1st class stamps.

HonestJohn

I think the exchange is getting a bit shambolic. People seem to be getting stamps rejected as fake too. Getting a bit worried as I have some books to send in that I know were bought from a PO and a supermarket.

TomCanty

I followed instructions from the Royal Mail communication and sent off my stamps (around £100 in various values) at the end of January because I was officially informed that they would be obsolete by February. It wasn't until a week or two later I discovered that the deadline had been moved until later this year. Until I found reports on various websites I had no idea that the delay I am experiencing in getting replacements was excessive and was being experienced by many another. 

I am beginning to think that Royal Mail might have encouraged the possibility of theft by their employees by changing the date on which stamps were no longer valid without a widespread alert being issued to members of the public. It is obvious that obsolete stamps are of little or no value to potential thieves whereas those with about six months "Shelf-life" are a highly desirable acquisition.

BiggaThanBen

I only found about this today by getting the swap out form in the post. Realised I have close to £200 worth of these, would it make sense to send it with recorded rather than freepost ?

Also some websites claim that Large Letter ones are included too, but RM website does not mention it and the form has no mention of them in the value section:

1st Class = £1.10p / 2nd Class = 75p

(from 3

rd April 2023) ?

 

olgadapolga

BiggaThanBen said:

I only found about this today by getting the swap out form in the post. Realised I have close to £200 worth of these, would it make sense to send it with recorded rather than freepost ?

Also some websites claim that Large Letter ones are included too, but RM website does not mention it and the form has no mention of them in the value section:

1st Class = £1.10p / 2nd Class = 75p

(from 3

rd April 2023) ?

 

The large letter stamps are included in the scheme. 

For £200 value, I'd be sending them via special delivery. You can use the stamps that you're going to swap out for (part of) the cost, as long as you do it before the deadline for using old stamps. Royal Mail will refund the cost of postage so you shouldn't lose out.

NBLondon

olgadapolga said:

BiggaThanBen said:

I only found about this today by getting the swap out form in the post. Realised I have close to £200 worth of these, would it make sense to send it with recorded rather than freepost ?

Also some websites claim that Large Letter ones are included too, but RM website does not mention it and the form has no mention of them in the value section:

1st Class = £1.10p / 2nd Class = 75p

(from 3

rd April 2023) ?

 

The large letter stamps are included in the scheme. 

For £200 value, I'd be sending them via special delivery. You can use the stamps that you're going to swap out for (part of) the cost, as long as you do it before the deadline for using old stamps. Royal Mail will refund the cost of postage so you shouldn't lose out.

Large 1st is £1.60 and Large 2nd is £1.15

Do your sums carefully Ben - if the value is over £200 then you use a different form which must be sent Special Delivery and you will get extra stamps to cover that.

If under £200, you can send Special Delivery (using up some of the stamps as Olga suggests) but you are not guaranteed to get that refunded because they expect you to send it Freepost.

Even if you are using the under £200 form, address it to:

Freepost RUCZ - UTGU - AULY 
Royal Mail Swap Out
Tallents House
21 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh EH12 9PB

to make sure you get a certificate of posting.   If you do decide to send it Signed for or Special Delivery to get the insurance - use that address.

Finally, take photos/scans of the form and the contents in case you need to claim for non-arrival.

Good Luck!

BiggaThanBen

olgadapolga said:

BiggaThanBen said:

I only found about this today by getting the swap out form in the post. Realised I have close to £200 worth of these, would it make sense to send it with recorded rather than freepost ?

Also some websites claim that Large Letter ones are included too, but RM website does not mention it and the form has no mention of them in the value section:

1st Class = £1.10p / 2nd Class = 75p

(from 3

rd April 2023) ?

 

The large letter stamps are included in the scheme. 

For £200 value, I'd be sending them via special delivery. You can use the stamps that you're going to swap out for (part of) the cost, as long as you do it before the deadline for using old stamps. Royal Mail will refund the cost of postage so you shouldn't lose out.

It is not over £200, think it may actually be closer to £150 - can I still use the bulk form and get special delivery cost back ? Not really comfortable sending £150 untracked with contents obvious from the address.

NBLondon

BiggaThanBen said:

It is not over £200, think it may actually be closer to £150 - can I still use the bulk form and get special delivery cost back ? Not really comfortable sending £150 untracked with contents obvious from the address.

The T&C https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-11/Stamp-Swap-Out-Terms-and-Conditions-Last-updated-7-November-2022.pdf don't specifically you can't use the "wrong" form but they may then decline to refund the postage. or if they are being awkward, decline the whole order.

I agree - sending £150 worth without insurance is high risk whatever RM say - so I'd use some of the stamps to pay for Special Delivery (as close to the price that you can get and then pay the last 10p or so in cash at the PO).  You may get lucky and get it refunded.

elsien

I used special delivery, paid with my old stamps, and got refunded with bar-coded stamps