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

NBLondon

veryintrigued said:

At the buyback stage commences you wonder:

- if these are genuine will the Royal Mail really allow a profit of 50p per stamp?

- if these aren't genuine and the Royal Mail spot this will the sender get into trouble (as well as receiving nothing back)

If they are genuine - RM won't know what you paid for them so they will exchange for barcoded equivalent.

If they are fake - cx6 is probably right; they will be retained and destroyed and you'll just get a letter/e-mail telling you this.  They might ask you to identify the source for further investigation.

soolin said:

Some listings specifically say these cannot be used for postage ( ie they are fakes), but the listing linked to is selling as though they are legal stamps.

Yep - especially for sheets - there will be small print saying something like "for philatelic/ collector use only".  And some collectors do want fakes to build a collection of different types.

soolin said:

I do actually wonder if it is a fake listing on a dodgy account so nothing will be sent, although it seems a lot of bother for £4.25.

Looking at the other listings for that seller - they don't seem to be a stamp dealer.   They appear to have acquired nearly a hundred booklets and then sold them at 42% of face value.  Which makes me wonder if they were fakes or possibly stolen?

It's possible that they were a small business who bought a lot of stamps for a local mailshot then decided against it and wanted to recoup the cost of the stamps quickly.

thelordgiveth

I don't think this should just be accepted as a fait accompli. I would like someone (MSE?) to query the justification for this. By all means start selling barcoded definitives only but why on earth put a time limit on when the non-barcoded ones can be used? It is just unnecessary hassle for the public and expense for Royal Mail (though I dare say the latter will probably be covered by stamps people don't bother to change or find two years too late).

I also fail to understand the logic of barcoded definitive stamps becoming invalid but unbarcoded commemoratives still being valid. The only justification can be that it is not worth forging the latter - so, when they say it is for security, it is not for our security.

We'll have to see exactly how all this is supposed to work. As others have said, what about regional stamps? Will fixed value stamps actually become invalid? What about definitive stamps with face values for which there is no current equivalent?

As a collector, the change will give me the opportunity to draw a line when it comes to buying definitive issues for the sake of completeness. I dare say I will not be the only one so that will be lost revenue for providing no postal service at all! I also note with some amusement the instruction that RM will have to be careful how it cancels mail if the barcode is still to be readable. Most of our mail doesn't get cancelled at all, which is very annoying if the sender has used special stamps. I'm not proposing reusing such stamps any more than I would support forgery but failing to cancel stamps must itself cost RM money.

A_Lert

Not read full thread.

I think the real motivation is two-fold. Firstly, once the "swap out" scheme ends, Royal Mail no longer have the liability of all the old stamps on their books, giving them a paper boost to their finances.

Secondly this means any letter sent can have the purchase location of the stamp traced. The police and MI5 will no doubt make use of that.

cx6

Has anyone got any reliable info on what exactly this barcode will contain? I know a link to 'more information ' and probably adverts etc but is there anything like a serial number etc that would uniquely identify each stamp?

NBLondon

cx6 said:

Has anyone got any reliable info on what exactly this barcode will contain? I know a link to 'more information ' and probably adverts etc but is there anything like a serial number etc that would uniquely identify each stamp?

Yes - it seems there is some form of unique identifier.  http://31ppurple.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-big-stamp-with-barcode.html    so it could be used to track where the stamp was sold from as A_Lert asked.  Not sure where that would be useful unless they are used on blackmail letters or parcel bombs ???

jon81uk

NBLondon said:

cx6 said:

Has anyone got any reliable info on what exactly this barcode will contain? I know a link to 'more information ' and probably adverts etc but is there anything like a serial number etc that would uniquely identify each stamp?

Yes - it seems there is some form of unique identifier.  http://31ppurple.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-big-stamp-with-barcode.html    so it could be used to track where the stamp was sold from as A_Lert asked.  Not sure where that would be useful unless they are used on blackmail letters or parcel bombs ???

It's just so they won't need to postmark them.

Post Office and print at home postage has barcodes now so they get scanned. Easier to scan everything and stop post-marks.

cx6

But no individual serial number so if you received a letter with the stamp unfranked, soaked it off and re-used it then they would know? Or indeed bought a bag full from eBay! I suppose a serial number could be hidden amongst all those letters and numbers.

veryintrigued

cx6 said:

But no individual serial number so if you received a letter with the stamp unfranked, soaked it off and re-used it then they would know? Or indeed bought a bag full from eBay! I suppose a serial number could be hidden amongst all those letters and numbers.

Isn't that the whole point of the barcoding?

I.e. that franking isn't actually needed (eventually) as the IT systems should be able to recognise whether the barcode has been through the system before and then reject it.

Spoonie_Turtle

soolin said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

cx6 said:

you can be certain RM will spot them

Probably not get 'in trouble' but they will be destroyed

And of course it will be the buyers losing out (I have empathy for the naive ones who bought in good faith - I had to do some digging to find that the phrases most of these listings use means they're not legal for postage) not the sellers.  As always!  (We lose out already because the hundreds of thousands of fakes surely factor into the price rises every year.)

Some listings specifically say these cannot be used for postage ( ie they are fakes), but the listing linked to is selling as though they are legal stamps.

I do actually wonder if it is a fake listing on a dodgy account so nothing will be sent, although it seems a lot of bother for £4.25.

I looked at that specific listing after posting and I thought that maybe they just don't want to risk not being able to swap out Christmas stamps and won't use them themselves.  They're not the usual stamps to be faked, that's for sure!

custardy

veryintrigued said:

cx6 said:

But no individual serial number so if you received a letter with the stamp unfranked, soaked it off and re-used it then they would know? Or indeed bought a bag full from eBay! I suppose a serial number could be hidden amongst all those letters and numbers.

Isn't that the whole point of the barcoding?

I.e. that franking isn't actually needed (eventually) as the IT systems should be able to recognise whether the barcode has been through the system before and then reject it.

The system is already in place for reused/doubled barcodes for the likes of Tracked parcels.
Account customers are charged for barcodes that are duplicated