Money Moral Dilemma: Should I return the 100+ stamps that Royal Mail sent to me by mistake?

MSE_Kelvin

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

I sent 45 non-barcoded stamps to Royal Mail under its swap scheme, and it sent me back four envelopes, each containing 45 barcoded stamps - 180 in total. I called Royal Mail, explained the error, and was sent an envelope to return the 135 extra stamps. I posted them back, only for another 132 stamps to arrive! This has already taken a decent amount of my time and effort to try and solve - do I need to keep sending them back?

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al223

Keep them, it was their choice to make new barcoded stamps and also to make the old stamps obsolete, giving everyone who has any the hassle of exchanging them, or losing them or binning them, boosting their profits. At the rate they are going you would have to return them another 44 times, it's not worth the hassle.

guiriman

Destroy them, same net effect as returning them

SultanPepper

You've reached out to them, thought you had a resolution only to go full circle.
At this point you've notified them and done what you can do. Id hold on to them and wait for them to address the issue. if you end up using a few and they decide they need them back they are easily replaceable. 
Treat stamps like money, if someone asks for a fiver back it doesn't have to the be the original fiver they lent you.

Bonnypitlad

Lucky You!
 I bet someone at RM will get a roasting from their boss in the morning ( if it’s true)
You have tried, now enjoy your windfall 

Louispastrami

No of course not. They were not just unsolicited,  you actually sent them back only to have them returned by a possibly mischievous or possibly incompetent enployer. God knows what will happen if you send them back again. Share them with friends and family or donate to a worthy cause.

Gosportmum

You did the decent thing first time around and RM have messed up- again! I'd keep the second lot and deny all knowledge if they ask for them back - my exchanged stamps weren't sent by recorded delivery.

AnneMary

I think you’ve spent enough time and effort on this. I probably keep them at the back of a drawer for six months or so. If there’s no come back by then, there is unlikely to be any and I’d use or share them.

lovejoy56

You have gone beyond expectance to put THEIR two errors right, if I were you I would contact them one last time and demand that they collect the stamps from your door ( as they do with Parcels etc ) within 7 days or you will destroy them... Ahem ahem !

XRAT

Don't waste your time, wait for them to be collected.

MalMonroe

"This has already taken a decent amount of my time and effort to try and solve - do I need to keep sending them back?"

Does it really take a lot of time and effort to contact RM and then post stamps back to them?

I can't believe that the consensus is that it's okay to keep things that aren't yours. However they came into your possession and however incompetent anyone feels RM is, they're not your stamps.

They are not yours. Return them. It's the right thing to do.