Swap out stamps

MobileSaver

molerat said:

The cut off date is still officially 31 Jan but ..........

What happens if I use a non-barcoded stamp after 31 January 2023?

Mail posted with non-barcoded Definitive stamps after 31 January 2023, will for the first 6 month be delivered as normal, no surcharge will be raised. After this 6 month grace period, an item with a non-barcoded stamp would be treated as if there is insufficient postage. Any item that has insufficient postage is subject to a surcharge. Surcharge fees can be found on our website.

I'm guessing this means that after 31 Jan you can still use non-barcoded stamps on letters and small parcels that you post yourself but I wonder if Post Office staff will still accept such items over the counter? (E.g. if you require a proof of posting certificate/receipt or as part-payment if your parcel postage costs more than the stamps you've already stuck to it?)

NBLondon

MobileSaver said:

molerat said:

The cut off date is still officially 31 Jan but ..........

What happens if I use a non-barcoded stamp after 31 January 2023?

Mail posted with non-barcoded Definitive stamps after 31 January 2023, will for the first 6 month be delivered as normal, no surcharge will be raised. After this 6 month grace period, an item with a non-barcoded stamp would be treated as if there is insufficient postage. Any item that has insufficient postage is subject to a surcharge. Surcharge fees can be found on our website.

I'm guessing this means that after 31 Jan you can still use non-barcoded stamps on letters and small parcels that you post yourself but I wonder if Post Office staff will still accept such items over the counter? (E.g. if you require a proof of posting certificate/receipt or as part-payment if your parcel postage costs more than the stamps you've already stuck to it?)

Good question.  The stamps will be invalid so the PO clerk should point this out to you and request the full amount.   Whether the PO has set up the process for this and trained all the staff is another good question.

NBLondon

NBLondon said:

MobileSaver said:

molerat said:

The cut off date is still officially 31 Jan but ..........

What happens if I use a non-barcoded stamp after 31 January 2023?

Mail posted with non-barcoded Definitive stamps after 31 January 2023, will for the first 6 month be delivered as normal, no surcharge will be raised. After this 6 month grace period, an item with a non-barcoded stamp would be treated as if there is insufficient postage. Any item that has insufficient postage is subject to a surcharge. Surcharge fees can be found on our website.

I'm guessing this means that after 31 Jan you can still use non-barcoded stamps on letters and small parcels that you post yourself but I wonder if Post Office staff will still accept such items over the counter? (E.g. if you require a proof of posting certificate/receipt or as part-payment if your parcel postage costs more than the stamps you've already stuck to it?)

Good question.  The stamps will be invalid so the PO clerk should point this out to you and request the full amount.   Whether the PO has set up the process for this and trained all the staff is another good question.

I read on a stamp collector thread (that I trust) that PO have been instructed to accept non-barcoded during the grace period.

However, as before - I wouldn't assume that all sub-PO will have the same instructions as Crown PO or indeed all clerks will so checking in advance with your preferred PO might be the best idea if you have ones to use up.

FFHillbilly

I sent all mine back in December, not much about 25 x 2nd class and 4 x large letter 2nd class. about a week later I received a letter saying "we got your form, but you forgot to include the stamps....". I was really annoyed, wishing I sent them recorded, and the next day was just about to get round to addressing it and another letter arrived with 35 new barcoded 1st class stamps and a letter apologising about some mistake they have been making. 

EmotionalIntelligence

After Christmas, we had a large number of books of stamps left over, many with just one or two stamps in them. Before sending £67 worth of them to your stamp-swap-out we moved them all so that we sent in full books rather than dozens of partially full ones. These stamps were brand new, simply moved from a nearly empty book into a full one. 

On 20th January I received a reply claiming but giving no evidence whatsoever that 48 of the stamps were “either stamps which have already been used or were not genuine Royal Mail stamps”. 

Neither of these claims are true and to arbitrarily refuse to pay with zero evidence is an unacceptable  and dubious at best business practice. 

I escalated this to Postal Review Panel who have replied with the same comments and again zero evidence. 

I then escalated to CEO Office Royal Mail who replied with the same comments and again zero evidence. They said I had tried all escalation routes so to try independent help. 

This is the real Fraud

Jeremy535897

Why would you go to the trouble of moving stamps from one "book" to another, when the postage to send them in is free, so it doesn't matter if they are heavier in their original "books" than concentrating them into fewer "books"? No wonder they didn't believe you!

NBLondon

EmotionalIntelligence said:

After Christmas, we had a large number of books of stamps left over, many with just one or two stamps in them. Before sending £67 worth of them to your stamp-swap-out we moved them all so that we sent in full books rather than dozens of partially full ones. These stamps were brand new, simply moved from a nearly empty book into a full one. 

The SwapOut form includes the sentence:

Self-adhesive stamps must be attached to their original backing paper or book.

So by moving them - you've failed to comply with the T&C.   The checkers have probably detected this and concluded those stamps had already been used.   I don't think you'll get anywhere with this.