Can I exchange my stamps for the new barcoded ones?

NBLondon

Barcoded Stamps Swap Out Request| Royal Mail Group Ltd

TOP_CAT

I only just found these replys (3 days later) and wanted to thank those posters .
Ordered a form to be sent out ..Thanks  

Grandad99

Picture stamps do not need to be swapped  and can still be used. No problem if they show 1st or 2nd class but what about these?  I have quite a few other different ones like this.  Assuming they need to be swapped what value do I show on the form? 

This one can be found by knowing if 25p was 1st or 2nd class in 1995 but the others are not so helpful

kalsha

@Grandad99  These are commemorative stamps and do not need to be swapped.  You can continue to use them

Money_Grabber13579

Grandad99 said:

Picture stamps do not need to be swapped  and can still be used. No problem if they show 1st or 2nd class but what about these?  I have quite a few other different ones like this.  Assuming they need to be swapped what value do I show on the form? 

This one can be found by knowing if 25p was 1st or 2nd class in 1995 but the others are not so helpful

But just to add to the above, they are still only worth 25p. That might have been the first class rate when they were issued but it is £1.10 now so if you use them to post a 1st class letter, you will need 4 of them plus 10p (what I’m getting at is that even if they were eligible for swapping, the value to be shown in the form would be 25p x number of stamps - it doesn’t matter what class of postage they were designed for at the time of issue)

soolin

As above, anything with a value on it is still worth that same value, I have some very old commemoratives here with as little as 5p on them, it is easy to fill up an entire envelope with them just to post 2nd class! 

A  couple of years back when this was announced a lot of people myself included decided to start using a lot of these old commemoratives and see who could use the most on a single parcel. There were lots of photos on various FB groups. I even got a parcel with over 20 stamps on them just to make up the £2 70 odd for 2nd class. 

ichigo21

I have un-bar-coded stamps to swap. Although Christmas stamps and commemorative should still be accepted, I believe, in practice they are consistently refused at post office counters when on a parcel as they “don’t have a bar code”. So I want to swap all mine: Christmas, commemorative, definitive, the lot. The swap form however discourages this showing examples of “stamps you don’t need to swap out”. 

So my question - despite the wording on the form has anyone swapped out Christmas and commemorative stamps successfully?

Brie

@ichigo21
I thought that the swap time period ended in June or July. 

I have in the past tried to change the stamps I have at the post office but with no luck at all - this was pre bar coded.  Basically I needed something like a 8p stamp (or combination) in order to use up an old stamp but the post office didn't have the right stamps to sell me so I asked if I could exchange the stamp I had, pay 8p, and get the new stamp.  So say postage used to be 92p and now it's £1.  I was told no as they couldn't refund me for a stamp and couldn't accept it in payment. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Brie said:

@ichigo21
I thought that the swap time period ended in June or July. 

No, the grace period for using them ended in July, but there is no end date for being able to swap them (or at least, not one they've made publicly known).  Stamps are supposed to be valid indefinitely so not allowing swaps after a certain date would negate that.

soolin

Brie said:

@ichigo21
I thought that the swap time period ended in June or July. 

I have in the past tried to change the stamps I have at the post office but with no luck at all - this was pre bar coded.  Basically I needed something like a 8p stamp (or combination) in order to use up an old stamp but the post office didn't have the right stamps to sell me so I asked if I could exchange the stamp I had, pay 8p, and get the new stamp.  So say postage used to be 92p and now it's £1.  I was told no as they couldn't refund me for a stamp and couldn't accept it in payment. 

The post office have never exchanged the old stamps, onlly RM . 

I don’t believe RM have stated any end to the swap out scheme yet.