Wednesday 24 September 2014

Post and Go at the BPMA

News release, Postal Heritage, 18 September

On 21 October the Poppy Post and Go issue, unveiled at Autumn Stampex, will be available from The British Postal Museum and Archive (BPMA), commemorating Armistice Day and Remembrance events. The Poppy issue will be on sale from a new Post and Go+ machine, which will be installed in the BPMA foyer at Freeling House, London on 17 October.


The Post and Go+ is the standard A001 machine but with an additional “pod” allowing up to four reels of stamps to be vended, and is the first of its kind in the UK. This will allow the BPMA to expand its offer to the philatelic community by creating a greater range of designs available for each underprint.
The Poppy design will be issued alongside the standard Machin, second class Machin and the Union Flag stamps. The text on the 'underprint' will read “The B.P.M.A.” as on previous issues.
Philatelic products featuring the poppy issue will be available from the BPMA online shop. Please check the website, postalheritage.org.uk for updates.
The stamp will be available from the BPMA foyer during standard opening hours until 5pm 12 November, being replaced with this year’s Winter Greenery Christmas designs on 13 November.

We are not planning to stock these BPMA stamps.

UPDATE 9 October.

Thanks to one of our alert readers I can now add this from the IAR site:


A001 + Pod Signed Off
 
The new A001 kiosk and Side pod have been tested and signed off.

It will be installed on the afternoon of the 16th September – The BPMA kiosk will not be available from 15:30 of the 16th. The session number is automatically carried over from the previous kiosk,
The kiosk is the same design as A005 at Stampex, in that it has options for multiple side pods, it has speakers – so finally you can hear what Ellie is saying in her instructional video! Press the i button and press the video
The original A001 will be given a MOT check and new designation, ready to be installed in its new home – watch this space.

So this suggests that the new machine will print A001 on labels despite being a replacement, a bit like definitive stamps being printed from a new cylinder but the cylinder number remaining the same. Doubtless there will be some subtle difference in the printing - aside from the new base labels that will be available.  

Examples of the BPMA Airmail Post and Go stamps recently appeared on eBay with 1st class and 1st Large printed on the blue Machin stamps.

An explanation of the software error which caused these is on the postagelabels.co.uk blog.

11 comments:

  1. One wonders if this is a new style machine or if it’s the existing A001 with modifications. Will it still be A001 or A01+. Will the others (A002 to A005) be similarly upgraded?

    The only problem with tailoring supply to demand is that the law of diminishing returns comes into play sooner rather than later (sorry for the economics speak).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't apologise, it's what many of us have been saying for ages. Just as many former new issue dealers no longer stock special issues available from Royal Mail's ebay shop and website, so some never took up Faststamps and those who did are cutting back. Whilst the variants are interesting, and occasionally throw up an 'only here' variety between other changes, I don't see any long term philatelic interest in these, not even as much as in the Machins that so many decry!

      And as for "printing inset by one character from left margin, only available for 2 hours"..... scarce they may be, rare they may be, but valuable? I'll let the market decide!

      Delete
  2. That is good to hear! I have been collecting all the different, basic 'overprints' up until now and now with Jersey (already issued Jersey flag, broad street overprint, broad street airshow overprint, union flag overprint - blimey they only installed the machine at the beginning of September!) and the NRNM my heart was sinking rapidly. Even more so when I saw the NRNM are starting to issue 'special' overprints as well! (Trafalgar). At least the BPMA is easy for me to get to! I was planning to call it a day at the end of this year - maybe just sticking to the new pictorials - which are very pretty. And at £7.42 a pop for a collector's strip it doesn't seem worthwhile - an alternative maybe just to stick to one 1st class of each!

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  3. Do you know if the rolls of poppies will be installed in the Wincor Nixdorf machines on the 21st October.

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    Replies
    1. We haven't been told as such, but the idea is that these will be available nationwide, so I think we can assume that the remaining Wincor-Nixdorf machines will have them.

      Delete
  4. So the current A001 will be having a change of identity and given a new home!

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    Replies
    1. In reply to this and to the 29 September comment which I didn't read properly:

      "The Post and Go+ is the standard A001 machine but with an additional “pod”" is what the press release says, so I think we can be sure that it IS the standard A001 machine.

      Delete
    2. There was a subsequent update
      http://iarroyalmailpostandgo.com/latestnews/a001-pod-signed-off/

      Delete
    3. Thank you for the IAR update. This unofficial source does indeed indicate that it will be a new machine.

      Officially nothing should be put on that site unless it has already been published by Royal Mail, but they are the masters of communication so we can't expect them to know everything that IAR are doing or planning, especially if IAR don't actually tell Royal Mail!

      I'll edit the original post - thanks for being alert to this.

      Delete
  5. They’ve added a (bad) photo of A001+ on their twitter account
    pic.twitter.com/REDAHRnS4w

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been told that the new BPMA machine is the actual A005 machine in use at Stampex (next to the Royal Mail stand) rebadged A001, with additional facilities. So most of us who went to Stampex have seen it.

      Delete

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