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Monday, 9 June 2014

News Update 9 June

Both the Royal Mail Philatelic Bulletin and the July edition of Stamp Magazine have news that we haven't seen before through the normal channels from Royal Mail.  If this were April I would not be surprised at some of the stories and we await with interest whatever detail Royal Mail chooses to share with us.

According to the Philatelic Bulletin:
A new pack of Post and Go stamps will be issued through NCR Self-Service terminals in Post Office branches and from Royal Mail Tallents House from 7 July.  The pack will contain 5 stamps with a total value of £3.78 (1L, 2L, 1LG, 2LG and A) and will have machine code C002.
It seems unlikely that these will be dispensed through NCR terminals.
 According to Stamp Magazine:
1. Self-adhesive stamps are to be printed with a security inscription on the entire backing paper from next year to deter forgers.  This will include special stamps as well as definitives in counter sheets, booklets, business sheets and coils.
Given the quality of the most recent 1st class red forgery this may only be a minor inconvenience to the forgers. Very few special stamps have been forged (some Christmas stamps seem to have been targeted), so it remains to be seen how the move will affect them.
 2. Horizon labels are to be redesigned with the head of Queen Elizabeth reduced in size and positioned at the top right, so as to leave space for the overprinted service and payment details.  They will no longer be gold in colour.  No date has been set for the introduction
We understand that the colour of the label will remain aproximately the same but that there will be no gold printing.  As the gold printing currently repeats the 'ROYALMAIL' text across the labels, it is possible that this will be in white on what will be pale brown labels.
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous10 June 2014 at 05:40

    Through NCR terminals may be barcode scanned, the same as some other items. Envelopes etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian - Norvic10 June 2014 at 10:09

      You may be right, but that means that the packs would have to be on display, or available to pick, which would be a first I think. I doubt that there will be a menu item to alert collectors of their existence, but who knows?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous10 June 2014 at 11:09

    NCR or IAR? I’m guessing the contents of the packs will be 1st class, 1st large, 2nd class, 2nd large & combi stamp. Hopefully the MA codes will be consistent.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thomas von Loeper10 June 2014 at 12:40

    If it should be 1st and 2nd class mixed in one set, this would mean two different kinds of labels so no strip of 5

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian - Norvic10 June 2014 at 12:48

      My understanding is that it will be 5 individual stamps, as in the original Bristol-style packs. The stamps will be 1L, 2L, 1LG, 2LG and A (being 62p, 53p, 93p, 73p, and 97p) so there will be two blue Machins and 3 brown.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous2 July 2014 at 11:06

    The pack and image have appeared on the Royal Mail website, wasn’t expecting them to be OV.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian - Norvic2 July 2014 at 11:16

      That's what my quote from the Bulletin was intended to convey.

      "1L, 2L, 1LG, 2LG and A"

      The base stamps are not new, to Royal Mail, so this is a blatant money-maker just because the new machines can print something different on them.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7 July 2014 at 22:34

      I tried to buy the pack from Trafalgar Square Post Office today - they hadn't heard of the pack and the machines weren't set up to sell to issue the sets, even they I was told they'd been on sale for a few weeks

      Delete

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