According to the Royal Mail website this week, things are changing for the better.
Following the success of the GI01 machine, Gibraltar Post will be installing two Royal Mail Post and Go machines in their main post office and parcel office respectively. The machines, GI02 and GI03, will go live from 9 September and carry the Gibraltar Flag design.
Each reel in the machine will offer different values – Reel A- Gibraltar and UK values; Reel B- European and Worldwide values.
As the purpose of this blog is principally to report on stamps of the UK, plus output from Post and Go machines in the UK, this will be the only report on what is happening in Gibraltar. Readers who wish to keep updated on Post and Go happenings in Gibraltar and the Channel Islands can follow the Royal Mail website or those of the relevant postal administrations.
UPDATE ON THE LAST WORD! 13 September 2015. From the Gibraltar Chronicle.
A new ‘Post and Go’ machine was unveiled yesterday at the post office by the Gibraltar Government that ‘will make thousands of pounds’ for Gibraltar. Neil Costa, Minister for Postal Services, said that stamps collectors could take an interest and a German businessman has already spent thousands on Gibraltar’s ‘unique’ product.
The machines, currently on a trial basis and rented for a few hundred pounds a month, were first launched on 15 May at the Europhilex convention in London.
“This was the most important philatelic exhibition in the world,” said Mr Costa. “Jersey and Guernsey Post already have one of these machines and the Isle of Man is also considering one.”
Two have been installed at the main Post Office and the other at the Parcel Office. A pillar box has also been installed inside the Parcel Office for customer convenience.
Mr Costa said that the upgrade will ‘significantly’ cut down queue times, especially during the Christmas rush and during cruise liner visits.
“There’s a lot of technology in these machines,” he said. “It contains a chip and pin option, a barcode reader, it prints receipts and you can post letters and buy stamps. It can also be programmed for different things.”
David Ledger, Royal Gibraltar Post Office CEO, said that the joint project between the Royal Gibraltar Post Office and the Royal Mail has three machines with original stamp marks.
“We have three machines that contain the stamp marks GI01, GI02 and GI03,” he said. “GI01 will be in Gibraltar House all year round, but will visit the Stampex Exhibition in London for four days on 16 September. It will mark the Queen’s longest reign and the Gibraltar stamp will read a special message.”
I e-mailed the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau to ask if the Main Post Office and Parcel Office stamps would be sold on the philatelic website but was informed that these items would only be available to people who were actually present at those 2 sites to use the kiosks. Anyone wanting these real stamps will therefore have to obtain them from dealers if they can't get to Gibraltar themselves.
ReplyDeleteI am awaiting confirmation but it seems to me that there are 12 values being sold in Gibraltar and only 6 in Gibraltar House. Certainly a collectors strip at Stampex did not include values for Spain, Europe and Worldwide which are known to be available from machines on the rock.
DeleteDespite my best intentions, I feel another blog post coming. :-(
Ian, you are right. There are 2 Internet dealers currently offering 2 Collectors' strips from each location making a total of 12 different values from each of the 2 sites - as you say these include values for rates to Spain, Europe and so on - more than are available on the Collectors' strips sold by the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau or were originally offered at Europhilex.
ReplyDeleteI bought a strip at Stampex, but wasn't aware of the 'on location' offerings, so I didn't think to look for a second strip of different values.
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