Royal Mail to end Smartstamp facilty?

According to TravelMole, a website devoted to the Travel and Tourism industries, Royal Mail is stopping its Smartstamp system.  [Royal Mail have confirmed the closure from 31 December2015 - but see comments from January 2016.]

UPDATE 11 JANUARY:  New Facebook page for users may convince Royal Mail to provide a better replacement than so far offered https://www.facebook.com/SmartStampUsers

Smartstamp was launched on 15 January 2004, and we wrote about it at the time. 

For a fee of £4.99 per month or £49.99 per year, subscribers can use a personal

computer to print postage on their own envelopes or labels from the comfort of their own home or office.

The software also provides complete details of postage rates and those for supplementary services, so that the correct values are printed, for any destination and weight selected.

Test prints can be produced at any time but users need to be online to use the system, as prepayment accounts are debited as each impression or batch of impressions is printed. The system prints the value and a service indicator, a code number, and the date by which the item must be posted.

Remember when 1st class postage was 28p and 2nd class only 21p?!  I don't know how much take-up there was for the system, especially when the software was restricted to Internet Explorer, and initially could not be used on Apple's Safari or Mozilla's Firefox browsers.  In September 2006 a new facility was launched which had no subscription, and would run on other operating systems and browsers, but still take-up was quite low.  It's not clear whether the Royal Mail Online Postage system will also be ending.

Aside from the small businesses which used the system, it was used quite extensively for a short

period by people producing 'scarce', 'rare', 'one-day only' thematic/topical postage slogans for sale on eBay.  In fact, they were nothing of the sort: they could print them on demand, but they covered many animal, bird, sporting topics.  On the other hand there were some genuine thematic slogans produced by organisations such as the Society of Olympic Collectors.


TravelMole says that it was widely used by Travel Agents:

"Despite most correspondence being via email, travel agencies are still posting tickets to customers."

According to TravelMole:

Royal Mail is replacing the system with various web applications when it closes Smartstamp on December 31.  It claims the new systems could lead to savings but agents argue that the replacement system prints large labels where the address has to be added which can be very time consuming. 

Royal Mail said the SmartStamp system was now running on outdated technology which was not compatible with Windows 10, Mac OSX and other operating systems in use.

A spokesman said: "We are supporting customer migration to one of our range of web applications such as Online Business Account, Online Postage or Click and Drop, which are more accessible and have better functionality across a range of platforms and devices.

"Customers will see no increase in the cost of postage as a result of the change and may see savings, depending on their usage.

"Over the next three months we will be working with all our customers that currently use SmartStamp to find a new solution which best meets their postage needs."

It sounds to me like a classic case of Hutber's Law. Whilst many organisations will have upgraded to Windows 10 (especially if they tried using Windows 8) the main users of the system are reckoned to be small businesses, many of which tend to upgrade when they get new hardware, rather than just because a new buggy system is available, delaying their upgrade until the bugs have been eliminated.
Of course Royal Mail also have an eBay/PayPal integrated postage-printing option, so this may have to change as well.  There is nothing obvious on their website about the changes.

Do you use Smartstamp or Online Postage ? Have you heard from Royal Mail about the changes?
Let us know!

UPDATE 6 November
Bob M received an email from Royal Mail on 4 November (I suspect my own Smartstamp account expired some years ago, which is why I didn't get one!)

It's long and graphic, but the key points are:

Dear Customer,

We need to let you know that SmartStamp will be closing down permanently on 31 December 2015. SmartStamp has been in existence since 2003 and has become outdated. The application is running on very old systems which cannot easily be upgraded to new platforms.

The good news is that we have a number of alternative options, with improved accessibility, to keep you posting.

It’s important you consider and choose the right option for you before SmartStamp becomes unavailable at the end of December. Please take some time to consider the overviews below and then visit our website for more detailed information.

Click and Drop
Our new one-stop postage and labels solution ..................

Why not visit https://parcel.royalmail.com/ and join the thousands of customers already using this system today?

Online Postage
By switching to Online Postage, you can use your existing prepay account (and any of your credit currently in it). There’s also an address book function. Here’s why we think you should consider this option:

• Print on 3 different envelope sizes, 2 Avery label sizes or paper
• You can use it on newer operating systems, such as Windows and Mac OS
• No need to download the application to your computer, or worry about yearly patches – everything you need is online
• Free access on multiple computers.

Please visit www.royalmail.com/onlinepostage to see our full guide and work through 6 easy steps to post.

Sheets or rolls of stamps from our online shop

Online Business Account (OBA)
If you spend an average of £20 a day, £100 a week, £400 a month or £5,000 a year, you could qualify for - and save money using - an Online Business Account. Find out more, including how to contact us, at www.royalmail.com/onlinebusinessaccount.

Franking machine
Please visit www.royalmail.com/franking to learn more about the benefits of a Franking machine - and contact details if you need more help.

UPDATE 9 December So although Smartstamp is ending, Online Postage - which is "much the same but better" - continues. The Travel Agents ought to find that just as useful!  But they don't, as you can see from the comments appended below.

I've now received a c6 (board-backed) envelope with a new OnlinePostage label.  Because this incorporates the address, weight and payment details, and Royal Mail's required new 2D barcode, it is of course much larger than the old Smartstamp.  It also covers the pre-printed 'Please do not bend' so requiring another endorsement.

Collectable?  As postal history I suppose it must be, but postal history collecting is taking more and more space!

4 January 2016 UPDATE
Activity on twitter from disgruntled users and the consumer watchdog 'Citizens Advice' is asking for comments.  That may be why - according to reports - Smartstamp is still working today.

I've never been known as an apologist for Royal Mail, but OnlinePostage has always been the non-subscription alternative to Smartstamp and produced an impression very similar.  The service does not require you to print onto labels as the FAQ shows (unless the website is wrong):

What can I print my postage onto?

You can print your postage on to standard label sheets, DL, C6, C5, envelopes or A4 paper. To see all label sizes click on the ‘Easy Start ‘section on the homepage or ‘Edit print options’ on the create postage page.

The Plug was finally pulled on 31 January 2016.

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