This is addressed only to those collectors who use pre-printed stamp albums for their GB collections.
I have addressed this subject several times before but it has never been more important. Royal Mail have decided to change the policy on sales periods for 'special' stamp issues. For some time the old policy of "withdrawn after 1 year" has been flexed to allow for the continued sales of stamps issues in a series - Classic Locomotives, World War I, etc.
Now they have decided that the less popular subjects will be printed in lower quantities (to avoid wastage) and go off-sale between 6-9 months after the issue date, whilst still allowing for sales at (one) Stampex. No specific details have yet been announced.
Some album supplements will be appearing soon. To ensure you have all the stamps you need, you have to guess which ones the publishers will include. Look back at this post from six years ago: the situation has not improved.
If Royal Mail know an issue is going to be ‘less’ popular, then why was it chosen for the myriad of values we get subjected to, when it could have been accommodated as part of general issue with other worthy subjects (events, people etc…).
ReplyDeleteI think popularity means "longer term' popularity.
DeleteTaking the 2016 issues British Humanitarians certainly had shorter-term popularity, while Pink Floyd, Beatrix Potter and Agatha Christie would have had longer-lasting sales.
It's quite possible, for instance, that even Shackleton (January) wasn't in demand at Autumn Stampex, so there's no point in taking stocks, and it could have gone off-sale (for example) in July. We will all know more in due course.
A lot of non-stampy people don't know the stamps come out. However, usually announced on day of issue in some national newspapers. I cannot recall when I last saw a big poster in the post office advertising the special stamps, before the Game of Thrones issue. Classic Album covers, perhaps? I can't recall seeing posters for Star Wars, although either.
ReplyDeleteI remember there was a short sale period for the Olympic Golds and these seemed to be quite popular, especially in the home areas of the winners.
I think it might depend on the PO - or the local manager. The one I use most as an actual PO is a sub-postoffice at the back of a convenience store and they had the promo material up for Star Wars 2015 but not 2017. They probably want wall space etc. for promoting the special offers in the shop rather than the PO. The one I use as an alternate is a sub-PO that sells a few greetings cards as a sideline so has plenty of wall space to promote PO services and could easily find space for matters philatelic.
DeleteIt seems odd to reduce the printing of less popular issues to lessen waste. They ought to just sell them if a customer comes in for a 1st class stamp, as post offices used to. The the general post the public gets would be more interesting and may lead to greater sales of commemoratives.
ReplyDeleteI think there are more than sufficient 1st class stamps available from the 14 or so stamp sets issued every year. My postmaster never orders 1st class counter sheets because he sells either booklets or special stamp issues.
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