Royal Mail annunced details of it's 'Swap-Out' scheme, yesterday, 31 March 2022 a year ahead of what was originally said to be the deadline for exchange. That impeccable timing means that the news has been published in the national and local press on 1 April, ie All Fools Day.
My first 'Thoughts' on 10 February made a number of assumptions and posed a number of questions. Reader contributions from sources in Royal Mail and elsewhere were added, and Royal Mail changed some of the earlier decisions, notably on Christmas stamps.
I'm starting from the assumptions that these will be invalidated:
All Machin definitives since 1971, and £1 values before that;
All Christmas stamps after 2005 when definitive-size started;
Commemoratives, Post and Go*, and Country Definitives≠ will not be invalidated.
Those assumptions leave plenty of grey areas, such as the Long To Reign MS which includes one single definitive and four larger commorative stamps, the Wildings both national and regional, and the greetings/smilers definitive-sized stamps sold in booklets of 6. There are many more.
≠We also don't know about the country definitives for sure.
We now know that, in summary, Machin and Country definitives will be invalidated, along with some special definitives, but that Christmas, Commemorative and Special, and Post and Go stamps will NOT and these will not be accepted for trade-in. More on this below.
Terminology. In describing the stamps which will or will not be invalidated Royal Mail have used the terms 'valid (for) postage' and 'valid for swap(-out)', which might have been phrased in a better way. Be sure to understand which is which, and if there is any doubt refer to Royal Mail's doscumentation rather than any other.
Royal Mail will launch an ongoing nationwide awareness programme, that will run throughout the year, to ensure that everyone who wishes to swap out their stamps will have the opportunity to do so. The campaign will include press and radio advertising and a national door drop leaflet delivered to every household in the UK.
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| There will be a big surplus of these unless RM change! |
Mechanics
There are two Swap-out forms, one for consignments worth up to £200 and one for bulk swaps.
For consignments under £200, gummed stamps (ie not self-adhesive) must be stuck to the form. Self-adhesive stamps should remain affixed to their original backing paper.
For bulk consignments, gummed stamps must not be stuck to paper and must instead be clearly batched by the stamp value and colour in clear plastic bags of 50 stamps (less than 50 stamps must be collated together in value order). [1]
Stamps will be swapped on a like-for-like basis, that is 1st class Large unbaroced will be swapped for 1st class Large barcoded.
Stamps for which there is no direct equivalent will be swapped for 2nd class barcoded stamps. [2]
Dealers
Some dealers I have spoken to have confirmed that they will trim their Machin stocks according to popularity. It makes sense if you overstocked on some values to liquidate them now, especially if they were purchased at a lower price than the current tariff.
Those dealers who already offer discount postage – and probably some who don't – will offer discounted barcoded stamps after trading-in because they will be hugely overstocked with those.
Another has said that they will consider retiring more quickly and get the benefit of full value for at least the Machin & Country stocks. And that is where life gets difficult – what does he do with £50,000-worth of barcoded 2nd class stamps?
Collectors
If you are a collector, it is time to sort your collection and check all packets and stock-books for mint duplicates, or for gaps in your collection. If you are going to carry on collecting, look out for dealer special offers.
Details of the mechanics
The stamps which can be exchanged for new barcoded stamps are:
- all Machin definitives, NVI and valued. This includes ALL NVIs, ie Special Delivery, Signed For, Worldwide 20/40g, Europe 20/40g, Worldwide Postcard, and the dark blue 'E' stamps.
- the double-head (QV & QE) stamps and the Olympic definitives.
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| All invalidated |
- country definitives are also included in the exchange scheme, although there has not yet been any announcement about barcoding these or any other replacements. For the present the existing pictorial ones will be exchanged for new barcoded Machins.
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| Invalidated |
- Minisheet or Retail Booklets that contain both Specials plus Machins or Country Definitives will be swapped to the face value of the Minisheet or Retail Booklet. [4]
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| May be swapped in as a booklet, or split and only the Machins swapped in. |
- Full Prestige Stamps Books are not valid in the Swap Scheme, this is because only a small number of stamps in these books will not be valid for postage with effect from 31 January 2023.
- Definitive panes that are removed from PSBs, will be valid for Swap at the face value of the pane.
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| Individual definitive panes can be swapped. |
- Smilers Sheets issued with Country Definitives will be valid for Swap on a like for like basis e.g. 20 x 1st Class English NVI = 20 x 1st Class Barcode stamps.
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| Smilers with Country definitives will be invalidated |
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| We think that Smilers with commemorative flags will NOT be invalidated. |
- The swap will replace the stamps on a like for like basis and will not compensate for any additional product premium above the face value of the stamps e.g. Presentation Pack & PSB premium.
Stamps which will not be exchanged include all Christmas stamps (reversing the previous statement), all special, commemorative and greetings pictorial stamps whether definitive-size or larger.
Stamps issued for the Smilers range are special stamps so will remain valid for postage and are not valid for Swap on their own. (See above regarding Smilers containing Country Definitives.)
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| Smilers sheet with Greetings stamps remain valid for postage. |
Post and Go stamps from Post Office self-serve kiosks remain valid and are not eligible for exchange. [3]
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| As far as we know all Post & Go stamps remain valid for postage |
Update 2 April. Just to make it clear(er), the stamps listed several paragraphs above as being the ones which will be traded in (or swapped out) are the only ones. This means that the rest are not eligible and will remain valid for postage. I realise that this does mean a few grey areas as below, but "if it wasn't a regular Machin definitive sold as such" or one which was part of a miniature sheet (eg Long to Reign) or PSB pane, then it remains valid for postage:
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| Decimal Wildings remain valid for postage. |
Grey Areas
Some grey areas remain.
- 1969 Pre-decimal Machin 10p, 20p, 50p £1
- 1999 Profile on Print large 1st class
- 2017 £5 Accession Machin
- 2017 £1 embossed gold Machin ex PSB & MS (the other stamps in the MS will be invalid)
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| £1 gold embossed - commemorative and valid, or definitive and invalidated? |
Postage and losses
Anybody using the scheme can use the address FREEPOST Swap Out.
Royal Mail Terms and Conditions include:
If your Swap Out form and/or non-barcoded stamps are lost in transit to us, we will not consider any claim for loss unless you provide proof of posting and a copy of the original Swap Out form. We therefore recommend that you keep the necessary records.
If you use a bulk Swap Out form for a Swap Out of £200 or more, we recommend sending your Swap Out form using a service with adequate compensation cover for the value of the non-barcoded stamps you are sending to us.
When you send your bulk Swap Out form for a Swap Out exceeding £200 using a Royal Mail delivery service, we will compensate you for the cost of that service by returning additional barcoded stamps equal to the value of your postage cost. Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed is likely to be the most appropriate service to use in most cases. (My highlighting - If you send £1000-worth of stamps using £7.65 special delivery you will receive barcoded stamps to the value of £1007.65.)
UPDATE on this 1 August - see end of blog.
UPDATE 6 April: There are reports that some people using the basic 'Freepost Swapout' address have been refused a proof of posting certificate at the Post Office because there is no postcode. (Other POs have said this is not a problem!)
If you ask Royal Mail to send you a form it comes with a preaddressed prepaid envelope. If you are sending under £200 using the downloaded form locally printed, use this address to send your package and you should get a proof of posting with no problem. Remember also to keep a copy of the Swap form in case of losses in either direction.
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| Royal Mail Swap Out Freepost address. |
There could have been another way
As already mentioned dealers who have large stocks of postage in the form of Machin and Country definitives (including the Smilers sheets with country definitivess on) will trade those in for new barcoded stamps. They will then hold more of those than they can possibly use even if they ordinarily sell a lot of stamps for postage.
Likewise collectors trading-in their collections: the only option is to sell them below face value for postage. This must reduce Royal Mail's sales income for the next year at least.
Royal Mail's accounts include a liability represented by 'Stamps in the Hands of the Public' (SITHOP), a reflection of the acknowledgement that a service had been paid for at some time in the past that might be realised some time in the future. This ought to include the stamps in the hands of collectors and dealers, the latter frequently selling those old stamps for postage. The liability currently stands at around £250M in their accounts.
The shiny new barcoded stamps received by dealers who trade in their old stocks will continue to be part of the SITHOP figure. In fact if the current figure is based on historic sales of postage and usages, at annual rates not adjusted for higher prices, then the new figure will be considerably higher.
One option which could have benefitted both the trade and Royal Mail would be an exchange for cash. Royal Mail would save a lot of effort sending out new stamps, for those swapped in, if a cash payment was made instead: they would have had to check what was traded in, but they have to do that anyway. As the dealers would not be able sell their large surpluses of barcoded stamps at full face value, there would wisdom in those dealers taking that cash at a discount on face.
Clearly this is something that Royal Mail's accountants would have to consider as it would be a real cash outflow rather than adjusting a liability. But there is no evidence that this has even been considered.
If this option was available, social and business buyers who would normally have bought from dealers will instead buy from Royal Mail at full value, producing a cash inflow.
Notes
1. A limit of 50 seems low when stamps were issued in sheets of 100. I don't understand the sentence in brackets.
2. “Stamps for which there is no direct equivalent will be swapped for 2nd class barcoded stamps.” I presume this will be aggregated, ie all the stamps without a direct equivalent will be totalled and the total divided by the then value of the 2nd class stamps. While this might make sense for some values, exchange for 1st class stamps or others would be much more useful.
A dealer trading in a sheet of Special Delivery stamps worth £6.85 each will get around 250 x 2nd class stamps! It would make much more sense to provide sheets of £5 stamps and £1.85 stamps. As one dealer has said, with these new stamps being larger, it will be difficult to put 10 on a small Special Delivery envelope.
3. As this document is addressed to the general public we must assume that this also includes all those at museums and sold direct from Tallents House or at stamp exhibitions or other events.
4. Swappable miniature sheets containing Machin or Country definitives which will become invalidated, some also containing other stamps, include the 2000 Stamp Show, Diamond Jubilee, Long To Reign, End of WW2, Lest We Forget (x3), 2017 Machin Anniversary, Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, Wembley, Robert Burns, 2010 Europhilex. {There may be others!)
See also Royal Mail's webpage with the basic details of the scheme & FAQs.
https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps
From this page you can see the two forms which will be available, one for up to £200 and the other for bulkier exchanges.
The full terms and conditions are here (pdf file) https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-03/Stamp-Swap-Out-Terms-and-Conditions.pdf
EDIT 1 August. The T&Cs were amended on 14 July - see https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-07/Stamp-Swap-Out-Terms-and-Conditions-Last-updated-14th-July-2022.pdf
Principal changes are para 23 where they have changed the '2nd class only' to 'typically 2nd class but maybe others', especially if this avoids them rounding up. I guess this means if the overs are, say 19p, you will get a handful of shrapnel rather than a 2nd class (68p) stamp. Makes sense.
Para 5.3 now says that they have the right to decline a swap if the form has been submitted to exploit the scheme for profit, and 23A allows them to aggregate your swap-out forms if you have submitted an excessive number [implied: which means a lot of rounding up to your advantage] but that they will always return barcoded stamps to at least the value of what you sent in.
An addition to Para 5.5 is confusing: here it is in full.
"5.5. If your swap out form and/or non-barcoded stamps are lost in transit to us when using Special Delivery Guaranteed we will not consider any claim for loss unless you provide a certificate of posting and the tracking number of the item (we therefore recommend that you keep the necessary records). The foregoing sentence does not apply to swaps outs sent using the Freepost service if you are sending a standard swap out form for stamps with a postage value of £200 or less."
It is unclear whether the highlighted sentence means that they won't consider any claims at all if you use the Freepost service, or that they don't need a certificate of posting and tracking number for the Freepost service because the latter doesn't exist and some people had trouble getting Post Offices to give them a certificate for the short Freepost Swap-out address. I don't see how they can not consider claims if you have copies of the forms that you sent in.
My thanks to BrianP for drawing my attention to the new T&C.
Brian also writes: "RM still have serious problems with their record keeping for swap outs. I rang today to chase a missing order which I sent in on 1st July. They said they had no record of any orders received from me in July. This is odd, as I have sent in 22 forms in July and had 20 of them returned to me already."
Thank you Ian for your thoughts and guidance. Many more uncertainties remain.
ReplyDeleteAre these stamps swapable?
Decimal Wildings; 1st & 2nd NVIs and nominated values; also 1st NVI Regional/Country Wildings - Miniature Sheets and PSB panes? Large format Machin panes from the Profile on Print PSB?
How does one submit PSB Machin panes for swap-out? Space for only 2 panes on the 'up to £200' form. Can one enclose more than 1 form in each sending? Surely a £200 lot submitted should, by RM's criteria for compensation, be sent Special Delivery! Or would a 'Proof of Posting' certificate suffice?
I intended to include the Wildings in the 'remaining valid' list, but really everything that isn't in the 'swap' list remains valid - although there are grey areas like Profile on Print.
DeleteAny questions on the mechanics, as you raise, must be referred to Royal Mail.
Reading between the lines, a proof of posting AND a copy of the form with stamps attached would seem to be all that they will need to compensate, but again that needs clarifying - probably several times and in writing!
I just wonder if RM will ever publish the cost to them for this scheme, which will surely be enormous!
ReplyDeleteNo, and Yes! It would have been cheaper to give dealers the cash than waste time counting out zillions of 2nd class stamps.
DeleteIt would be cheaper still to use some sort of inky round thing with a date to mark the stamp to show it has been used. Rumour has it that such a device might already be in existence.
DeleteHas anyone else had problems printing out the (up-to-£200) form?
ReplyDeleteI can print the second page (the back of the form), but invariably get a 'printing error' for the first page - a problem which I have never before encountered and which seems to afflict only this file (I can still print everything else) - using my HP DeskJet printer.
More of an inconvenience than a problem - I can request a form to be sent to me (at even more expense to Royal Mail, who seem to have money to burn (almost as though still nationalised)).
I requested a form yesterday - arrived today including a pre-printed Freepost envelope. Saves me on printing and an envelope...
DeleteNote 1: I assume this means if you have less than 50 stamps total - but value is over £200 (e.g. 42 x £5 and 3x £1) put them in one bag stacked by value.
DeleteNote 2: I read it the same way you do. So if you trade in a single £1.70 - you get 3x 2nd class for it which is a profit of 34p. Or 19p if you then have to buy a barcoded £1.85 to use. If you trade in a E NVI - you presumably also get 3x 2nd class but actually a barcoded £1.85 might be more useful.
My question is...
I have a surplus of Large 1st NVI booklets to Swap Out. Do I get booklets in return or do I get sheets of the barcoded equivalent? If I'm using them for postage, it's not an issue. But I was planning to sell those booklets on eBay. If I sell them now, I'm assuming demand and prices will be lower. If I get booklets back, I can sell those on eBay instead. If I get sheets and part sheets - I can maybe sell a full sheet but not a part sheet (or it will go at a lower price).
I don't have so much as to lose out a significant amount but dealers might...
I've not had issues with printing out the form, but still, I have put in multiple requests too for forms to be sent out to me - it seems one can only order one form at a time, which seems a bit of a waste to me! I could do with 4 or 5 at a time.
Deletea. Note 1. The point I have a problem with is "less than 50 stamps must be collated together in value order" - you're putting them in a plastic (or other) bag; they aren't going to stay in any sort of order.
Deleteb. Note 2. Most people will send in a selection of stamps and the value will be totalled and divided by 66p and then rounded up so that you only get 2nd class stamps. Whilst this may convenient for them, it's not convenient for the user. Anybody trading in a sheet of £1.85 stamps, or 25 E stamps will get 70.075 x 2nd class stamps, ie 71.
That person wanting to send a letter costing £1.85 has 2nd class stamps worth £1.32 which means they need another 53p-worth, ie another three stamps (50+2+1p). No matter how easy it is for Royal Mail, it's going to be mightily inconvenient for users.
c. I think it's unlikely you will get booklets in return. You'll get 1st Large Letter stamps from sheets. Sheet size is 25+25. I would sell as many as possible on eBay as you can until the end of the year. A lot of ebay sellers will carry on using them. Just make sure they are genuine and not forgeries!
Ian,
DeleteRegarding "b" I would have thought that there might have been a choice of Second or First class stamps but then realised that the 'rounding up' would have meant them losing 27p ( 95p less 68p ) more on most of the exchanges.
Well.... for the E stamps or 20g Worldwide, the barcoded equivalent is actually the new £1.85 stamp, isn't it?
DeleteThe T&C reads "We will replace non-barcoded stamps eligible for swap out with the corresponding barcoded stamps (for example a 2nd class non-barcoded stamp will be replaced with a barcoded 2nd class stamp", but that doesn't mean that they will only exchange NVIs. If you send in a sheet of 15 x 1p stamps, expect to get back a sheet of 25 x 1p barcoded stamps. I will be annoyed if it is otherwise.
Ian,
DeleteYes, my over £200 worth will be mainly First Class, a few dozen Second Class and hundreds from lower values including about forty 1p, thirty 2p and twenty each 5p, 10p and 20p and I understand and hope that I will get useful direct replacements for them rather than being totted up with all the other values from ½p to 60p.
I've got quite a few cylinder blocks and cylinder booklets from the 1980s that I'm not yet sure if are worth more than face value.
Thanks for the feedback Ian...
DeleteI agree it's not exactly convenient. I would use a £1.70 (or in the past E NVI) on a postcard to Europe. Given that barcoded stamps are physically larger; putting 2 or 3 or more on a postcard is not feasible! Which is why I'd prefer barcoded £1.85 to a theoretical profit in 2nd class. But instead I will have to buy some £1.85 and I'll then have an excess of barcoded 2nds as well as of barcoded Large 1sts.
As for the make-up values. The checklist on the back of the £200 bulk form lists them so I'd also expect sheets or part-sheets of the new barcoded versions. It's only the obsolete values that will be totted up and converted to 2nd Class.
I'm doing my calculations on the assumption that calculation is done at the new rates from today.
According to an email exchange I had with Royal Mail 5-11 March (reproduced below), Post & Go stamps will be part of the swap-out scheme. It seems to depend who you talk to there as to the advice you're given.
ReplyDeleteCustomer By Service Web (05/03/2022 04.36 PM)
I have some post & go stamps. Are they still valid for postage?
Response By E-mail (Rajdip) (08/03/2022 09.16 PM)
I can confirm that these stamps are currently valid but will need to be used until 31 January as this is the date that all non-barcoded stamps will be phased out. Further information can be found on our website at royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps
Customer By Service Email (09/03/2022 05.26 PM)
Thank you for your reply. Will I be able to swap my post and go stamps as I'm unlikely to use them all between now and January.
I have predominantly Rest of World, up to 20g. If I were able to swap them, what would I get in return?
Response By E-mail (John Anderson) (11/03/2022 11.11 AM)
If the stamps do not indicate a value then you will receive stamps to the value of the stamps you sent, so in this case you will receive stamps to cover the value of a 20g letter to the rest of the world.
Hi Kate, As I wrote at the beginning there was a lot of information being provided by Royal Mail when the scheme's details had not been finally settled. Rajdip may have been right but his answer is now wrong. Post and Go remain valid for postage and are not included in the swap scheme as I wrote.
DeletePost and Go Stamps with an indicator of 20g Rest of the World are also valid for 100g Europe and are worth £1.85 from Monday. They are not included in the swap scheme. STAMPS with a Rest of World indicator must be used or swapped though.
I was able to print the first page when using the inline facility of Firefox to view and print the file. When I used Acrobat Reader, the application "hung" when I loaded the file - I didn't even get as far as trying to print it. The PDF file is over 2MB in size, which seems very large even allowing for the pictures of stamps. However, I'm sure that I've handled files larger than this with Acrobat Reader in the past, so I don't think that the size is of itself the problem.
ReplyDeleteA problem have encountered this morning, when trying to send in some stamp swap out forms by Special Delivery - it seems that the Horizon system won't recognise a "FREEPOST" address, and will reject it. So, a Special Delivery item cannot be accepted! Same goes for Recorded Delivery too. I'm not sending back my stamps, without assurance that they won't be nicked by some errant postie along the way!!
ReplyDeleteThe bulk rate (over £200) scheme says:
Delete"Please send your form using Special Delivery Guaranteed to: Royal Mail, Swap Out, Tallents House, 21 South Gyle Crescent, EDINBURGH, Scotland EH12 9PB."
If you're sending under £200-worth then you have their assurance that if you keep a copy of the form and a certificate os posting they will treat claims for loss properly. But I agree, it would be good to have the ability to send by SD or RMSF and get the money back.
Ive sent using Special Delivery and stamps, another way of sending surplus commemorative stamps and getting them swapped out for NVIs as RM refund the postage.
Deletejust been on the RM site to find a solution to the "FREEPOST" address problem not meshing with the Horizon system - they have published an address for swap out, and it seems to be the Philatelic Bureau address in Edinburgh, or a similar one. It says that it is for over £200, but I'm going to use it for lots under £200 until told different.
ReplyDeleteI wondered if there would be an issue with the one line address Royal Mail quoted for under £200 swaps and Horizon issuing certificate of posting.
DeleteHowever, I noticed that on the return envelope RM send if you request a up-to £200 form online the address is:
Freepost RUCZ-UTGU-AULY
Royal Mail
Swap Out
Tallents House
21 South Gyle Crescent
EDINBURGH
EH12 9GT
Freepost, yet there is a 1st class indicia on the top right hand corner?
Country Definitives - It would be nice for RM to give a response sooner rather than later, as to whether these are going to be Barcoded in the near future, or whether they are being phased out. If they are being Barcoded before the end of the 'swap out' scheme, will we be able to swap like for like Country Definitives (2nd, 1st).
ReplyDelete(Sorry Chris, deleted in error and there's no way of bringing it back apart from posting it myself)
I suspect that Royal Mail would like to phase out the Country definitives but that if they get bad publicity for this from any 'country' they will bring out barcoded Country definitive but only 1st and 2nd class not the overseas rates.
DeleteThere was nearly a seven month delay ( 15th February to 7th July 1971 ) with the decimal Country stamps so there's probably no urgency with this now.
Only three designs ( apart from a miniature sheet each from 2006 to 2009 ) over 64 years suggests not much interest in, or profit from, the Country definitives.
Thank you Ian for the comprehensive post. This answers many questions.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what the face value of the "E" stamp is after Monday?
And also will prepaid postal stationary still be valid after the change over?
European rate (E stamp) is £1.85.
DeleteRoyal Mail have not mentioned prepaid postal stationery, I see no reason why it should not be usable. (Except perhaps for aerogrammes and registered envelopes which have been a grey area for some time!)
So, I purchased a book of 6 first class stamps at my Wilko store and they were the "Queen" rock group book. Can I still use these or have to send them back?
ReplyDeleteUnknown you have until January 2023 to use them so plenty of time.
DeleteThose shouldn't be invalidated. It's definitive sized but it's a commemorative in the Music Giants series. Or in the RM simplistic explanation it has a picture of "Queen" as opposed to a head of "The Queen".
DeleteSame should apply to the 2013 Tardis and 2018 Iron Throne.
They are special stamps not definitives, they remain valid and - as Neil says - so do the Tardis, Iron Throne, 1d black, 1d red, 2d blue etc.
DeleteI suppose one massive benefit to Royal Mail by flooding the market with 2nd class barcoded stamps will be to destroy the market for forgeries for a year or two.
ReplyDeleteProbably not. Forged barcoded First and Second class Machins are probably already being printed in China soon to be offered in the usual places in sheets of a hundred at a significant discount. Probably without unique barcodes they are likely to be detected in Mail Centres causing Royal Mail to surcharge the innocent recipients. So nothing much changed really.
Deletehttps://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps is now saying that country definitives WILL be barcoded but nothing about when or what values. 1st, 2nd, £1.85 and £2.55 would be most likely, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI Would hope only 2nd and 1st Class, there really is no demand for the others, in fact I question the need for these at all since they are hardly used for postage. Robert
DeleteIf they had made them more widely available to the post offices........ I remember being told by counter clerks in Scotland that the reason people don't buy them is because don't want the 'inconvenience' of gummed stamps and would rather buy Machin booklets! The fact that new ones would be self adhesive may lead to increased use perhaps, maybe we could have regional 1st & 2nd class booklets? Now there's a thought!
DeleteOn a business trip to Dundee (many years back) I was told by a PO counter clerk that nobody had ever asked them for a Scottish definitive before... Maybe it's only SNP voters who want them :-) Come to think of it, I have occasionally seen England definitives in my local (South London) PO but I wouldn't ask for them specifically.
DeleteIf most people are buying booklets (from supermarkets and corner shops rather then PO?) then maybe regional variants would be an idea but would local demand justify the cost of separate printings? Some collectors would want all 4.
@Robert I use the airmail values regularly - on overseas correspondence. In fact, that's a reason for some to prefer a country definitive. Bring back E and W NVI, say I...
Well at least now we know about country stamps. The last time (2017) that I found English NVIs on sale was in Foots Cray near Orpington and the postmaster told me that he had ordered them by mistake and that I was the first customer to ask for them specifically. The airmail postcard and letter English ones were always easier to get, but only for a month or so after the price rises. Welsh ones were always easier to buy, in the last decade anyway. I shall reluctantly trade my country definitives in in the hope of getting barcoded ones in exchange.
ReplyDeleteSince they've only just said there will be barcoded country definitives - maybe hold those for now and swap out later in the year. There's nothing to say you can't make multiple swaps before Jan '23
DeleteInterestingly, there is NOTHING posted about what overseas collectors can do. While I don't have hundreds of pounds of exctras, I likely have about £100. Do I just say "oh well"?
ReplyDeleteTerms and Conditions 6.1 includes the sentence:
DeleteInternational deliveries may take longer, depending on the delivery option(s) available for the destination country.
Which suggests you can swap out. But you can't use the Freepost address so possibly you'd have to send to the Tallents House address above at whatever the cost is from where you are. Whether you could/would then get that refunded in extra stamps is yet another unanswered question....
I think people sending stamps from outside UK would get their postage money back in stamps - much good may that do them! What do they do with the new ones, especially if they are many 2nd class.
DeleteIt might be appropriate for overseas holders to use a UK intermediary, albeit at additional cost because you would only get one lot of postage back from RM (ie the postage to send TO Tallents House).
But the UK intermediary would then be able to dispose of the surplus barcoded stamps without them having to be returned from the other country to the UK.
I have raised a number of swap out questions with RM, too numerous to list here. One question is about the use of plastic bags, which is required by their T&Cs. For me to return large numbers of stamps would require 40 or more bags. This conflicts with the Government's policy to reduce the use of plastic. I have also asked if they would refund the cost of the bags! There has to be a more sensible way. Also if you are returning large numbers of Machins you are supposed to stick them to to the form, if your swap out is below £200. This is tricky when you consider that a whole Machin sheet is about A3 in size.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if RM is going to accept mint stamps with traces of hinge on them. The T&Cs say that the stamps must be returned in the 'same condition as purchased'. This is a rather vague statement. RM will not know what condition the stamps are in when I purchased them. I assume that RM will have to accept mint stamps which are valid for postage, irrespective of hinges, folds etc. But I also assume that they will not accept First Class self adhesives which have been removed from Booklet MG1, as the self adhesive gum has deteriorated. So although they are still valid for postage in this condition (with a glue stick), you can bet they wont swap them (on the argument that they will not be on their original backing).
ReplyDeleteHinged stamps: Believe me, they aren't going to take them off the form you have stuck them to, to find out if there is a hinge!
DeleteRe MG1: how many have you got that are not still in the book? Use those, send in any whole books as is. That's how books are supposed to be returned.
People are making difficulties where none exist.
Large sheets - not quite A3 but yes, gummed sheets of 100 are quite large.
TY Ian. I have enough ex MG1 machin stamps to be a difficulty, for me at least.
DeleteMy full sheets of gummed Machins are in sheets of 200, which are about 8 cm taller than an A3 sheet. RM needs to be a bit more flexible on swap out rules for these.
Hello.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog, there is such a lack of information out there.
Royal mail have really gone off half cocked about this and the grey areas. They seem to make it quite difficult to change the stamps. The fact you have to go to Edinburgh if you have over £2.5k of stamps seems quite absurd. It seems to me they want to make it difficult such that most people wont bother and peoples stamps become worthless and they will loose the liability. It does seem like a very underhand capitalist move. Sorting into bags of 50 is weird too, wouldn't it be easier to just keep the same values in each bag? Do you think they will use it as an excuse for not swapping if you don't do it or make a mistake? Many of my stamps are cut out of booklets, but still on their part of the self adhesive sheet, will they accept this, if it isn't the full booklet/sheet?
Firstly their terms and conditions pdf seems to be offline now.
Secondly why they heck have they only given examples and not a full list?
https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-03/Stamp-Images-for-swap-out.pdf
I use a lot of NVI E, Europe and worldwide stamps (penpals). I see from their example list that the Machin versions (blue E, white Worldwide/Europe up to 20/40g and postcard and worldwide Olympic 2012) are to be swapped. I have maybe a dozen or more of the worldwide/europe up to 40g/postcard in die cut rather than self adhesive. will these be accepted? I have a lot of commemorative E stamps from various sets ~2001-2005, does anyone know if these are still valid? I assume so, but am not sure. Also the 2010 Smilers - Business and Consumer Miniature Sheet No. 67, has two stamps Europe and worldwide. Are these still valid? I see smilers in general should still be valid...
Furthermore apart from the 1990 double headed Machins, and country definitives do we know for sure which other non straight forwards Machins are to be invalidated? I see the Olympic 2012 worldwide, but does that mean also 1st class Olympic 2012 stamps? I see the castle high values and Britannia £10 are to be invalidated too. As mentioned in your blog wildings seem to be okay (i assume this mean both the make up values from 2002-3 and the country definitives from 2008). There are many other stamps which are the same shape/size as the definitives, such as the 180th Anniversary of the Penny Black Stamp, which I assume are okay.... Are there any other definitive size stamps that you are aware of that they will be trying to cancel?
Also this does nothing for security since half the stamps will still be valid. Surely the forgers will just move to the commemorative ones? Do you see/think in the near future more stamps will be cancelled?
Thanks in advance and sorry for my rant and endless questions.
Ian
A lot of people have a lot of questions. Let's answer a few of your points best I can.
Deletea. "The fact you have to go to Edinburgh if you have over £2.5k of stamps seems quite absurd." £2.5k is the max compensation for SD. If you want to send more, as many do, send many times and get the postage back for each sending.
b. "Sorting into bags of 50 is weird too, wouldn't it be easier to just keep the same values in each bag?" - You DO keep the same value in each bag; having them in 50s makes counting easier. Odds go separately.
c. "I have maybe a dozen or more of the worldwide/europe up to 40g/postcard in die cut rather than self adhesive" - If they are diecut they are self-adhesive. This is the only way they were issued. If you mean the ones die-cut through the backing paper as supplied as singles, it might be an idea to put those in a separate bag with an explanatory note as they won't know about that.
d. "I see the Olympic 2012 worldwide, but does that mean also 1st class Olympic 2012 stamps?" - others have asked, but I'm not sending any more grey areas to RM at present. I think if you sent in 1st class they would be exchanged.
e. E and WW20g would = £1.85; WW40g = £2.55.
f. "commemorative E stamps from various sets ~2001-2005, does anyone know if these are still valid?" - yes, same as any other commemorative. Likewise the stamps from Smilers Sheets.
g. "this does nothing for security since half the stamps will still be valid" - none of the stamps which remain valid has been forged, aside from many Christmas ones as shown previously in the blog.
d.
If anybody is still reading this far down - I got my returns today...
ReplyDeleteForm in post Monday. delivered Friday. Normal 1st class envelope.
Sent booklets of Large 1st - returned sheets of barcoded Large 1st.
Return address is Sunderland - not Tallents House
Web address is given as royalmail.com/swapoutsupport which redirects to https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps/swap-out-enquiry to report problems
You have done well Neil. I got one batch of the Thursday the scheme was launched and the other batch on Saturday and not had anything back. However, none of the stamps were as straight forward as yours. One batch was just over £1000 with a good mix of stamps and the other batch was just over £200 again lots of smaller values in that one. Will wait and see what happens.
DeleteI posted my first batch off on Tuesday 5th (all NVIs) and got my returns today (Sat 9th), all pretty painless really.
DeleteI sent a number of Sheets of 25 i.e 1p,2p,5p,10p,20p to Tallents House and had them returned from Sunderland with like for like Sheets the only
Deletetrouble I find is that Royal Mail had folded the in half and put in an A5 envelope,RW
Four A4 Sheets of stamps received. The despatcher clearly thought they would fit in an A5 size envelope. Then realised they wouldn't, so now I have 4 sheets to exchange, which are all heavily creased. The incompetence is unbelievable, for a department that just deals in stamps. Who are they employing to do this. RM reputation is plummeting.
DeletePlease be aware that the original Terms and Conditions (now dated 5 April 2022) and 'over £200 swap out form' have been revised to add some extra detail and remove some errors. Still more things to correct, but they are getting there.
ReplyDeleteI got my 1st return today, sent on the 4th, posted back yesterday, and I made a profit out of RM and not too many 2nd class stamps, so I am happy.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Martin Lewis's website (Money Saving Expert) Quote 'If you accidentally send stamps that aren't part of the Swap Out scheme to Royal Mail, it's said it will swap them for barcoded stamps'. Unquote Anyone done this?
ReplyDeleteMSE may well be right, but they have been wrong so many times since this was first announced that I don;t bother reading it any more. [1st and 2nd class stamps to be abolished!]
DeleteI can confirm I did this with my first batch where I sent quite a few Wilding definitive stamps and they have been swapped out.
DeleteUpdated terms and conditions link for April 5th 2022
ReplyDeletehttps://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-04/Stamp-Swap-Out-Terms-and-Conditions--5-April-2022.pdf
I have received no final response yet from Royal Mail to my various questions (mentioned above), but I predict that they will have to change the requirement to use plastic bags (over £200 T&Cs), as this is both environmentally unfriendly and unnecessary. I am also still waiting for my first swap out returns, after 9 days. I'm not in a hurry for my return but perhaps this is an indication that Royal Mail is under resourced in the swap out team.
ReplyDeleteI too am waiting for my returns. RM received mine at just after 5am on 1st April. I always thought the 7 days would be ambitious. When the business sheets of the new barcode NVIs were released i purchased them, only for them to come in plastic white bags where they were bent. Weeks have passed and i'm still waiting for the replacements, the last update on Friday was it could take another 28 days.
DeleteI rang the Royal Mail Customer Service helpline this morning to get some 'below £200' swap out forms and return envelopes. 25 minutes on hold to be told that they can only order one at a time, (like the web order form, which we can all use). I suggested a change and they were sympathetic but unlikeley to do anything. If you have thousands of low value gummed definitives and can only fit about 60 on the back of the swap out form, you are likely to need 50 or more forms. Anybody got a solution to this please (for orders below £200)?
ReplyDeleteI would use an additional blank A4 sheet, but keep the stamps within the boundaries on the form, ie don't fill it from edge to edge.
DeleteTY Ian. I did suggest that idea during the phone call. It was not very well received. All the agent could offer was that she had not seen the form herself, so she didn't know. I told her that the T&Cs says that the stamps must be stuck in the relevant space within the swap out form, (RM can reject returns which are not in accordance with the T&Cs). I have recommended a change and she said that she would 'feed that through'. (the shredder perhaps!)
DeleteBear, can you not print the pages from the link given here, I know you will get top pages that are unwanted but at least the other pages will have the perimeters on them?
DeleteWith a downloaded pdf it is possible to print out just one of the pages.
DeleteYes. Thank you. I have printed some, but was hoping to get 50, plus envelopes from Royal Mail! i.e. without using my paper and my ink and envelopes.
DeleteAnother thought which might help someone: if I was going to use my own printer, I would probably just photocopy a partially completed form, which would also save the need to fill in name and address 50 times. By the way , I have seen three different below £200 forms now, all from Royal Mail. (content much the same, some variation in example stamp photos, fonts and box sizes.)
DeleteI'm not taking any chances; printing both sides of the 'under £200' form and sending off as set out in T&C....
ReplyDelete5.1 To swap out your non-barcoded stamps you must submit a swap out form together with the
stamps you wish to swap out. Your swap out must comply with these terms and the guidance set out
on the swap out form...etc.
That's my approach too. RM told me that I can go to my local Delivery Office if I want 50 forms. I aksed for the address of the nearest Delivery Office and the address they gave me is only a quarter of a mile away. Unfortunately that one closed about 5 years ago and RM didn't seem to know.
DeleteTwo points - I was told by Adrian on the help line to print as many of the back pages as needed (of the £200 forms) and send them in with one main page as long as the total didn't break the limit. Secondly - any thoughts about Frama labels - still valid?
ReplyDeleteTY Paul D. Thats good to know. I will still try to get hold of 50 forms, to save my printer ink. It would be helpful if all the RM Customer Service agents gave the same answers.
DeleteFrama labels (which few now in Stamps & Collectables had heard of) remain valid and are not included in the swap scheme.
DeleteI received my first return from Royal Mail today. They have disputed the value of the stamps I sent in and have not sent me the full value. I have copies of my return and the stamps I sent, so I will now have to go through a challenge process. I also noticed that the new stamp sheet which I received from RM was folded, which devalues it as a philatilic item. The phone number on the letter I received with the return is for 'Royal Mail Stamps and Collectibles', so you might have hoped they would understand what coolectors want.
ReplyDeleteSent off Swap out in excess of £200 on 09/04/22. Barcoded stamps returned on 16/04/22. Total of 1758 stamps sent, received back 1536. None of the E & WW stamps processed, other low valued stamps apart from current low value stamps not processed. Postage not refunded even though the accompanying letter says it has. Some Stamps torn. Royal Mail clearly under pressure
ReplyDeleteJust received my £200 and below Swap out. Sent 100 x 1st & 100 x 2nd self adhesive along with 65 other values which were stuck on the back of the form as instructed by the terms and conditions. RM only sent back 2nd and 1st barcoded stamps covering the self-adhesives. Totally ignored the rear of the form (£12.90) What is going on ? RM have a lot to answer for
DeleteThere are clearly problems at RM processing "Swap-Outs". I initially sent two sets of stamps and have now had the swaps sent to me for both. The first set was for £1,159.52. In the RM letter they confirmed the £1,159.52 had been received and explained they have enclosed £1,120.10 worth of stamps for me plus £10.65 to cover postage. The £10.65 was not included and I am now challenging where the missing £39.42 worth of stamps is plus the missing postage of £10.65. The second batch of £214.56 was more accurate with £214.90 received from RM, but the £7.65 to cover postage costs was not sent again. So with this batch I am challenging where the postage cost is. Looking at other readers issues RM will soon be bogged down with dispute claims.
ReplyDeleteEmail address found on Web for disputing content of Swap Out https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps/swap-out-enquiry. How quick this is responded to is not clear. Will phone them first as copies of swap out forms cannot be attached.
DeleteAre you challenging via the online form at ... /swapoutsupport? That is what I am doing but it seems to be quite arduous as you have to list all the stamps you have sent in that order. That's not too bad if you sent 500 1st Class for example, but if you have sent numerous different values plus E and WW NVI's it can take ages to fill in the appeal form. With one of my over £200 orders, I sent in a spreadhseet with the form, which should make it easier for RM to check (no reply on this one yet).
DeleteI don't see a happy ending to this saga. I am doing my best to work WITH Royal Mail and make suggestion which will improve the process for them and customers, but I am not sure if my suggestions are seen by anyone with authority.
TY. Chris, the address you gave seems to take you to the same form as at /swapoutsupport. When I completed the form today, I received an email reply which said they hope to reply within 3 working days, or longer when busy. The next working day is Tuesday, so its going to be slow. My first query has had no reply after 10 days, other than a note to say it had been passed to the Philatilic Team.
DeleteThe email I found via online support was .../swap-out-enquiry. I am only submitting the easiest to resolve, which was the lack of £10.65 postage refund. The other 2 are a saga and half. The letters which come with the returned stamps have no reference numbers on them at all. However there is a Customer Reference Number written on the front of the envelope they were returned in. This hopefully should lead them to the original form. Which may speed up things. Though I don't hold out much faith in that, looking at the vast number of stamps not processed. RM would appear completely overwhelmed by the number and variety of denominations and colours that are being sent back for exchange.
ReplyDeleteAs a philatelist/stamp collector of 60 years, could I be naΓ―ve (and probably insulting) by asking why such volumes of stamps were in people's possession. Was it to feed the philatelic trade (but nothing has changed - or has it?) or to actually use to post letters and parcels?
ReplyDeleteI can't answer your good question for others, or even give a full account of my own collecting habits, because I haven't worked it out for myself! Let's just say it started with a few Machins, then I discovered cylinder blocks, so needed six of each value, then 'dot' and 'no dot' cylinder blocks, then date blocks, colour blocks. Then I got a complete unfolded sheet of 200 Machins, a beautiful item worthy of admiration and study. Then I wanted a 'no dot' sheet of 200. Once the 'new' self adhesives came along there were 12 complete sheets to collect (in some face values) to get all the dot positions. The other day I got a part sheet of the new 1st barcoded stamps and I spent 20 happy minutes examing every detail with a magnifying glass. Mrs Bear was confused; I even surprised myself. Now vast swathes of definitives are about to have their face value completely wiped out by Royal Mail. Time to decide what to keep and what to exchange or sell. 'Machin mania' is about to be replaced with 'Swap Out mania'!
DeleteI would be very interested to hear other views.
The simple answer is that not everybody collects just one of each stamp.
DeleteAs bear has indicated, there are ways to collect, depending on how full your wallet is, and while few collect whole sheets (storage or display is a problem), many collect in blocks. Now that sheets are only 25/50 stamps, it's easy to store the valued ones.
I have one customer who collects sheets up to £1 and cylinder blocks of 10 and a single over £1. Many people collect two booklets - cylinder and plain. In the old days of blocks of 10 stamps they were fixed by left or right margins and had MANY different marginal marks. Lots of ways to collect.
The point now is that for some of these people they see nobody wanting their stamps in the future, and they are of an age when the money might be useful - or put to some other philatelic pursuit - and they can now trade in stamps bought at 25p for 95p, sell them for 65p and have real money rather than be rich in stamps.
Added to that, it's worth remembering that the well respected Martin Lewis CBE from Money Saving expert has long encouraged his 12 milion (really!) followers to stock up with NVI's before each Royal Mail price rise. This year's 1st NVI rise was huge. In a strange way the cost of a small parcel has now 'come down'. Although the price used to be £3.20 and it's now £3.35, it's cheaper for me. I used to use three 1st class plus 65p in make up values, now its only 3 first class and 50p! Thank you Martin. He is now reminding his followers to use or swap out. If only 1% of those 12 million complete a swap out form, you can expect huge delays.
DeleteThe reason I have large numbers of miniature sheets and prestige books, and therefore many old value Machins is because I used to buy between 5 and 12 sheets/books as they came out, partly as investment, with knowledge that some might become sought after, and the value would increase in any event as postage rates increased. The more I liked an issue the greater number I would buy. I also bought quantities of various Machin values and colours as new value/colour combinations were issued as I like using unusual stamps on my dispatches along with my commemorative stamps of which I have an even greater stock.
DeleteWell, "the value would increase in any event as postage rates increased", that's worked so you will be on top for the NVIs, though for the valued stamps you will only get the equivalent in 2nd class stamps if you trade them in.
DeleteI agree, but I have no choice as I don't want to lose the value of the valued stamps as I have more than I can possibly use to dispatch maps over the next seven months. I don't think anybody ever imagined Royal Mail would invalidate stamps in this way, certainly not with just 12 months' notice.
DeleteROYAL MAIL are you LISTENING!
ReplyDeleteSo nearly 3 weeks into the Swap Out and utter chaos reigns. Terms and conditions clearly state that all NVI’s, all make up values and International Tariff Stamps since 1971 can be exchanged for the new Barcoded Stamps. Seems straight forward enough. Postage will be refunded for Special Guaranteed Delivery for Swap Outs over £200.
Clearly the staff at RM think otherwise, looking at the returns to customers. Yes, NVI’s, current make up values (1p, 2p, 5p etc.) being exchanged one for one.
BUT when it comes to those values that are no longer in print, though are valid for postage, it’s another story. Of the 3 swap out transactions I have made so far:
1. Over £200 - All NVI’s – Full return. But no postage refund in the way of stamps, even though letter states refunded.
2. Below £200. 200 NVI’s returned. The further 65 gummed stamps stuck on rear of form totally ignored (13p, 14p, 19p, 26p). Letter even stated there were only 200 stamps returned
3. Over £200 – All NVI’s (apart from 20 returned). 1958 stamps submitted, 1536 returned. Current denominations swapped, all other values totally ignored: (35p, 37p 65p, £1.88 etc.) All E, E 40g, W Postcard, W40g ignored. Total value not processed £193.81. Yet again no postage refunded.
Has anybody received any stamps in compensation for the values out of print or a postage refund?
To think that a vast majority of Swap Out applications at present are from Collectors and the Trade, it doesn’t go well for the coming months. RM will be swamped with complaints before the mad rush by general members of the public towards the end of the year, if the standard of dealing with these applications is not sorted out soonest.
Someone at RM needs to get a grip and sort this mess out. Staff drafted into deal with the Swap Out would appear to be under prepared and without leadership.
And 'E', and all the other airmail stamps have direct barcoded equivalents; perhaps they need to think harder and remember what they are actually producing.
DeleteI'll get this mentioned in Stamp Magazine if I can.
Ian has mentioned (old) stamp booklets. So here is something else to think about, given that soon they won't be valid for postage and will have zero face value. Take for example the 10 x 14p Machin Window booklet. Watching current prices on a popular auction site, I see that you would be left with about 90p after seller fees if you sell there. If you use the stamps for postage (now) you will get £1.40. If you send those stamps to Royal Mail on the Swap Out Scheme, you should get back three Second Class NVIs, currently worth over £2, with no fees to pay. So, as Ian suggests, for some people who dont want to hang on to (some parts of) formerly precious collections, this might be the time to liquidise assets. It is difficult to predict what effect that this is going to have on stamp collectors, future sales of machins, and on stamp dealers. The Swap Out scheme and devaluation of Machins, might prove to be a seismic shift in GB 'definitive' stamp collecting.
ReplyDeleteThinks .. .. must get some more Swap Out forms.
You talk about well known auction sites, the interesting thing is the tax status on the "old-machin" stamps will change from 1st February 2023. VAT is at 0% for all stamps that can be used for postage. As these will no longer be able to be used on postage VAT of 20% will apply. Will this have an impact on what dealers do?
DeleteOh, there's a can of worms I don't want to open!
DeleteAs you know, probably, there is a separate rate for collectibles of only 5%, although that well-known auction site now tends to apply 5% or nothing. I doubt that many have thought of this - I shall send it to a well-known dealer who IS VAT registered. Thank you!
From the Q & A section of Royal Mail's swap out page:
ReplyDeleteWhen does the Stamp Swap Out Scheme end / when do customers need to swap out their non-barcoded stamps by?
It’s fine to keep using non-barcoded stamps as postage up until 31 January 2023. You can swap out your stamps any time from 31 March 2022 onwards — there is currently no end date as to when you need to swap out your non-barcoded stamps by.
Based on this I'll keep mine for the time being. There's no rush. And I also think that all commemoratives will suffer the same fate one day.
I received an 'over £200' return today. I had sent in a range of different Machins including many values no longer printed, plus lots of different NVIs including the ones trimmed to the backing paper from presenation packs (which annswers some of the questions above). I also sent in a spreadsheet showing the arithmetic, which RM agreed. I recieved the correct amount (rounded up by 25p). However they did not refund the SSD postage, even though the RM letter said they did. Royal Mail success rate so far: 0%. I will submit an appeal.
ReplyDeleteAs I have stated on this blog I have had two 'over £200' returns with a 0% success rate. However, today I called the number on the letter and spoke to Dave who was extremely helpful. He is sending me 28 2nd class stamps to cover postage that wasn't refunded and 58 2nd class stamps to cover the shortfall in stamps they sent to me. He apologised and sorted the issue very efficiently. RM don't seem to be too efficient though as he said I will receive three separate letters with the stamps split between them - what a waste. But at least i'm not out of pocket.
DeleteTY. Glad to hear of your success. That is v helpful: I will ring next time. This time I wanted it recorded as a complaint. Did Dave say whay the errors had happened and what action RM will be taking to prevent them happening again? Those are the questions which I will be asking.
DeleteIt was clear from what Dave said there are lots of issues. It sounds like the non-payment of the postage is very common so I assume as its been identified that should be fixed.
DeleteRoyal Mail has said today, by email: "With regards to the use of plastic bags; I can confirm that we would accept the return of large quantities of stamps in alternative packaging methods, such as a cardboard box if this is more suitable for your return."
ReplyDeleteI have asked them to reflect this change in the relevant Royal Mail douments, (which includes paragraph 22 of the Terms and Conditions).
I have now had some low value swap outs returned and were all Ok. Another over £200 had no postage so I rang the number on the letter and RM is now going to deal with my 3 incorrect returns in one go, by sending me a number of 2nd NVI in one letter. One of my returns which was sent me from Edinburgh on 14 April, had still not appeared in the records at Sunderland, which made it difficult to challenge. One small order where RM's total value disagreed with mine was solved when she read the entries on her spreadsheet which indicated how many of each value I had sent. They had not recorded the '11 and a half' p stamps I had sent. So you can see why its so important to keep an exact record of what you send. I asked why the problems were ocurring and was just told applogetically that is was a brand new team. I asked if the training and / or supervison were lacking and was told 'Dont know'. As lots of my stamps sheets arrived folded I queried this and was told that my file has now been marked to say that I am a collector, with a request that any future sheets are sent to me unfolded. I must add that the RM help line agent was very helpful, although it took about 30 mins to solve all the problems.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think the Royal Mail had heard of OCR...
DeleteIt should've been easy enough to divert all the £200+ forms to a small number of staff with additional training who could've scanned the matrix of values/quantities, carried out a quick check against the totals (if OK, no need to recheck the numeric entries), then pass the package and spreadsheet along for stamp checking and replacement issuing.
Having read the earlier posts I was rather dreading what I would get back after sending 1,500 stamps in to be swapped. However I was pleasantly surprised. Somehow I under-declared the number of stamps I sent in by 20 apparently, with a shortfall in value of £56.63! Not sure how I did that but they spotted it and send back the correct value of stamps AND the £8.55 I spent on postage. Very impressed.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have just received another two batches of swap outs from Royal Mail.
The first was for 87 stamps total value £12.11 1/2 mailed to them 11/04 there letter dated 14/04 saying the value was actually £12.54 and enclosing stamps to the value of £13.02. (mostly 2nd class - I sent in various fixed value machins).
The second batch was sent to them on 13/04 and their letter was dated 15/04 but addressed to an entity in London (I'm in Yorkshire) there is no breakdown on the letter of what was sent but it says please find enclosed x number of stamps to the value of £x.xx (not mine). However the stamps enclosed and the despatch note are correct (the have sent mostly 1st and 2nd class for my 1st and 2nd Machins and a few odd values).
Interestingly the dispatch note with my details on was leading (the letter with the London address on behind), but on the first batch it was the other way round (letter leading).
I have also received some more low value swap returns from Royal Mail. Very accurate on the whole, but the odd variation in how halfpennys are handled, and most of the sheets I got back were folded. One sheet was even folded right through the stamps.
ReplyDeleteI'm told that the matter of folded returns is being addressed but would suggest that everybody should ask for them not to be folded as they are for a collector, and mark this clearly on the forms.
DeleteI got two more returns today, turnaround time certainly improving. One was 100% accurate which was the first one out of four returns. The other one only had the postage missing so called up and they are sorting that for me.
ReplyDeletePlease can someone advise the approach to take for booklets of gummed machins. I have a quantity of spares to swap out and am presuming that if I go for the under £200 option I have to extract the stamps from the booklets and stick them onto the RM form. However if I go for the over £200 option do I simply bag up booklets to a total of 50 stamps together, bearing in mind some of the booklets have mixed values?
ReplyDeleteI have done what you suggested i.e. remove, separate, stick. Bag up for large orders. I have been told by RM that there is no longer a requirement to use plastic bags. You can use a box. They still ask for stamps to be 'organised'. I think what this means is that we organise stamps in a sensible manner to make things easy for them. With larger orders I print and send a spreadheet listing all the stamps and totals. For small orders I do the arithmetic on the sheet. I think if we take a bit of care in the way we return our stamps, there is less chance that mistakes will be made.
DeleteOne question I don't think has been answered, what can I do with £2,000 of barcoded stamps! I shall never use them up in my lifetime nor probably the next. It is crazy there is no cash swap out scheme. Does anyone have an email address or contact within Royal Mail to ask this question? Thank you
ReplyDeleteThis was covered in my first 'Thoughts', link in para 1 above (I can't make this clickable: https://blog.norphil.co.uk/2022/02/thoughts-on-royal-mails-invalidation-of.html)
DeleteReliable sources in the trade indicate that the discount on face value for sales of postage is still holding up at 20-25%.
This may not be very attractive if you traded in valued stamps; on NVIs you almost certainly made a profit, in some cases a very big profit so can afford to take a hit by selling. I will be contacting local businesses which still use postage stamps on their mail and offering them 2nd class at a discount. It's unfortunate (as ScottK says below) that they didn't exchange for 1st class which some businesses will prefer.
This will be the way to dispose of them - friends, family, and local businesses. I have been selling old NVI greetings booklet stamps to relatives for years.
I thought I would add my experience to the mix. I sent in a package last Tuesday (19th Apr) which included 4,614 stamps of all sorts of values with a total face value of £313.43 plus I used another £7.65 worth for the postage. This morning a large package arrived back to me with 2,640 barcoded stamps of the correct total value, in fact higher by about 20p due to rounding up I imagine. So I can report no problems at all. Done in 7 days and with correct content. The only downside is that it means I still have 1800 1p stamps to use, but then I of course sent in the same amount :-) This is where it would have been nice to have the option to ask for everything to be rounded up and sent back as 1st class....but I'm no worse off.
ReplyDeleteI have had another 6 returns, all with folded sheets enclosed. One sheet was folded 4 times. The returns were despatched to me 2 days after I spoke to RM, when they said they would mark my account, so that I would receive sheets flat and unfolded. There was one other small error which I will challenge. I am very dissapointed still.
ReplyDeleteI posted only one book of 12 x 1st class stamps value £11.40 on 04/04/22 and royal mail incorrectly returned 12 x 2nd barcoded stamps. Letter received 12/04/22 claiming only 2nd class had been sent in. I have photo evidence of the stamp value sent in. I returned incorrect order on 14/04/22 complete with their letter and have had no other reply to date.The question is why exactly have royal mail introduced barcoded stamps at all ? So they can track every one ? I'm sure they have completely under-estimated the public response to swap out.
ReplyDeleteThe swap out service from my end is extremely bad. 21 calendar days later and royal mail still owe me 12 x 1st class barcoded stamps.
Just as an update royal mail delivered missing 12 x 1st class barcoded stamps next day on 27/04/22 ! If they had got it right first time then the swap out would have all been done in initial target time of 7 days.
DeleteAlthough not something I would do but it seems to me the stupidity of the Royal mail swap out situation is laid bare when I state that I could legally submit an under £200 swap out form with a single 1/2 stamp on it for which RM would have to send me a current second-class barcoded making me a net profit of 67 1/2 pence. What would appear sheer lunacy but entirely legal and loss-making to Royal Mail in one fail swoop.
ReplyDeleteI received my first return today (26th) which I posted to Royal Mail on the 19th April. Stamps were a bit short of the total that I sent to them and like most other people no postage refund even though I asked for it. A quick phone call to the phone number given on the letter enclosed with my stamps soon put things right and I was told the the missing stamps plus the original postage would be sent out to me in 2nd class stamps within the next 10 days. All the sheets I received were flat and in good condition which did surprise me a bit as I have read of so many returns being folded and damaged. So altogether I was very pleased with the service but what to do with so many 2nd class stamps.
ReplyDeletePlease be aware that the Terms and Conditions were reissued on 27 April 22. They still say that plastic bags must be used and that you can't send stamps in boxes. This conflicts with the information that RM previously sent me by email.
ReplyDeleteGood evening all,
ReplyDeleteA question of "Invalid and Valid 'Non-barcoded' stamps." How will the Royal Mail system be able to Identify those 'Non bar-coded' stamps which are in fact still valid as postage under the new rules. My worry is mailing items using stamps which are Valid 'Non-barcoded' as per Royal Mail's terms, but them being incorrectly invalidated by Royal Mail, and with the recipient being charged for insufficient postage, or the item returned!!
Tom Watson
Well Tom, I have been told that RM want to make it as easy as possible for Revenue Protection to judge. Thus all existing Machin definitives and ANY country/regional definitive - Machin and emblem or pictorial - will be invalid. Not much else is invalid. The Castles high values and a few others are being accepted in the swapping scheme, but may not be classed as invalid.
DeleteI hope when the dust has settled and RM do the information leaflet to all households in the autumn they will have determined precisely what will be invalid and will therefore try to ensure that everybody has been told. (That's not to say that everybody will remember, nor that some still won't ask for clarification.)
Thank you Ian,
ReplyDeleteHowever, my point was not so much about which of the current stamps will be considered as invalid, but more the concern about what will happen in future within the Royal Mail system to ensure that envelopes and packets with the Correct accepted postage affixed are not invalidated by Royal Mail, resulting in the recipient being met with a surcharge, i.e. mail which will is affixed with 'Non barcoded' stamps, but those which will be deemed as still acceptable as valid postage (current Commemoratives and Christmas issues etc). So what I am really asking is: How will Royal Mail systems be able to identify valid 'Non Bar-coded' postage (e.g. current Commemoratives and Christmas issues etc) on Mailed items and not invalidate them. I trust I have worded this better!!
Regards,
Tom
By default, Tom, when those which Revenue Protection departments have been told are invalid are listed, all others are valid.
DeleteDoubtless Royal Mail's mechanised system will still fail to identify some older stamps, as not everything will be in their image database, but when these are thrown out for examination, comparison with the list of INVALID stamps, will reveal their absence, and so they will be valid.
Or I may be being naive.
Do they send the returned barcoded stamps special delivery as mine are over £200 worth ?
ReplyDeleteI sent them using Special delivery and would expect them to do the same
No mine were worth over £420 and they sent them back First Class signed for. This is also the second time I have sent back some Recorded Signed For First Class Large Letter stamps and they have returned First Class Large Letter Stamps but not made up the difference for the Signed For element.
ReplyDeleteI'm still confused about the 50 in a bag rule: "They should be batched by the stamp value and colour
ReplyDeletein clear plastic bags of no more than 50 stamps per bag."
I currently have all different values in separate bags, (700 stamps in 35 bags). Do I have to combine them in bags of 50?
I don't think so; the idea is to keep them separate so that they can quickly identify them and ensure that there are no strangers mixed in. Although the NVIs are generally colours which have not been used for valued stamps it makes sense to keep them all separate.
DeleteThe valued SA stamps of any one colour could be up to 5 different values if my memory is correct, so that's why they want them separated. Gummed stamps are a different matter as they are to be stuck to the <£200 form.
Thank you and yes it makes sense to keep them separate but why does it ask at the bottom of the form, for the number of stamps and the number of bags of 50 stamps. This implies that each bag should contain 50 stamps.
DeleteI phoned them and they said they wanted the stamps in bags of 50 not separate bags per value.
DeleteHere is my experience from over 100 returns. Despite the assurances given to me by RM, nearly all new stamp sheets are sent to me folded, sometimes folded more than once. Mostly the returns have been numerically accurate although I have had to dispute about 10% of them. My latest return was an 'over £200', and although the envelope used by RM to send the stamps to me was marked 'Do not bend', it was just an ordinary unstiffened white envelope which got bent in the post resulting in bent and crumpled stamp sheets.
ReplyDeleteHas any anyone accidentally sent in any stamps which are 'not eligible' for swap, and had them rejected by Royal Mail, or do they just swap them anyway?
Does this make any sense to anyone out there?
ReplyDeleteI have just had a conversation with Royal Mail about a (nother) potential problem in their system scheme.
I submitted several applications and kept copies of them.
For one application I received a single 10p stamp!
I quoted the reference on the letter and asked if this was the number they had entered into box at the top of the swap out form. I was told that they didn't know ! I asked for a copy of the form to which the letter referred but was told that RM are unable to go back and identify individual forms where a collector has sent in more than one as there are too many forms already in the system!
This raises serious questions about whether there is any real traceability for submissions under (and possibly over) the £200 threshold.
If I can quote their reference number of a letter referring to an individual form but they cannot access the original form what is the point of copying them if Royal Mail are unable to access the form and verify what has been sent to them?
As the forms are only numbered when RM receive them rather than bearing a serial number you can record when submitting the application there appears to be no way of connecting a letter regarding a form with the form under discussion!
Senders beware!
As a footnote, am I the only person who thinks it a little odd that the low value definitives we are being asked to swap are still on sale in local Post Offices? Our local branch still has hundreds with a print date of March 2021.
Hi,can somebody confirm ,Δ― can swap single stamps Δ― got 16 of them separatly (not x25 on sheet) on original RM paper,and most of them are different,some 1p some 2nd class
ReplyDeleteI have successfully exchanged my first batch of under £200 worth of stamps, returned within a week. My only comment is the sheets were folded despite my request not to do so, but it's not greatly important to me at present. I have requested an 'over £200' form which has arrived, and a mandatory field to be completed is 'Company Name' - they don't seem to acknowledge collectors. Also, they ask for 'Number of bags of 50 stamps' but there is no provision to include number of bags with under 50 stamps.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI have now exchanged my first 'over £200' batch of stamp swaps, including regionals, and 'Celebrating' miniature sheets, and the number of stamps returned to me in exchange is correct, including the Special Delivery postage (corrects my earlier incorrect deleted message)
DeleteRoyal Mail has just confirmed to me that country definitive NVI stamps will be available from 11 August, so I am holding off sending in my stamp swap until after that.
ReplyDeleteI too waited until Regional NVI stamps were issued and at the end of August or possibly early September I ran the swap-out team to enquire about swapping Regionals, specifically asking whether I could swap them for the NEW Regional NVI 1st and 2nd class and i was assured I could, they would be swapped 'like for like'. i.e. Scotland for Scotland, Wales for Wales etc. So on 9th September I sent off 251 sorted Regional 1st and 2nd stamps totalling £221.44, and when they were eventually received on 7th October (!) I was horrified to find they were all standard Machins, despite my previous assurances. The matter is the subject of a complaint to the swap team.
DeleteFurther to my posting above, today I received a phone call from Rachel Gray in the Swap Out Team ignoring most of my complaint and saying that they "are not able to offer options on what barcoded stamps a customer wants to receive", completely ignoring the fact that I specifically contacted them in advance to establish that I WOULD get Regional for Regionals, and will swap "like for like". She said it's "impossible for them to exchange them" now. I'm not sure why it is impossible when Royal Mail has control over all the stamps. She finished by saying "they are only human and they do make mistakes". I countered this by saying when I make mistakes I put matters right, but it seems that when Royal Mail makes mistakes, they don't care at all and the customer loses out.
DeleteTom Watson (stamps-and-covers)
ReplyDeleteIan. I have no doubt you have fielded similar questions, but purely from a collector's viewpoint.............
I have an extensive collection of decimal Definitive booklets and panes (some have a mix of definitive and commemorative) from the early decimal issues onwards through to 2020. Rather than painstakingly going through my entire collection to identify and swap-out those stamps eligible, and with time now closing in on the end of the swap-out period, I have thought of maybe holding fire for now, purely on the basis that if I do swap out and decide at a future date to begin filling gaps once again, the replacement value of those booklets I may swap out now might prove to be well in excess of current retail stamp collecting valuations. What is the overall view of swapping out now and replacing in the future , or keeping booklets intact within a collection, is their scarcity likely to increase?
I realise this question might encourage a "how long is a piece of string" type answer, but I thought, no harm in enquiring.
Tom
First of all Tom, no end has been announced for the end of the Swap Out only for using the stamps you want to use, which is still 6 months away.
DeleteThe arguments have been well rehearsed for and against. What it really amounts to, for the collector I think, is
1. how old are you?
2. do you have anybody to take your collection over?
3. do you care how much you get for it when you dispose of it (if in your lifetime)
4. will the books you want for gap-filling be available when you want to buy them.
Regarding §3, if you sell when you need the money in your retirement, or you want to have something other than the stamps to leave to somebody/charity, then I believe that unless you have some really good gems in the decimal Machin era, then you will get less when you sell them than face value now.
EVEN if you end up now with a lot of unwanted 2nd class DMX stamps which you can't use all of yourself (because you have spare commemoratives for instance) and you sell them at a discount of 20-25%, you will still get more than you will get as an estate sale, I think.
If you are still young and/or have others in the family who are interested then by all means continue to collect them and add to them.
If you are older and want to continue to buy and add to your collection - and I know 80-year-olds who are - then do so. What happens when you are gone is probably of less consequence than the enjoyment you will get out of them. You could even stop with the 2022 DMX stamps and concentrate on backward gap filling.
As to future scarcity... I'm finding more small staches of booklets poked away and am adding to my already published sales list. Anything I don't sell will be swapped in unless a local dealer wants to take any specific items. So future scarcity will depend on how many dealers do this, and how many collectors do this - because those collections will not come back to dealers in the future as they are now.
§4 - I think there will be dealers ready to supply you with your missing books. We just don't know how many and how they will be priced.
Hi I have a rather stupid question about these new barcodes. I’m not a collector. Merely someone who likes to use pretty stamps rather than the boring 1st/2nd class ones, so I’m not good at all the technical terms used. I have a box full of picture stamps with various prices on them ranging from 9p to 64p and usually use 3 or 4 stamps to make the correct value for 1st or 2nd class. Will I be able to continue using these after the deadline? I really hate using plain stamps in handwritten letters. Sorry I’m sure this is a really stupid question hence posting anonymously in case you all want to laugh at me.
ReplyDeleteYes you will: the changes don't affect your current practice.
ReplyDeleteMachin sized NVI being swapped ( the ones with flag or non Queens head) ? Any news on the Larger NVI from Profile in print booklet ?
ReplyDelete1. In this case size doesn't matter; definitive-sized special stamps (Game of Thrones, Tardis, Queen, decimal Wildings) all remain valid for postage.
ReplyDelete2. The original £1 - £5 and parcel post rates (£1.30-£1.60) are to be traded in.
The 2017 £5 Accession Anniversary stamp is, I believe, to be traded in - undoubtedly if it is sent in, it will be converted to barcoded.
Likewise the NVIs from the Profile PSB will be converted if sent in, but I am not certain about their validity if they are retained and used after 31.1.23
3. I could suggest you ask the Royal Mail Swap-out team, but they may not know what you are talking about!
Clarification of para 1 in my previous comment - flags remain valid, but as you know country definitives are going. So in the Football Heroes and Classic Locos PSBs the country flags will remain valid for postage but the Northern Ireland 1st class used (with no flag alternative) will not.
DeleteIs there a final date as to when non barcoded Machins can be sold at a post office.
ReplyDeleteWould seem stupid to continue to sell these for much longer then to have to swap out soon afterwards.
Four things went wrong when I sent a Machins over £200 for swapping.
ReplyDeleteThey wrongly claimed I sent in £3.71 worth less than I did.
They didn't send eleven replacement 10p stamps ( useful + 1st for £1.05 LL ).
They didn't replace my E stamps with £1.85s ( so need 1st + 2nd + 20p + 2p )
They didn't replace my £2.55 + 3 x £1.70 postage with 3 x £2.55.
After writing they've rectified the first two but not the last two.
I have succeeded in swapping out the pre-decimal £1 Machin, the large format 10p, 20p and 50p Machins from circa 1971, and also the large format 1st NVI Machins from the Profile on Print PSB. I'm fairly satisfied thus far and RM's turnaround times have mostly been less than one week.
ReplyDeleteHow do I contact the swap out team, can't find a number to ring.
ReplyDeletei have High value definative ( ie DEC 20 ) £1.70 -£4.20.
def countries £1.70 x4
Christmas illuminating Chrismas 2020. Any advice please
I went into my post office yesterday wanting a proof of sending receipt for under £200 worth of stamps. They refused saying the Royal Mails Freepost had no postcode. Yet the Royal Mails own terms say compensation for loss will only be given with a proof of sending receipt. What do I do?
ReplyDeleteThe answer is in the above post, below the £1 gold stamp, dated 6 April.
DeleteMy local Post Office refuses to give a Proof of Posting for ANY items posted, arguing that they are "not paid to do so, and get no money from [pre-paid/pre-stamped] mail", completely ignoring the fact that they are paid by Post Office to run the franchise. The matter has been an ongoing complaint with Post Office HQ since June 2022 and still they do not enforce the rules. I have to drive some distance to the next nearest post office to post all my pre-stamped mail for which I want a Proof of Posting.
DeleteI think they need shaming on social media - although they are not necessarily paid to run the franchise. Most income is commission based now; old salary payments are all but gone - although I know one that exists locally and there are 'essential service' rual branches in remote areas, subsidised.
DeleteEmail me which branch it is if you wish.
In reply to my question earlier today. Ian my thanks to you.
ReplyDeleteRegards
I sent to Royal Mail online (www.royalmail.com/stampsenquiries) a pdf showing 9 issues, asking whether these would be invalidated or not in 2023. The answer is a general one, just telling me about the differences definitive barcoded /special non barcoded stamps. I understand somebody somewhere should know more and I expect that the readers of the blog might be interested as well to know more about those issues, as listed below. Many thanks.
ReplyDelete- Wilding definitives, reissued decimals
- £sd country definitives, re-issued as NVI/decimals
- 1955 Castles definitives, reissued decimals
- 2017 £1 embossed gold Machin £1
- Greetings stamps issued in small size (for instance, the Poppies or Union Jack)
- Black Penny, red penny, blue twopence reissued as 1st class NVI
- Post&Go labels with Machin head
- Frama labels
- 2012 1st class stamps from the Golden Jubilee minisheet showing coins and banknotes effigies of The Queen
- "Queen" (singer) 1st class small size stamp issued in adhesive books of 6
Well most of what you asked about are perfectly straightforward
DeleteALL THESE REMAIN VALID FOR POSTAGE:
Wilding definitives, reissued decimals
- £sd country definitives, re-issued as NVI/decimals
- 1955 Castles definitives, reissued as decimals
- Greetings stamps issued in small size (for instance, the Poppies or Union Jack)
- Black Penny, red penny, blue twopence reissued as 1st class NVI
- Post&Go labels with Machin head
- Frama labels
- 2012 1st class stamps from the Golden Jubilee minisheet showing coins and banknotes effigies of The Queen
- "Queen" (singer) 1st class small size stamp issued in adhesive books of 6 (like all defintive-sized commemoratives: Game of Thrones, Dr Who, etc)
The 2017 £1 embossed gold Machin £1 will NOT, as far as I know, be valid after 31 January.
Yes maybe straightforward but I have still mananaged to successfully exchange many of these (not Frama, P&G or Queen). The problem is that where there is some uncertainty, I would not risk using one of those for postage after the cut off, so I am swapping them. I have yet to have a stamp rejected for swap out.
DeleteBeware!!!! I have lost the Value of my returned stamps because I posted to the Freepost address given after being refused a proof of posting. Wasn't much (£6's worth) but still VERY ANNOYING.
ReplyDeleteWere you refused proof like busmap above because they don't make money or because 'computer said no' as there was no postcode? It is obvious what is in anything addressed to freepost swap out so I'm guessing chances of going missing are higher than other mail
DeleteHow long have you allowed? These are taking longer now than originally.
DeleteHave you claimed for the loss? Contact the Swap-Out team.
Branches should give a cert of posting, although they cannot do it on the Horizon system without a postcode. They should contact their helpline to find out how to do it.
Lastly, use the Freepost address contained in this post to get a Certificate of Posting.
Am I correct that if I send in 'E' stamps or worldwide I will receive £1.85 or £2.55 which of course won't rise in value like the E usually does. thanks for this very informative blog.
ReplyDeleteYou will receive second class stamps to the value of £1.85 x n, n being the number of E stamps and other valued stamps with no current equivalent aggregated and divided by 68, rounded up.
DeleteAll change again! On my last 8 returns, when I sent in a wide range of Machins, they were all totalled and rounded up to First Class NVIs. Thats all I got back, in all 8 returns, together with a RM letter saying that is what they have done. 3 weeks turn round time.
DeleteI understood that all roundings up would be returned with second class stamps, not first? Is this not now the case?
DeleteYou need to read the T&Cs, which change periodically. RM has for some time said it may send alternative barcoded stamps at their discretion. They can also change the T&Cs at will. So they can do whatever they like, within reason. I have now had a total of 11 recent returns, in which I received only 1st Class NVIs. RM has not told me in detail how future swap outs will be handled, so each return will be a surprise! You perhaps know that there is now a 6 month extension which allows non barcoded stamps to be used for 6 months after the previous deadline. Presumably this takes us up to the end of July 2023.
DeleteHello..I sent around £60 worth of stamps to be swapped and weeks later have received a letter saying there were no stamps enclosed. I know I enclosed the stamps. This is clearly an inside job. What is my solution? I never imagined this could happen with Royal Mail. I am so outraged and upset. Anyone else had this experience?
ReplyDeleteI don't have a solution for you, but I don't enclose loose stamps with my retuns. Everything is attached to the form. Gummed stamps are stuck with the gum. Self adhesives are stapled, still on their original backing paper. Then I photograph the forms. So ..... if they get the form .... they get the stamps. It is a matter of opinion when it comes to the value of stamps you are prepared to risk in the post. I generally don't send more than £25 in one envelope (other than the over £200s) A few of my forms have been 'lost' - and RM has always replace them for me.
DeleteI sent £175 worth of stamps via the Freepost Address, via local Post Office who refused to issue certificate, nothing back from Royal Mail. I did phone the Royal Mail Help desk and was given an incident number but still nothing. I reckon Royal Mail are in a total state of chaos on this. I've photo'd the stamps on form on a dated copy of the Times before sending. The start the social media pressure I've produced a short video on YouTube and also Vimeo ( vimeo.com/oaksys/nostamps) entitled "Stampgate". Links have been sent to the Royal Mail press office and also to the BBC Radio4 You And Yours programme.
ReplyDeleteYour video is only available to people who are registered with Vimeo because it is not yet rated. Try YouTube?
DeleteHere's the YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/CB3cOrpxt7A I think I've now fixed the Vimeo issue, they'd hidden the rating option.
ReplyDelete