Post and Go News 2023

This post will hold all news on Post and Go stamps, machines, UK and foreign (and islands), including museums and PO SSKs.

There's nothing to report yet so the first emailed report will form the basis for this post.

As we have no new tariff until at least early February (a month's notice must be given to the regulator and to the Stock Exchange), maybe there will be nothing new for a while.

And what will the new definitive design be?  How long before King Charles III Post and Go will appear (if at all), and how long before all the Machin and other QE2 stocks are used up?

January 6:  A significant number of useful comments has just been let through on the 2022 post, having been identified by Blogger as spam, rather than sent for moderation.  Comments for 2022 will be closed soon, so if you have any more Christmas/Museum/SSK news for last year, please send it through soon.

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A reminder that this post relies on contributors to add into the comments, where all new information will normally be.

However, having just seen this on WOPA's Twitter feed, I feel it appropriate to show what the island's postal service is doing.  The new design featuring the Jersey Crest also shows the crest of King Charles III.  The issue date was 6 April.  Jersey Post had shown them earlier but in a short animation which gave nothing away in the opening frame.  I think WOPA have shown them how to grab (my) attention.

Redesigned Jersey Post and Go stamps featuring the Jersey crest and that of King Charles III

There is no news of Royal Mail doing anything similar: as the comments below show, many Post Office SSKs seem to be notable for being broken or switched off due to lack of attending staff, and the only Royal Mail Machines now are at Museums.  If anything does happen I would expect it to be at The Postal Museum first, but who knows!

UPDATE 1 September 2023.

Some postage rates will be increased again on 2 October 2023, affecting the cost of Post and Go stamps and strips.  More details here.

More importantly for this thread;

"Following a thorough review of our Post & Go Kiosks we have taken the decision to end all remaining Post & Go activities by the end of this year."

More details here.

UPDATE 18 September 2023.

Post Office Self-Service Kiosks, and Guernsey and Jersey Post IAR machines will continue in use into 2024.  

More details here.

UPDATE 8 November 2023.

Postal Museum press release on final two months of Post & Go with a variety of combinations of stamps and inscriptions.  [Update: the exact arrangements still have to be confirmed! 23/11]

UPDATE 23 November 2023.

Malcolm reports that at last the inscription on the stamps has at last been changed, on Wednesday 22 November.  Europe 100g now replaces the dual value E100 / W20.  The example below is from Milton Keynes.   Note that the Postal Museum machines had already been changes as shown on another post.

Winter Greenery with Europe 100g inscription from NCR Post Office self-service kiosk Milton Keynes 22 November 2023.

The same change took effect earlier on Royal Mail machines earlier - this is the Postal Museum/Mail Rail.

All news about P&G in 2023 will be here, and comments for the old (January 2022) post are closed.

There are a few other posts on Post and Go during the year, notably concerning the withdrawal of machines at Museums.  

Post and GOne – Royal Mail announce P&G Closing at Christmas 2023.

Post Office Self-Service Kiosks will remain in use for the forseeable future - official.

Museum Post and Go machines are in the final throes but not dead yet.

The Postal Museum: Final throes of Post and Go

In the Comments to this post, Trevor has told us of an unannounced inscription at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, "Last Overprint".  I suppose it gives them a few more sales in the final week, although they must have told somebody because they are listed on eBay! 

For the record, these are the edited pictures.  Swindon GWR and Shakespeare now added - thanks to Trevor for these also.

Fleet Air Arm Post & Go Last Overprint Machin MA13 strip.

Fleet Air Arm Post & Go Last Overprint Union Flag strip.

Shakespeare Post & Go Last Overprint Union Flag and Machin 1st class.

Swindon Steam GWR Post & Go Last Overprint Union Flag and Machin 1st class.

This may be the last entry for the 2023 Post and Go story.  I'll leave the comments open until something happens in January to warrant making a new 2024 post.

Thank you to all contributors and readers.

Last Post about the ending of Museum P&G.

This comment is included at the end: Someone was trying to sell an ‘R20YAL’ Machin strip from the Postal Museum with the ‘End of Post & Go …’ overprint that was installed for the last half hour after the Machin Anniversary stamps ran out.

So, bearing in mind that the Postal Museum had indicated in its press release that (to paraphrase) "if the rolls we announced run out we will replace them with something else, this shouldn't be a surprise.

More important, if someone reading this decided to find out what would be installed afterwards and spends money to find out, why is there a problem?

So the starting price of one of these 'last half-hour" strips on an auction site was £140, you buy it or you don't.  If you MUST have it because it exists, then that is your choice - you decide just how much it is worth to you.

As my customers will know, I went especially to the East Anglian Railway Museum. My regular customers got them at regular prices, others paid more.

Likewise I sourced stamps from Perth (Australia and Scotland) and Hong Kong Exhibitions, and charged accordingly. If I had any left to auction they might have made better prices. 

And when new labels were introduced (Europe and Worldwide 60g stamps,  Wincor Europe 20/World 10g etc) I arranged with customers and collectors in many parts of the country to buy the older reels which were still (or had been put) in their local machines to be able to supply my customers with the less common versions or bought them by mail order/phone from distant post offices (eg Kidderminster).

All my speculation*.  And some of these I still have so while they are still good for postage (and their value has increased of course), I didn't always get all my money back in initial sales.

I could have, but didn't, put them on eBay.  I could still.  And then they either sell or they don't. Just because somebody lists something with a Buy it Now price of £140, it doesn't mean it sold at that price. And if it did, it was worth it to someone.  If they achieve a high price at auction, then they are worth it to more than one perosn.  

Get in, or stay out, but don't complain that somebody spent enough money to exhaust what was left of the announced labels, and then bought some of what replaced them.

* If you found a stamp with a printing or perforation error at your post office, would you only buy one or would you buy the whole sheet?

Limited comments will be allowed on this before I shut the post for comments completely.

NOTICE
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PLEASE COMMENT WITH NEWS ABOUT 2024 ON THE JANUARY 2024 POST & GO POST

THIS ONE IS FOR 2023 ONLY
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Similarly don't comment on the 2024 post about the final days of the Postal Museum please.

 

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