Datamatrix codes - they could do so much more.

Regular readers will remember that when the Datamatrix-added stamps were trialled, 

"Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail, said: 'This initiative will see Royal Mail become one of the first postal authorities in the world to add unique barcodes to stamps. By doing this, we are looking to transform the humble stamp so that we can offer our customers even more convenient, new services in the future."

(See 2nd class Machin with datamatrix added)

Then...

"Following a successful national trial we will now be adding unique barcodes to all our regular ‘everyday’ Definitive and Christmas stamps. Each barcoded stamp will have a digital twin and the two will be connected by the Royal Mail App. The unique barcodes will facilitate operational efficiencies, enable the introduction of added security features and pave the way for innovative services for our customers. 

"The new barcoded stamps enable you to watch and share an exclusive Shaun the Sheep video via the barcode itself using the Royal Mail App. You or the recipient can watch the video just by scanning the stamp barcode using our App. More videos will be added over the coming months."

But apart from Shaun the Sheep, what additional innovative services have been added?  None as far as I am aware.

But one of the other first postal authorities in the world to add unique barcodes to stamps, Germany, has developed their barcodes to provide more detail, as I found out when a reader in Germany sent me a Christmas postcard.

Scanning the barcode with an ordinary QI reader produces very little information.

Postcard posted from Munich Germany 15 December 2025.

This is what the sender wrote:

The Deutsche Post stamp barcode base tracking isn’t even that detailed (only the fact that the letter has passed intermediate and final sorting centres), but it’s appreciated. It would probably be easy for RM to implement the same if they decided to.

Interestingly, while there are 2 stamps making up the airmail value, there’s only 1 piececode associated with them. I found this out when I scanned them in the app. During the purchase, the postal clerk scanned both stamps’ barcodes & did some inputs into their computer.

This is what the Deutsche Post website shows (they have an English option). 

Further information about 'Basic Tracking':

What is basic letter tracking?

Basic tracking documents the processing of your mail item at the origin and destination mail centers. Confirmation of actual delivery is not included in basic tracking.

I assume that if the card had been sent to a domestic address then the latest entry would show the 'final sorting centre' as the one that delivered to the addressee.  Being international with no link with Royal Mail, Cologne West was as far as it is recorded.

The extra effort of scanning and (presumably) putting the address into the system at Post Office branches would probably require additional payment from Royal Mail to Post Office Ltd, and hence to the postmaster.  However, it would bring extra footfall into the branches which might be additional benefit. 

A benefit for collectors and anybody who is interested in the stamp on their letter/card is found by clicking on 'More about this motif' which produces this very useful dropdown:

The data shows the size of the stamp, and of the image on it, the date of issue and the face value, the description of the issue (in this case permanent series or definitive) and the name of the designer (Bettina Walter).  

The last line, More information, describes why datamatrix-coded stamps have been issued and provides a YouTube video showing how you can track the progress of an ordinary letter even when it is dropped into a street postbox.  The letter is scanned in the DP app, and then you can give it an identity (card to Norvic) and then track it through the system.  It would be possible to tell the addressee when it was at the final delivery office.

Not shown on the picture above is a further line which translates as 'More information about the stamp'.  Clicking on that, and then translating with Google Translate produces a wealth of information about these pictorial definitives:

Permanent series "World of Letters - Airmail"

Artistically, imaginatively, surreal - this is how the motifs of the new postage stamp series "World of Letters" can be described in a nutshell. In a playful way, she combines the most diverse worlds of life with the letter, the most personal ambassador in the world, and creates an original overall picture that invites you to collect and brings the desire to write to new life.

The possibilities of messaging are diverse and have a long history. Also "Luftpost", the motif of the new postage stamp of the series "World of Letters", is older than some may believe. For millennia, the pigeon served as a postman until the French brothers Montgolfier in the 18th. century a hot air balloon, the so-called Montgolfière, developed. From now on, man could lift himself up into the air. However, the breakthrough of the airmail was achieved with the invention of the aircraft. On the 17. December 1903 the world's first motorized flight took place. The Wright brothers did not have letters in their luggage that day, but already in 1911, as part of an exhibition in the Indian Allahabad, letters and postcards were officially transported in a biplane for the first time. With the permission of the Reich Post Office, a plane was used for the first time in Germany for the first time in 1912 at the postcard week "Flugpost am Rhein und am Main".

A particular interest in airmail receipts are stamp collectors who are committed to aerophilately. The stamps and stamps used are of importance here, but also the circumstances - for example, rescued mail items from accidental aircraft are sought after. The crowning achievement of such a collection, however, is the "Inverted Jenny," an American stamp misprint from 1918, in which the pictured double-decker Curtiss JN-4 was printed with the nickname "Jenny" traffic. With only a hundred known copies, the misprint of the first U.S. airmail brand is a valuable rarity. 

I haven't taken the trouble to edit the errors in the translation as most people will understand the meaning.

Obviously with Royal Mail only applying datamatrix codes to definitive and Christmas stamps the scope is far more limited, but imagine how much information the could have provided to people who were interested in these six cathedrals (or at least the five that people might have had on their cards).

Christmas 2024 miniature sheet showing Cathedrals.

 What do you think?

  

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Royal Mail Stamp Programme for 2026

Coinciding with the release of details about the first issue of the year, Royal Mail have set out the programme for the first half of 2026.  As last year, they have withheld details about the second half, even from cover producers who have to do a lot of research before they can start printing designs and sponsoring handstamps.

Full details of the first issue will not be published here until the embargo date of 6 January but as Royal Mail's website includes this detail, I see no reason not to share the first six months' issues with you now.  Updated 20 April with most of the rest of the programme.

Thank you to the dozen or so readers here and on Stampboards who contributed over 70 suggestions, some of them frivolous (like the set that kicked off 'reader suggestions' many years ago), many others very unlikely, but some notable anniversaries and other worthy suggestions for which we will have to await the full programme to find out whether they match.  

As with previous years, there will be many stamp issues that no-one came anywhere near guessing and some that even when they are issued we will not really understand Royal Mail's justification.

Suggestions which I don't think will make it into the second half of the programme - Centenary of the General Strike, 75th year of Europa, 50th Anniversary of Dolly the Sheep, 150th anniversary of the Bell Telephone, The Archers (long-running BBC radio soap), Birth or Death Anniversaries of Agatha Christie (although that would be an easy option as there is already a precedent for using her material), Benjamin Britten, John Constable, Henry Blogg and David Beckham. 

Other subjects which stand a reasonable chance: The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, 300th Anniversary of Fire Brigades, The King Charles Coastal Path, London Zoo.  

Thematic subjects suggested were: Theatre Buildings* - which could incorporate the National Theatre, the Royal Ballet, Royal Opera, and Royal Opera House all of which have anniversaries in 2026.  Music Giants were not given much chance, although Swedish group Abba, Freddie Mercury himself, Genesis, Gorillaz, Joy Division, Led Zeppelin, and Oasis all got a mention.  Trees were suggested both for themselves and for the National Arboretum (linking in with Remembrance), Christmas Trees at landmarks, and the Peak District National Park.  *If this comes about then the person who suggested Architecture might be in contention too!

Suggestions which might be deemed frivolous - but about which picture books have been published - include Solar power, Trademarks, and Wheelie Bins.

I think one of the problems with trying to predict is trying to remember what has happened in the not too distant past when, maybe, we took less interest in new issues.  Thus the 60th anniversary of Star Trek when that has been done to death anyway, Centenary of Winnie The Pooh ditto (although having the agreement with Disney for earlier issues might sway things), and the National Arboretum was the subject of a Commemorative Sheet.  

Anyway, for the time being, this is what we know.  My intention always is to add links to this table when the details of the issue appear in their own post, but sadly that rarely happens.  I don't mind if you nudge me, by email. 

This table has already been amended since my first draft because dates have changed and the order of some issues has been revised since we were first told.  So don't expect this to be the final even for the first half.  I've no idea when we will be able to add all the July-December details but most of the second half of the year has now been added.

UPDATE24 July: Thank you to readers for pointing out that the 29th September issue has been postponed until 1st December.  This means only one issue in July, August, September, October, but two in November and one in December - two after the Christmas issue!  Of course the need to keep the pre-Christmas period clear doesn't matter as much now because most Post Office branches are not rushed off their feet satisfying collectors, and those that don't stock special stamps won't be affected anyway.

Links in the table are to the main blogposts for the issue.

13th January	Stranger Things (Neflix series) Blockbuster issue with all sorts of extras
21st January	Concorde supersonic airliner  8 x 1st, 4 x 1st MS
19th February	Hornby 125th    8 x 1st, 4 x 1st MS
26th February	Roses - 50th Anniversary of the first set of stamps dedicated to this flower, which was issued on the centenary of the Royal National Rose Society
20th March	Lord of The Rings. Another blockbuster issue with all sorts of extras
26th March	New Tariff definitives
21st April	Centenary of the Birth of Queen Elizabeth II 8 x 1st, 4 x 1st MS, PSB
21st May	Castles  - these, or new ones?   As it turns out, some old, some new.
23rd June	Waterfalls 5 x 1st, 5 x 2nd
9 July	Moths 5 x 1st, 5 x 2nd  Elephant Hawk Moth 2020
30 July	Military Jet Aircraft 8 x 1st and 4 x 1st miniature sheet  Avro Vulcan issued in 2018, gets more exposure
20 August	Pets  Dog issued 2024
17 September	Music Giants: Duran Duran Duran Duran in New York City, 2005 By Tendai - https://www.flickr.com/photos/45624184@N00/18523842/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11877728
29  September	Postponed until 1 December
14 October	another issue to be confirmed
3rd November	Christmas
11 November	Remembrance Poppy issued 2008
1 December	another issue to be confirmed

Machins: it's not over until everything has been discovered!

I had thought that I had written my last post about Machin discoveries and, indeed, it may well be that someone has seen and reported this before, maybe nearly 25 years ago!

Regular contributor MM sent me this image of a clipping from an envelope purchased from Norway. Eagle-eyed readers will see that there are no values on the stamps, and that the 'postmark', dated 24 November 2002, isn't.

In fact the whole thing is printed - 'stamps', postmark, even the shadows aside the stamps.  The image of the Christmas stamp is of the 1981 18p set designed by Lucinda Blackmore (then aged 6), whilst the Machin image may be imitating the £1 value from April 1997.

I asked the Norwegian Seamen's Mission in London whether they could tell me any more (with no response received as yet), but further investigation shows that while the item of mail may have originated with them, it was actually processed IN Norway.

B-BLAD, at the right of the Christmas stamp is a marking for the Norwegian postal service, Posten Norge for a specific, lower-priority bulk mail service for periodicals and membership magazines.

So it appears that it was from a Christmas newsletter/magazine produced in the UK but posted to Norwegian addresses using the Norwegian domestic postal system.   

Royal Mail did not introduce stamp images printed onto Direct Mail envelopes until 2015 but there had been examples of stamps used on publicity material before then.  

It seems unlikely that the Seaman's Mission obtained permission from Royal Mail to use the copyrighted Machin image as their rules say that stamps must be used unaltered, apart from overlapping of different images.

Another one, closer to home 

Although I headed this 'closer to home' it originated almost as far away as it could, in Warrnambool a city in Victoria, Australia, used on the council's recycling flyer.  

It's 'closer to home' because the person who sent me this picture was convinced that the image was taken from our website.  OK, it could have been taken from any other, but the black border and placing of the coloured chevron against the perforations appears to be exactly the same.

 

If you have any other pre-2015 examples of stamps being used on marketing or other mail, please let me know.

 

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Christmas 2025 - five stamps, MS, smaller collector sheet - issued 4 November 2025

Some readers may have seen the designs for this years 2nd class and 2nd class Large stamp designs which Royal Mail have made available to direct mailing houses for their Christmas campaigns.  Inexplicably this was done on the (publicly viewable) Royal Mail Wholesale webpage in September with the exhortation that the mailers "must treat the image as confidential until 4 November and it should not be included on any of your promotional material or website."  (They can be seen on the Commonwealth Blogspot now.)

All the usual details will be shown here - the set, the miniature sheet, and the usual collector sheet - when the Royal Mail publicity machine kicks into action on 28th October.

Royal Mail is uncharacteristically brief in its enthusing about these designs:

Royal Mail is celebrating Christmas 2025 with a set of 5 stamps illustrated by British artist Paula Doherty. These illustrations focus on key characters within the nativity such as Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wise men, the angel and baby Jesus.  

 

 

Set of 5 stamps and miniature sheet issued 4 November 2025 

Technical Details

The 39 x 30 mm stamps were designed by Hat-trick using illustrations by Paula Doherty and printed in gravure by Cartor Security Printers on self-adhesive paper in sheets of 50.  The miniature sheet is 179 x 74 mm.    

Booklets

Now we come to the interesting part - the information provided to the Stamp Trade, and on the order form, shows only booklets of 8.

But Royal Mail's web shop, today, also shows booklets of 4 of each value.

These stamp booklets were made available to the trade and, we believe, others with booklets on their standing orders.  They are not materially different and have blank labels on the inside front cover.

Digital Stamps used by Royal Mail Direct Mail customers preprinted on seasonal mailshots. 

Collector(s) Sheet 

From 2025 the traditional Christmas Collectors Sheet will be reduced to 10 stamps, from 20, in the following formats: 2 x 1st class, 2 x 2nd class, 2 x 1st Class Large Letter, 2 x 2nd Class Large Letter, 2 x £3.40.
The Sheet will be printed in self adhesive and litho, which is different from the main set which is printed in self adhesive and photogravure.  The labels here are particularly uninspiring - taking them singly they will mean nothing to anyone.  Price is £22.54

Products available 

Set of stamps, Miniature Sheet, Collectors Sheet, Retail booklets (apparently 4), Stamp Cards (6), Presentation Pack, First Day Covers (2).

UPDATE 28 October: I've had a report that the sheet stamps were on sale and were used in Ripon yesterday.  

UPDATE 12 December:  I've been reminded that Royal Mail employees are given a Christmas bonus of Christmas stamps at this time of year.  In previous years this has been two sheets of 25 x 1st class stamps,  distinguished from those sold provided to the rest of us as still having the matrix around the stamps (see earlier blogs).  This year they have received 50 x 2nd class stamps (costing the company half the price).  

Given the number of employees on the streets and in HQ and regional offices, this is quite a saving.

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Tudor Crown is appearing in Royal Mail cruciform - but very slowly!

Over a year ago Royal Mail announced that they were adopting the Tudor Crown in their logo but that it would be done gradually - and we recently reported that some Downstream Access PPI, which is used by Direct Mailers, so they would use up old stationery first.

But Royal Mail are also moving slowly.  Today I received the latest batch of stamps from the Swapout scheme.  The letter has the new crown - but the Special Delivery postage label - which I'm sure is printed on demand for each item as it contains the name and address and barcode - still has the old.  The envelope that the label was stuck to (ENV 04) also has the old crown.

Special delivery label on the left, and letterhead on the right.

KC reports that he had a statement of account with old cruciform on the statement but in an envelope with the new cruciform (ENV 32)

 

Royal Mail envelope ENV 32

and Order advice note with new cruciform on the advice note but in an envelope with the old cruciform (ENV 10).

JG reports the new crown in use in recent digital stamps - the direct mail with preprinted stamps - both the  Christmas 2nd class and the King Charles III 2nd class, both from The Delivery Group.

 Any more reports?

 

 

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On and off at Christmas - or, did you know?

The Christmas stamps of 2001 were innovative; the first after the complex Millennium series of special    issues, they were self-adhesive for the first time.  To help post office counter staff to get used to them without spoiling any sheets of special labels were printed in the same format (sheets of 50) with the De La Rue logo in black on a white background.  These training sheets, and the actual stamps retained the paper around and between the stamps, known as the matrix.

This format continued for 2002, but in 2004 the matrix was removed at the factory, which made it much easier for counter staff and customers to remove the stamps.  This was to be the model for all future self-adhesive issues and was extended to booklets and business sheets.

Except that it wasn't the case with all the stamps.  Each year Royal Mail (and at that time Post Office) employees were given 50 x 1st class stamps at Christmas (on condition that they did not sell them to collectors!).   The 50 stamps were usually in two panes of 25 and the matrix was retained.  Of course this made them attractive to collectors, so some were swapped for normal ones while others were given away or sold (yes - really!)

The difference can be seen clearly in this example of the 2006 stamps.

Christmas 2006 1st class: 'Public' version; above 'Staff' version below.

I have examples of many years available at current face value or less for blocks.  A pair or a marginal single is essential to show the difference, but bigger blocks are quite impressive.

Availability - as well as singles and pairs from the middle of the sheet, I can offer the following.

2004 - printing date marginal strips or blocks; sale date marginal strips or blocks. Cylinder blocks, gutter pair, and gutter blocks now available.

2005 - cylinder blocks and colour dot blocks or strip. - One gutter paid only remaining.

2006 - sale date marginal strips or blocks, singles.

2007 - printing date marginal strips or blocks; sale date marginal strips or blocks, pairs.

2008 - colour dot strip/block; one single.

2009 - half-sheet of 25 with cylinder and colour dots; colour dot block/strip, single.

2010 - colour dot strip/block; two singles.

2011 - printing date marginal strips or blocks; sale date marginal strips or blocks, half-sheet of 25.

2012 - half-sheet of 25 with cylinder and colour dots; few others.

These were distributed in half-sheets of 25, the top half has the dates, the lower half has the cylinder numbers and colour blocks. While available sheets can be split into blocks, strips and singles.

Please email ian[at]norphil.co.uk with your requirements.

I'll try to keep this updated with available stock.

 

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Welcome news from Royal Mail

It would seem that someone at Royal Mail has been listening to reaction from collectors to the ever-increasing cost of their products.  Either that or rapidly declining numbers of traditional collectors has suddenly awoken them.

News release

Important Change to Special Stamp Issuing Policy
We are making a change to our Special Stamp Programme that we’d like to share with you.

From March 2025, all Special Stamps will feature 1st and/or 2nd Class values only. This means we will no longer include stamps with International values or alternative monetary values such as £1.00 or £2.00. 

One important exception to this rule will be the annual Christmas issue which will continue to feature International rate stamps along with the Large Letter stamps.

This change is part of our efforts to provide an accessible and affordable stamp programme, designed to better meet the needs of our customers. 

We will continue to listen to Customer feedback and explore further improvements. Feedback from our customers helps us shape the future of our Stamp Programme, and we encourage you to share your ideas with us. Thank you for your continued support.

Unfortunately the tariff change in April will probably see 1st class letters rise to £1.75 and 2nd to 90p - dropping the £1 values and replacing them with 1st class offers no benefit to collectors so it is good to see that there will be more 2nd class.

(My thanks to the readers who alerted me to the email sent from Customer Services which confirms what the trade was told under embargo last week.)

UPDATE  28 February - new tariff.  Although not yet officially announced it would seem that from 31 March the new rates for 1st and 2nd class mail will be in the range £1.75 to £1.85 and £0.87 - 0.90.   These are the basic new rates for business users before discounts (which can see those rates drop as low as £1.37 and 63.5p for high volumes).  (See Business Rates 2025.)

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In other news Royal Mail will be at EuroPhilEx 7-11 May 2025

EuroPhilEx Birmingham 2025 will be the United Kingdom’s mid-decade international stamp exhibition and for the first time ever the organising committee has decided to move its international exhibition out of London. Birmingham is the country’s second city, located in the centre of England and surrounded by a massive population and several other large cities.

Royal Mail is pleased to have a stand at the exhibition and will also be issuing two EuroPhilEx products on the VE Day theme to complement the latest new issue and in recognition of the national commemorations that will take place on the 8th May 2025, day 2 of the stamp exhibition.

Special EuroPhilEx Postmarks will be available for each day of the show. 

A team from Tallents House, and the call centre in Doxford, plus some of the London leadership team will be on our stand offering current stamp issues and products including the range of Barcoded Definitive Stamps. 

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LondonRobert - the comment about the SwapOut does not belong here, please recomment on a relevant post.

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Christmas stamps 2024 error of datamatrix codes (2nd & 1st).

I'm indebted to the editor of the Deegam catalogue for bringing another datamatrix error to my attention. As with many other errors, it raises more questions than can easily be answered, and for which we are unlikely to get answers from Royal Mail.

A Scottish subscriber purchased these on eBay (so we have no information as to where they were found or how many). 

The image shows two Christmas 2024 stamps, a 2nd-class and a 1st-class stamp.  The mysterious thing, however, is that both stamps have the same barcode date 250624, the same barcode stamp value of 00085 and also an identical coding S112 in the 5th to 8th positions of the barcode.

2nd & 1st class Christmas 2024 stamps, the 1st class datamatrix code showing 85p rather than the first class rate.

The complete first part of the 2D data matrix code on these two Christmas stamps reads as follows:

1st-class  JGB S11251017031170047360008525062402 

2nd-class JGB S11251017031233603360008525062402

The 1st class normally has a barcode of 100624 and the 2nd class 250624.  In between the miniature sheet was printed with stamps coded for 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st, and 24th. Even if the datamatrix printer was set up to print 2nd class when 1st class stamps were inserted in error.  But in that case why is the 1st class colour correct?

If anybody else has any similar error please contact me and the editor at deegampub@gmail.com.

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A Handbook of British Barcoded Stamps

When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died it brought the end of our Security Machin Checklist, which listed the Machin definitives from 2009 up to and including those issued with Datamatrix Barcodes.  Before that I had indicated that although there was much to be learned from a study of the data contained within the barcode, that was not something I would be pursuing, much in the same way that I did not produce a Post and Go Checklist.  We would also not produce a Checklist for the stamps of King Charles.

However, it is clear that a large number of people around the world are interested in the stamps of the new reign, and that a number of those are interested in delving into the hidden world of the datamatrix code. So I am pleased to provide details of a new Handbook covering this subject.  Users of the Complete Deegam Machin Handbook will be aware of it already, but I'm sure there are collectors who never got into the complexities of that volume but who nonetheless are interested in these new codes.

The Deegam® Handbook of British Barcoded Stamps.

 

● Published as linked Adobe PDF files (delivered via WeTransfer)

● More than 100 Mb of data and images

● In colour and printable

● Constantly updated (five times a year)

● Suitable for Windows PC and Mac

2022 was a remarkable year for British philately! Two ‘radical’ changes took place at almost the same time – first, original definitive stamps were replaced by barcoded ones, the invalidation of non-barcoded definitive stamps from 31 July 2023 preceded by a Swap scheme allowing users to exchange old for new.

The second change was caused by the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II and succession by HM King Charles III.  Both changes triggered different reactions among collectors. One group decided to stop adding future new issues from Royal Mail to their collection, either on the introduction of barcodes or the death of the Queen, while others - as always when there is a major change - see a new starting point in their collecting interests, as these barcoded stamps present a further milestone in the development of the postal service.

Therefore, it has been decided to create a separate publication for these barcoded stamps – The Deegam® Handbook of British Barcoded Stamps (or, in short, HBBS). The term ‘barcoded stamps’ includes not only barcoded National and Country definitive stamps with images of the monarch King Charles III or Queen Elizabeth II, but also barcoded Christmas stamps. In fact, Christmas stamps have the same format and similar features to the definitive stamps. In other words, this Handbook contains all GB barcoded stamps.

The same structure and navigation as that used in the Machin Handbook HB5 are used for this Handbook although the text is presented in one column rather than two. There is an ‘Introduction’ that is structured similarly to the Chapters of Handbook HB5 – so that in the future this Introduction can easily be divided into Chapters (if necessary). 

It contains a catalogue of barcoded stamps. This is divided into three levels to suit beginners, intermediate collectors and specialists. Each level forms part of the unique numbering system which never changes no matter what new values or variations are issued. Every value has its own section, making it very easy to find the stamp you are looking for. In addition, all FDCs (more precisely, non-cancelled FDCs) are displayed in order to visibly present the barcodes on all stamps. An appendix for forgeries has also been added.

The Handbook is updated every 2-3 months with Deegam® Reports which are free to registered owners for a period of time. Every Handbook is created to order so yours is always the latest version when you buy it.

This Handbook is currently the only publication on British barcoded stamps on the market! The author is very optimistic that many collectors will share his enthusiasm for barcoded stamps.

Sample pages of The Deegam® Handbook of British Barcoded Stamps (HBBS) are available from the ‘Handbooks’ page of the Deegam website at https://www.deegam.com. 

 

The price of this new Handbook is £29, but there are a number of other purchasing options if you already have, or want to buy, the Machin Handbook.  See the Deegam site for details.  I urge readers to look at the sample pages referenced above, as even from these few you can see how detailed and comprehensive this Handbook is.

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December Slogan Postmarks and other interesting Postal Markings

November actually ended with the Post Early slogan which I received on a (stamped business!) letter today.  

This may be the only general design until Royal Mail get date specific - last year they didn't do any post early slogans and in 2022 they were urging us to use up our old stamps until the middle of the month when they switched to date specific.  

Remember also, that the Universal machines are usually pressed into service at this time of year.

2022 Date-specific 'Post Early' slogan.

Dumb wavy line Universal machine in 2022.

Decades-old Snowman slogan in Universal machine in 2022.

Post Early

This slogan will be widely used, I should think, so please send me other layouts.

Remember to
post early
for Christmas
royalmail.com/greetings

This first example is from Peterborough Mail Centre 30-11-2024.

Post Early slogan, Peterborough Mail Centre 30-11-2024

UPDATE 4 December: We and MM both received reversed examples today on square envelopes.  Mine is from Gatwick 02/12/2024 and MM's is from Tyne & Wear 03/12/2024.

Reversed Post Early slogan, Gatwick Mail Centre 02/12/2024

Reversed Post Early slogan, Tyneside NE/SR Mail Centre 03/12/2024

And the last layout to complete the set (of mostly poor impressions!) comes from PC with this one from Romford Mail Centre, probably 02/12/2024.

Post Early slogan, Romford Mail Centre 02/12/2024

UPDATE 21 December 2024  Royal Mail's last day for posting 2nd class mail was 18th December, and although the last day for 1st class mail was 20th, the Post Early slogan was replaced on 19th by the default British Heart Foundation slogan.  I suppose anything posted on 19th was unlikely to be delivered on 20th, so no point in continuing to remind people of the last posting date.

Here's a the envelope from a card which reached us this week which has the Birmingham Mail Centre Post Early slogan on 17/12/2024, and also a Norwich Mail Centre British Heart Foundation slogan on 19-12-2024. After that there is a clear example of the BHF slogan from Norwich on 20-12-2024.

Post Early slogan from Birmingham Mail Centre slogan on 17/12/2024, and also a Norwich Mail Centre British Heart Foundation slogan on 19-12-2024.

Norwich Mail Centre British Heart Foundation slogan on 20-12-2024.

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UNIVERSALS

CP emailed to say that Stromness's Universal machine was used again, but could not send a copy.  I should think it is much like this one, without a year.  "Stromness stamped the reverse of my letter (on 2 December) suggesting the Universal is only used on island mail and the stamp on the front was cancelled with Glasgow Post early slogan of 3 December"

Stromness, Orkney Universal with no year slug, used in 2023, which was used again in 2024

UPDATE: the reported 2024 usage has now reached me and is of course the same slogan as last year, but they put the day slug into the time slot on 2 December.

Stromness, Orkney, Universal with no year slug, used 2 December 2024 with the day slug in the time slot.

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Other postmarks, postal markings etc.

Jersey post used a Santa Sleigh slogan postmark this year: the transposed position as used by Royal Mail in pre-inkjet days allows the slogan to be seen clearly. 

Jersey Post Merry Christmas slogan illustrated with Santa and reindeer 05.12.24

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Remember, all postmarks appearing in December will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.

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