Another Post and Go Change - Zones 1 & 3

As reported by various readers and added to the earlier 'availability' blog, Museum machines which were not in use on 1 September are now being brought into use.

Both the Shakespeare Visitor Centre at Stratford-upon-Avon and the GWR STeam Museum in Swindon restarted on 17 September, with Shakespeare using Machin MA14 and Flowers MA17.  

We can now show pictures of these thanks to postagelabelsuk.com.  As you will see, the inscription for these (A009 & A010 respectively) IAR machines' Zone 1 and 3 stamp is the same as on the stamps printed from Post Office Self-Service Kiosks (SSKs)., ie Zone 1-3.

However, it is now reported - and verified on eBay - that these machines have already changed to show the more accurate Zone 1 & 3.   (Thanks to Chris for sending this image.)

Aside from corrected errors (and this isn't one), the original may be the Post and Go Faststamp with the shortest availability.  Anybody who found out about the reopening of the Museums and arranged to get the stamps has a Post & Go rarity!

 

UPDATE: the screen display from the Royal Navy Museum machine A002, thanks to Chris.

Comments about these only here, all other comments and changes on the original post please.

---

Post and Go Stamps Tariff Change News

As I mentioned a month ago, new postage rates came into effect today. Whilst the new definitive stamps were issued last week in preparation, Royal Mail Post and Go machines and Post Office Self-Service (NCR) Kiosks could only be updated after close of business yesterday in preparation for opening time in branches today.  The change in structure of the airmail rates required the introduction of Europe 100g and Worldwide 100g stamps, replacing the previous 60g stamps

Norwich had Machin definitive (MA14) and Working Sails stamps:

It is likely that other Machin versions will exist - MA13, MA12 etc.  Indeed MA13 stock was in the Royal Mail machine at Crewe Delivery Office.

But the surprise - and perhaps disappointment for collectors and dealers - was that the location identifier, introduced only with the new machines on 2 February, had been removed.  Thanks to Stuart and Alf for telling me about Crewe and Bradford North respectively.

Mike reports that Mount Pleasant, Camden, Baker Street, Great Portland Street & Trafalgar Square offices in London all have Machin stamps only. 

UPDATE 31 March
Thanks also to Stuart for pictures of Crewe (M002) and Bradford North (M003) stamps produced yesterday with no name. These are both MA13.

---

What more for Machin Security stamps ?

And so we approach the end of another year, a year in which Machin definitives and Post and Go Faststamps have made the most GB philatelic news despite the efforts of Royal Mail's special stamp programme to engender some life into other areas of collecting, and to attract new collectors.  As written in the latest Stamp Magazine, the lack of mainstream media coverage of, for example, the Prime Ministers issue (which included Margaret Thatcher, surely one of the most controversial of modern PMs) demonstrated that the nationals didn't really take any notice of Royal Mail's output.

But are we finished with this year's Machins and, aside from the Alice in Wonderland booklet stamp, what will be the first new Machin Security Stamp to appear next year?  The only low-value stamp still to appear with a 2014 reprint date is the 1p, a value used so much to supplement the others that it must surely have been reprinted alongside the other low values and will appear quite soon.  But my bet for the first sheet stamp to appear with a 2015 code is the 97p.

Reprinted 6 times since the first (January 2014) printing this is possibly the most-used value outside the 2nd and 1st class NVIs.  Post Office branches reported stocks running low in the Christmas period as, quite inexplicably, the value was not included in the Christmas set.  There's no 97p in the Alice in Wonderland set either, which does - bizarrely - have two 81p surface mail stamps.

We can expect the rate to change in the March/April review (probably to £1 which will save having a new stamp), but I doubt that there will be any 97p special stamps before then.  The last set before the rate change is always a set of 1st class stamps - they have to be printed so far in advance of a decision being made on new postage rates that stamps with a face value are never included in the set issued in March.


Machins first issued or discovered in 2014 - 36 this year
In the order they appeared:

2931R.2W - 2nd class coil 10,000 printed by Walsall - M12L MRIL

4002P.3E - 2p From Classic Locomotives of the UK prestige stamp book M13L MPIL
4005P.3F - 5p ditto.  4005P.3E was in the Merchant Navy PSB with inverted perforations

2911.4 - 2nd class counter sheet

3081 - 81p "holly green" - emerald
3097 - 97p "purple heather" - bluish violet
3147 -  £1.47 "dove grey" - lavender-grey
3215 -  £2.15 "marine turquoise"- greenish blue

2913B.4 - 2nd class Large business sheet MBIL MA14
2936.4  - 1st class red MTIL from booklet of 12

4010P.4 -  10p MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4020P.4  - 20p  MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4100P.4  -  £1 MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB

2936C.4  - 1st class MCIL from Buckingham Palace mixed retail booklet

3010.4  -  10p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3020.4  -  20p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3101.4  -  £1 bistre-brown M14L/MAIL from counter sheet

3128.4 - £1.28 M14L/MAIL emerald from counter sheet
2914.4 - 1st  M14L/MAIL class counter sheet
2916.4 - 1st Large M14L/MAIL counter sheet

2916B.4 - 1st class Large business sheet MBIL MA14
2913.4 -  2nd class Large counter sheet M14L
2931.4 - 2nd class MTIL M14L from booklet of 12
2914R.3 - 1st class coil (of 10,000) by Walsall M13L MRIL

2911B.4 - 2nd class business sheet MBIL M14L (correction)
2914B.4 - 1st class business sheet MBIL M14L
2933.4 - 2nd Large MFIL from booklet of 4
2937.4  - 1st Large MFIL from booklet of 4
2936S.4 - 1st class red MSIL from booklet of 6 

4010P.4a -  10p MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
4020P.4a  - 20p  MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
4100P.4a  -  £1 MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.

2985.4 - Special Delivery 100g M14L
3002.4 - 2p counter sheet M14L
2986.4 - Special Delivery 500g M14L
3005.4 - 5p counter sheet M14L

---

In value order

3002.4 - 2p counter sheet M14L
4002P.3E - 2p From Classic Locomotives of the UK prestige stamp book M13L MPIL
4005P.3F - 5p ditto. 
3005.4 - 5p counter sheet M14L
4010P.4 -  10p MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4010P.4a -  10p MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.

3010.4  -  10p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
4020P.4  - 20p  MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4020P.4a  - 20p  MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
3020.4  -  20p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3081   -   81p "holly green" - emerald M14L/MAIL
3097   -   97p "purple heather" - bluish violet M14L/MAIL

4100P.4  -  £1 MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4100P.4a  -  £1 MPIL from Great War PSB - shade and phosphor difference.
3101.4  -  £1 bistre-brown M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3128.4 - £1.28 M14L/MAIL emerald from counter sheet
3147 -  £1.47 "dove grey" - lavender-grey M14L/MAIL
3215 -  £2.15 "marine turquoise"- greenish blue M14L/MAIL

2931R.2W - 2nd class coil 10,000 printed by Walsall - M12L MRIL 
2911.4 - 2nd class counter sheet
2911B.4 - 2nd class business sheet MBIL M14L (correction)
2931.4 - 2nd class MTIL from booklet of 12
 
2913.4 -  2nd class Large counter sheet M14L
2913B.4 - 2nd class Large business sheet MBIL MA14
2933.4 - 2nd Large MFIL from booklet of 4

2914.4 - 1st  M14L/MAIL class counter sheet
2914B.4 - 1st class business sheet MBIL M14L
2914R.3 - 1st class coil (of 10,000) by Walsall M13L MRIL 
2936.4  - 1st class red MTIL from booklet of 12
2936S.4 - 1st class red MSIL from booklet of 6 
2936C.4  - 1st class MCIL from Buckingham Palace mixed retail booklet 
2916.4 - 1st Large M14L/MAIL counter sheet
2916B.4  - 1st class Large business sheet MBIL MA14  
2937.4  - 1st Large MFIL from booklet of 4

2985.4 - Special Delivery 100g M14L
2986.4 - Special Delivery 500g M14L

---

New Catalogue Machin Security Definitive Stamps

We are pleased to announce that the new Norvic Checklist of Machin Security Definitive Stamps is now available free of charge to all collectors and dealers.

Designed to fit the gap between the Stanley Gibbons GB Concise Catalogue and the extreme detail of some other lists, this identifies all the values with all the source and year codes, cross-referenced to SG numbers and Royal Mail product codes.  Source booklet numbers are also included to assist in precise identification.

Table showing 2nd class counter sheet listing

Dates of issue or earliest known dates (EKD) of appearance are shown.  Over the summer the list has been checked by a number of customers and dealers, and many corrections made, but more information is waiting to be discovered, especially on dates.  Checking stamps on ordinary mail may yet reveal that stamps were actually in post offices or other retail outlets earlier than previously thought so the list is always subject to change.  But it is totally up to date with the latest discovery, the 2p M14L (see below).

Some collectors (and dealers) record these stamps in greater detail than we do, for instance according to the size of the gap in the security slits, according to the shape of the perforation, or the direction of printing.  This doesn't claim to be a complete list of Security Machins according to those criteria, but it does list all the basic stamps - and a few extras.

The Norvic numbers are used in our webshop, and we hope that this will help customers to find what they are looking for an fill the gaps.  

To download a copy of the checklist go to Dropbox.

---

2nd class Post and Go MA14

Readers will be reassured to know that dealers can get as confused as collectors, so forgive me if this is not news! and John (ATM Informer) McCallum has now confirmed that this is the first sighting of this stamp.

The Post and Go machines at St Vincent Street Glasgow have recently been replaced by NCR Self-Service machines - indeed this may have been posted on the first day.  In which case it may be a first day cover of the stamps as well, as the 2nd class Machin Faststamps have the MA14 year code.  Thanks to the sender for getting the self-inking counter datestamp on these as the slogan doesn't really show the date of 22 September.

---

Stamp Booklet and Business Sheet update 31 July 2014 (revised report)

As reported earlier, new booklets and business sheets are available from 31 July 2014.  The stamp content will be unchanged as far as Royal Mail concerned.  [This blogpost replaces the two earlier ones on the same subject.]

In accordance with new EU regulations on Customer Service, premium rate numbers are no longer permitted for Business-to-Customer after-sales services.  This affects the stamp booklets, on which the telephone number 08457 740 740 has changed to 03457 740 740, and the Textphone/Minocom number from 08456 000 606 to 03456 000 606. 

The new regulations do not apply to Business-to-Business communications, so on the Business Sheets the telephone number is unchanged.  However, the same Textphone number is used for all customers, so that number has changed on Business Sheets.

As mentioned on the original blogpost, the M14L 1st x 6 booklet with the old numbers appeared in June.  We were told by Royal Mail that the Large Letter booklets and small stamp Business Sheets with 2014 codes (MA14/M14L) would make their first appearance with this printing.

In fact supplies of the M14L 2nd class Business Sheet were found in post offices last week, with printing dates of 18/02/14 and 19/02/14.  Our FDCs for 31 July will therefore have only 3 stamps!

(Click on any image for a larger version.)

We don't have cylinders on all booklets yet:

12 x 1st - W5 (red) W2 (phos) W1 (security)

4 x 1st Large - W2 (red), W1 (phos and security)

4 x 2nd Large

12 x 2nd

6 x 1st -  31 July with previous M14L booklet for comparison.  Used copies are known from mid-June.

Barcodes and packing details:

BUSINESS SHEETS (Click on any image for a larger version.)

Printing date 05/06/14 - sheet number 9403397 

Printing date 11/06/14 - sheet number 2456883

The Large Letter Stamps are unchanged, so here are the sheet tops for the record:

Printing date 27/05/14 - sheet number 1749264

Printing date 21/05/14 - sheet number 1683411

Thanks to all readers who sent in comments on this subject, and apologies for the confusion on the changes.  Royal Mail did not tell us the complete details, so there has been detective work involved!
Thanks to Robert, Brian and Machnimaniac and others.

---

July 2014 Business Sheet update

As reported earlier, new booklets and business sheets will be available from 31 July 2014.  The stamp content will be unchanged as far as Royal Mail concerned, with the only change being the telephone number which on booklets changes from 08457 to 03457.  On Business Sheets, the TextPhone number changes from 08456 to 03456, but the telephone number remains 08457.

See revised report covering both booklets and business sheets.

July 2014 retail stamp booklet update

As reported earlier, new booklets and business sheets will be available from 31 July 2014.  The stamp content will be unchanged as far as Royal Mail concerned, with the only change being the telephone number on the back cover, which changes from 08457 to 03457.  However this change sees the first appearance of 2014 codes on the Large Letter stamps, which are coded MA14.  

See revised report covering both Business Sheets and Booklets.

 

New printings of Machin counter sheets

Another round of printing was undertaken by De La Rue in May, and so far the following have been seen:

2nd class         12/05/14
1st class           08/05/14
1st Large         20/05/14
97p                  23/05/14
£1                    22/05/14

Date blocks of 8 can be supplied on request.

Packing dates for the new Walsall retail booklets seen so far are:

6 x 1st              02/05/14
12 x 1st            08/05/14
12 x 2nd           14/05/14
4 x 1st Lge       03/06/14
4 x 2nd Lge      28/05/14

---

New Year comes to Post and Go Faststamps - and other reports

Well, we've reached the half-way point in the year so it's fitting that the first MA14 Faststamp report should reach us today.  Thanks to Dominic for the following reports and pictures, one of which has been modified to bring out the detail.

The Machin MA14 stamp is from Sutton, which may have gone live on 27 June:

This 2nd class was bought at Lavender Hill Battersea a couple of months ago, so the machine has probably been fixed by now, but the huge left margin suggests that the reel was not installed correctly - or there was a software fault.

Dominic also reports:

The new Islington Office (031004) opened as planned(16^th June).  Yesterday the 2 machines had 1^st class MA13 and 2^nd Class MA12. These machines have a modification which means you have to insert each coin rather than putting the whole lot in the bowl.

Robert sent this picture of a Post and Go label from a Paignton Wincor machine back in May with a band of printing missing:

Updated list of Machin definitives issued in 2014 - new counter sheet stamps

I can now show pictures of some of the new counter sheet Machin definitives which have been added to the shop today.

The 10p, 20p and £1 values with M14L code, the first two from cylinders D2, the £1 from D1, are in stock. The 1st class and 1st Large counter sheets are expected soon.  Also added to the shop today are the 1st class from booklets of 12 and the 2nd class Large business sheet.

10p sheet

Close-ups of 10p, 20p and £1.
Printing dates 07/03/14, 14/03/14 and 10/03/14

Close ups of 1st class and 1st class Large (added 17 April)
Printing dates are 17/03/4 and 18/03/14 respectively

Machins first issued or discovered in 2014  - 20 so far !

2931R.2W - 2nd class coil 10,000 printed by Walsall - M12L MRIL

4002P.3E - 2p From Classic Locomotives of the UK prestige stamp book M13L MPIL
4005P.3F - 5p ditto.  4005P.3E was in the Merchant Navy PSB with inverted perforations

2911.4 - 2nd class counter sheet

3081 - 81p holly green
3097 - 97p purple heather
3147 -  £1.47 dove grey
3215 -  £2.15 marine turquoise

2913B.4 - 2nd class Large business sheet MBIL
2936.4  - 1st class red MTIL from booklet of 12

4010P.4 -  10p MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4020P.4  - 20p  MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
4100P.4  -  £1 MPIL from Buckingham Palace PSB
2936C.4  - 1st class MCIL from Buckingham Palace mixed retail booklet

3010.4  -  10p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3020.4  -  20p M14L/MAIL from counter sheet
3101.4  -  £1 wood-brown M14L/MAIL from counter sheet

(3128.4) - £1.28 M14L/MAIL green from counter sheet
2914.4 - 1st  M14L/MAIL class counter sheet
2916.4 - 1st Large M14L/MAIL counter sheet

---