So Post Office's new N-BIT the dust!

I have written about The Post Office's new computer system which would replace the discredited Horizon several times, and the very limited trial at just a few branches.

As recently as October Computer Weekly suggested that with an already massive £1 billion overspend and over-run the plug might be pulled - leaving Horizon in place, and Fujitsu still supporting it.

Now that same journal reports that the system is being abandoned without sufficient care being taken over retention of important data.

According to a source close to the project, the Post Office is ending its Strategic Platform Modernisation Programme (SPMP), which the Horizon replacement project known as New Branch IT (NBIT) sits within, and is letting staff go.

and

Last week, a large group of staff on the SPMP were told they would not be needed beyond Friday 13 December, giving the Post Office about a week to secure the data they hold and ensure it can be accessed in the future. 

The data could be vital for future inquiries into the project, the Post Office and why SPMP spent hundreds of millions of pounds more than it budgeted for but still failed to deliver NBIT. It includes data in emails, messaging apps, working documents and technical information documents. 

The source told Computer Weekly: “Over the next couple of weeks, the SPMP is concluding its decision to let go of contractors and third parties, but without adequately completing a credible data safeguarding activity, the Post Office’s response to the risk is very weak. Something is not right about this.”

Read the full piece here.

And then

A source with inside knowledge of the project said it is now “nearly certain” that a fusion of Horizon, in-house NBIT and off-the-shelf software will replace the current system. This would involve the Post Office buying the Horizon system from Fujitsu rather than renting it as it does now.

This was a previous proposal that had been scrapped, according to the source. “There is nothing new about it and there were reasons why it was rejected in the first place,” they said.

Another source said teams at the Post Office have a “vested interest in Horizon staying around” and that some have been vocal about it. He added that “change is a difficult thing and a lot of people object to it”. 

Second story here. 

This must mean the end - soon or already - of the trial which produced labels such as those at the head of this piece.  Whilst we know that a number of these have been produced by collectors and possibly by dealers, there certainly can't be many.  And for anybody who has collected Horizon labels and wants to continue through to replacement systems, inclusion of these is essential.

---

New Counter Information Technology label trial comes to Croydon.

The Post Office in Croydon High Street is now producing the New Counter IT (post-Horizon) postage labels.  

I have no more details (ie whether it is one counter position or all, or how easy it is to get these) but my correspondent  WU sent a 2nd class large letter along with the receipt on 7 August 2024, which may have been the first day.   

New Counter Information Technology postage label from Croydon PO 7 August 2024.

Cash Receipt for the above label,

There's no information about these from official Royal Mail sources - save that the designs etc have been worked out between Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd. 

Please let me know if you see any from sources other than Aldwych (FAD - or branch code 0090107), Leeds St Johns (039323), or Croydon (0240133).  Many thanks.

Update 15 August.  

1. A report from Croydon. PA reports that, on 5 July, Croydon PO initially denied that it was there and wouldn't be for two years!   He eventually obtained just one label. "A large letter copy was refused as it would be overcharging me and she would get into trouble. (Large letters at under 100g cannot be handled by NBIT).   NBIT is very restricted and it can handle very little at present. It cannot handle Tracked, standard Certificates of Posting, banking transactions etc."  (I suspect NBIT stands for New Branch IT, rather than New Counter IT - IB).

2.  Five branches in trial. Thanks to AY who has pointed out a not-entirely unrelated article on the BBC website, which I had only partly read.  Referring to the departure of Post Office Ltd's IT chief it cites delays and cost escalation on the replacement for the Horizon system.

The key point for the purposes of this post, though, states: "pilots for the new system were currently working in five branches, and it has requested cash from the Department for Business and Trade to fund the project to replace it.  Post Office and the Department for Business and Trade are working on this request and as and when an agreement is reached, we will inform our Postmasters,"

If this is, indeed, the same thing it has a long way to go.  Although postage labels are important, they are only part of the requirement.  An accurate accounting system which properly interfaces with third parties (banks, utilities, Lotto, etc) and actually produces a balancing double-entry system with no system-generated errors or omissions, is really important.

Update 20 August

My thanks to AB who has visited Aldwych at a quiet time, and was able to discuss the trial.

"They did confirm there are five locations for the trial - Aldwych, Croydon and St John’s, Leeds as we know, but also ‘Springburn, Scotland’ which I’ve taken to be Springburn Shopping Centre, Glasgow and Melville Rd, Hove  BN3 1UB. 

"The system is indeed slow, as others have said! Services limited to 1st/2nd Large Letter and Signed For as well as Special Delivery (forgot to ask if ‘by 9’ and ‘Sat Guaranteed’). Definitely no international services, and not the new Tracked 24 and 48. 

"I also asked how the trial was going: no info on that! No news on if this will be the final design of labels.

"They referred to the new system as ‘n-bit’ rather than ‘en bee eye tee’."

So if anybody in Hove or Glasgow has a lot of patience and wants to try out the new system, we'll be pleased to report the results.  Thanks!

---

More on New Counter Information Technology postage labels - and receipts etc

My thanks to W.U. for sending a couple of letters from the Aldwych New Counter Information Technology (NCIT) trial, and then sending on the receipt and certificate of posting.

The labels on the envelopes are as before, and the receipt is similar to those which are dispensed from Horizon, although Horizon receipts have a longer entry for each barcoded item - basically each one might produce an individual receipt which doubles as the certificate of posting.

Horizon Certificate of Posting for ordinary item of mail (left), and for Special Delivery mail (right)

From NCIT the receipt is much as usual, but the Certificate of Posting is quite different, using a different typeface but also with details of expected delivery timescale.

NCIT Financial receipt for three labels (left), and new-style Certificate of Posting (right).

Covers and label

1st class Signed For letter with NCIT generated barcode and (L) at lower left (as on Horizon)

2nd class Large Letter with QR-type code for confirmation of delivery, as on Horizon labels.

---

May Slogan Postmarks and other interesting postal markings.

Last month we only had St George's Day, and the BHF default.  This month we continue with another example received here, but we're nearly half way through the month with nothing new on the horizon.  

British Heart Foundation Cornwall Mail Centre 08/05/2024

---

UPDATE 14 May - I am pleased to welcome a new reporter (GO) with the first new slogan for May, which is for Mental Health Awareness Week.  This first example is from Peterborough Mail Centre 10-05-2024

Mental Health
Awareness Week
#MomentsForMovement
13-19 May

Mental Health Awareness Week slogan Peterborough Mail Centre 10-05-2024

---

OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL MARKINGS

I recently acquired a job lot of covers which revealed some postmarks that I had not shown here when they were actually used, so I am adding them in their rightful place and will mention them here as well.

But I'll start with an example which still occasionally draws queries on stamp forums - because it is so unsual and unique (in the sense that it was heavily used in Manchester but examples from elsewhere are scarce).

This is a 2019 example from the 'Large Flat machine in use at Manchester Mail Centre, primarily used for magazines and A4-size mail but on this occasion it's on a 19 cm square greetings card envelope.

Manchester 'Large Flat' postmark with Postcode slogan 11.12.19

There was also an unusually good copy of a Universal usage in 2021 from North & West Yorkshire. This has been added to the Christmas 2021 slogans post.

FInally, Aldwych is back on again! It seems that the trials of Post Office Ltd's New Branch IT in house developed replacement for Horizon (as part of its Strategic Platform Modernisation Programme) and I received this 2nd class Signed For label.   It's on a c6 envelope - and it really is big!

2nd class Signed For label from Aldwych PO (London)'s New Branch IT replacement for Horizon, 9 May 2024

---

If you have any other slogans used this month, or any other interesting postal markings from any period or place, please send them to the email address in the top right of this blog.  Thank you.

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

---

Post Horizon System Postage Labels

Three years ago Gareth Clark, Post Office Ltd's Strategic Platform Modernisation Director wrote about the way forward for the Horizon system, both in the wake of the Post Office Scandal and the fact that it was beyond aging and still creaking and bug-prone (although this was not mentioned at the time).  (Unfortunately the link to the original article is no longer accessible but it is in the Wayback Archive.)

From that earlier article, the "planned timelines for rolling out the new system are:

• Late 2021: A pilot and very small version of the new system will be tested in selected new branches
• 2022 and 2023: We will run pilots in branches to test the new system with different product groups and to understand how it works, ensuring we design and build with postmasters, for postmasters
• 2023 to 2025: The new system will start to become available to branches, ultimately replacing the current system in its entirety."
  

I've not heard anything about development of a new system since then: the media and Computer Weekly have rightly been concentrating on the effects of the old system and delving into its predecessor, Capture.

So it is with some surprise that I found some examples of output from a new system in my inbox last week, including payment labels from a live trial which was taking place on one counter position at Aldwych Post Office six weeks ago.

Aldwych trial Post Horizon postage label Special Delivery by 9am 12/02/24

Aldwych trial Post Horizon postage label Special Delivery by 1pm 12/02/24

Aldwych trial Post Horizon postage label 2nd class Large Letter 12/02/24

Aldwych trial Post Horizon postage label 2nd class Signed For Large Letter 12/02/24

As you can see this last one has evidence of processing through Mount Pleasant Mail Centre and the Track & Trace webpage shows evidence of deliveries, the first being the 9am, and the second showing the other three items.

Collaboration with Royal Mail

Although the computer system is a Post Office Ltd project the postage system must at least be approved by Royal Mail and I shall be making enquiries about this.  The original discredited Horizon system was developed when POL and Royal Mail were still part of the same organisation and so when the, first white and then pictorial, labels were introduced they were a Royal Mail product.  

As can be seen, these are back to a plain white label, with the King's head and service indicator at the lower right being printed at the same time as all the other detail.  

I don't know whether this is a temporary arrangement for the trial, or if Royal Mail have decided that printing the very many double ended labels is an unnecessary expense and that these will suffice - after all a lot of postage - even generated by Royal Mail systems - does not show the monarch's head (Click and Drop, Tracked24/48 etc.)

Although it is acknowledged that the Horizon system needs to be changed, it is obvious that even an in-house system designed to serve "11,500 branches, outreaches and mobile vans" and the call centre will take many years and cost a great deal of money.  

If anybody visits Aldwych I would be delighted to receive a sample letter, and if anybody hears anything about extension of the trial or changes please let me know.
 

---

December 2023 slogan postmarks and other interesting postal markings.

Slogan postmarks used in December will be shown here; please check for latest updates before spending your time scanning, but if you have something new or another format, then please do send it in for publication. 

Our first stamped post of the month shows a continuation of the British Heart Foundation default postmark, and as it's a square envelope we have a good example of the slogan layout reversed - and the wavy lines go squarely across the barcode due to the position of the stamp.  

Gatwick Mail Centre 02/12/2023 reversed layout.

British Heart Foundation slogan postmark Gatwick 02/12/2023.

UPDATE 19 December. I'm sorry these have been building up and I did not attribute them in my file name, so apologies if I get the attribution wrong.

This one is easy, as it is addressed to us!  We don't often see examples from Home Counties North Mail Centre 17-12-2023. The stamp is in the right corner, but the envelope was processed turned 90º clockwise, and the postmark missed the stamp entirely!

Square envelope causing problems at Home Counties North on 17-12-2023

 The other layout from North & West Yorkshire 11/12/2023

British Heart Foundation slogan postmark North & West Yorkshire 11/12/2023.

JG shows two examples of the BHF slogan from Peterborough Mail Centre on 4 & 5 December in different sizes.  The reason for this was explained once but I've forgotten it.

British Heart Foundation slogan postmark Peterborough Mail Centre 04 & 05-12-2023 in differemt sizes.

---

Post Early for Christmas?  Last Posting Dates?

When did we last not have a 'Post early' or similar slogan?  UK readers will know of the delivery problems that Royal Mail has simply because it has driven so many of its employees to leave the service rather than put up with the stress of extra long hours and heavy loads.  So this year they didn't bother to ask us to post early or have a slogan with the last posting dates.

Meanwhile, here are some they did earlier...

Last Posting Dates 2017 Norwich Mail Centre

Remember to Post Early, Exeter Mail Centre 2017

Remember to Post Early, Norwich Mail Centre 2018

Last posting dates, Exeter Mail Centre 2018

Last posting dates, Peterborough Mail Centre 2019

---

Other postmarks, postal markings etc,

It's Christmas and so as is usual at this time of year - despite fewer cards being posted every year - old Universal machines are coming out of retirement.

First out of the trap this year is Stromness, Orkney on 4 December, with the Snowman slogan.  JE writes, "Stromness' machine has not had a year slug for several years - but the stamp and the Inverness inkjet confirm that it is from 2023. This is one of the few Universal SCMs still in regular use by RoyalMail - presumably year slugs are no longer supplied.  The Snowman slogan die dates from 1994. (The Inverness British Heart Foundation slogan applied later the same day.)

Stromness, Orkney, Universal postmark dated 4 December (2023) with Snowman slogan.

Overlabelled!

My thanks to AB for sending this image,  Packaging from Amazon was reused - very commendable - and the Post Office stuck the Horizon label over the yellow Amazon label.  Remember that these QR-type codes are tracked internally through Royal Mail's system (and may also provide proof of delivery on the website).  

Evidently scanning at the Midlands Parcel Hub was hampered by 'show-through' from the Amazon label, and so they provided a new QR-coded label with the same pattern and same number.  I've never heard of this operational need before, probably because most of the time the packaging is discarded when the goods are removed.  One to watch out for - more modern postal history!

Overlabelled at Midlands Hub - to provide a more readable QR-type code.

Update 22 December. This is one I should have shown last month; it is also on the Postal History blog because of the new surcharge rate of £2.50 effective from 30 October, but we don't get many Northern Ireland postmarks, so this one from CRAIGAVON DELIVERY OFFICE helps to redress that

£2.50 'Stamp no longer valid', surcharge 1 November 2023 at new rate effective 30 October, with Cragavon Delivery Office postmark

CARDIFF REVENUE PROTECTION

My thanks to Mel Holley for this image from Cardiff Mechanised Letter Office.  The packet (which must have weighed between 101-250g) was correctly prepaid at the 2nd class rate of £2.40, but was set aside for checking, maybe because it was a spot check on the weight?

Whatever the reason, no surcharge was applied and the letter was duly delivered.

DIOGELWCH REFINIW
POST WEDI'N DALU
M.L.O. CAERDYDD
REVENUE PROTECTION
POSTAGE PAID
CARDIFF M.L.O.

To the left of the text is the figure 1 for First Class, although this is a 2nd class Large Letter.

---

If you have any other interesting postal markings, please send them to one of the email addresses in the top right of this blog.  Thank you.

---

Remember, any other slogans appearing in December will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.  I'll add new ones as quickly as possible.

---

 

First King Charles III non-stamp postal products appears.

In March I wrote about postal products which would, eventually, need to be changed following the accession to the throne of King Charles III - post and go stamps (both 'definitive and the pictorial), Horizon & SSK labels, and 'digital stamps' the postage paid impressions used by mass mailers featuring preprinted definitives.

Now, thanks to JE and a postman in Scotland, I can show the first of these, a Horizon label featuring the same head profile as is on the stamps.  The image is almost certainly from a mobile phone, and has been manipulated, nevertheless it shows what the new Horizon label is like, so we can all look out for them now.

First reported example of King Charles III Horizon label, used for Special Delivery on 11 July 2023 from a Post office in the Edinburgh area.

Queen Elizabeth and King Charles Horizon labels, images from different sources.

The label is the same size and in the same format as the one it replaces.  I'll be grateful for reports from any area of the country with images.  Details will be obscured where required.

 

Coincidentally I was deleting some 2007 emails yesterday and found some from a source within the Post Office which had alerted me to changes in Horizon Label codes - when 1st was replaced by 1L and 1LL etc.  Because this was a national roll-out, first day covers were produced and there was a lot of philatelic interest in the new developments.  

To this day some collectors are still trying to obtain examples of all codes, as they change, and some even from all PO branches - a task made more interesting by closure and reopening with different branch codes.

This exercise continued when the pictorial 'gold head' labels were introduced at Camden PO in 2009,  and the corner head types at Europhilex in 2015.

November 2007 FDCs of Horizon labels with new PIP codes.

July 2009 FDC of 'Gold Head' Horizon label from Camden PO.

May 2015 FDC of Horizon label in new format to accommodate machine readable data codes.

It is unfortunate that we no longer have the contacts inside Royal Mail or the Post Office who think to announce when changes such as this are happening. Of course, they are operational matters.

It's just sad that what used to be a Philatelic Service, keeping collectors and dealers informed about new stamps, and changes that would be of interest to us over the last 60 years, is now a Stamps and Collectibles department, dedicated to keeping us informed about all the latest gimmicks and non-philatelic products that they are producing to keep that department afloat and - they say - subsidise their service to us.

Do please let me know of any more sightings, especially with other codes and in Welsh.  I think that if Post & Go stamps are changed then there will be a philatelic announcement as they have made so much money from these in the past.  

---

The new monarch - beyond the definitives.

With the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth this post looks forward beyond the issue of King Charles III definitives.

Whilst there is no postal stationery all these will need to change.

 

"Digital Stamps" - or pre-printed stamps used for bulk mailings.

Direct Mailers believe (or have been told) that 'stamped' mail gets a better response than that with a different Postage Paid Impression.  As these are printed as required for each client customer, it seems likely that there would not be much difficulty in replacing the Queen Elizabeth Machin design wit another showing King Charles III.  And this is likely to be in green, of couse.

 

Post and Go stamps at Museums and Self-Service Kiosks in Post Office branches

As with Machin definitive stamps, we are likely to see these used to exhaustion - and there will be all sorts of stocks held in branches across the land.  The 2nd class base stock should appear in green and the 1st class in (probably a light) purple with the head of King Charles III.  I would expect these changes to be made this year, but for the old stamps to be used in parallel initially.

Whilst it is unlikely that there will be any totally new designs for pictorial Post and Go stamps, there are many pictorial stamps available for use at specific locations or on specific occasions.  These will eventually be produced with the profile/cameo head of King Charles, probably as used on the forthcoming Garden Flowers special issue stamps.

1.  Union Flag - for Naval anniversaries and patriotic occasions.

2.  Poppy - leading up to Remembrance Day in November.

3.  Winter Greenery - leading up to Christmas.

4.  Mail by Rail: Post Office Underground Railway single design - used at The Postal Museum.

5.  Other 'Mail by...' issues used at the Postal Museum in conjunction with their exhibitions

Any others?

Horizon Labels at Post Office Counters and similar labels at Self-Service Kiosks in branches.  

These are produced in one colour similar to that of the 1st class Post and Go stock, even though they are used for 2nd class, 1st class and ParcelForce transactions.  Again replacement will depend to some extent on existing stocks.

For the present I can't think of anything else postal - although other Post Office products such as Postal Orders do bear a portrait of the monarch will need to be replaced as well.

My thanks to John E for reminding me of these products which will need changing.

If anybody makes a mock-up of any of these with the new head and colours I will be pleased to add them here.  

And if anybody can think of anything I have forgotten - please remind me!

---

Horizon label surprise - FP used in 2021

The last time I showed a Horizon label with code FP was, I think, ten years ago here.  And in 2010 I explained that these should normally have been A but through selecting the wrong on-screen options the branch can produce an FP label, normally only used when an international item has been returned to sender for additional postage to be added.

This one appeared on the Stampboard forum. Posted on 1 September and arrived in Australia on 22nd.  So perhaps one of our Horizon experts can explain how this would be created in 2021?

GB to Australia 1.9.2021 to Australia with £1.70 postage paid by FP Horizon label.

UPDATE, in response to comments  

Some of the above are known to have been produced at ordinary sub-post offices, including this cover from my collection which I posted in Pembrokeshire to a friend in the USA. (Label shown above.)

Although underpaid mail usually results in a charge to the addressee, international mail is often retuned to sender (if shown on the outside of the envelope) with this label.  Adding the FP label to an item which bears stamps already cancelled shows that the balance of the postage was paid in cash.

Peelable Royal Mail label OE1064 stuck over destination address on item returned to sender for additional postage.

---

Our amazing readers - thank you!

Most posts on this blog are read by just over 400 or so regular readers, and many by several hundred more.  Some people have written that it is the first place they look every day - sorry if things were a little sparse last month!

Then there are the regular commenters who alert everybody to new stamps, or Post Office branch changes.  Others send information by email, and often when I am busy within or outside the office several people will write about the same eBay discovery.  Thanks to you all: often these are not individually acknowledged but I like to think that previous contacts and mentions reassure all contributors that their information is part of the foundation of the blog, and much appreciated by us and other readers as well.

As always there are what are known on internet forums as 'lurkers' - those who read and absorb but rarely have any news to contribute.  Sometimes these are our customers, sometimes they buy from post offices or Royal Mail, we don't know. Maybe they are not adding to the collections, but just like to read about stamps.

And then, out of the blue, there are letters, from people we don't know.

This letter came today from a reader who - as far as I have been able to find - last wrote to us in August 2012 about availability of Olympic Gold Medal sheets in Lincolnshire.

Eight years on, a wonderful piece of Lincolnshire postal history - these may be available for many years, or maybe only a few months.  Nice to have, so thank you JLB of Lincoln.

This letter was posted from the Mobile Post Office, serving sleaford which uses a self-inking-datestamp inscribed MORTON MOBILE.

The post office in the market town of Sleaford, population 17,500, at Greenhills convenience store in Southgate closed in February when, according to Post Office Ltd, "the lease expired".  A Post Office spokesperson said: "The lease where Sleaford Post Office is currently based is due to expire in February and the premises, which we do not own, will then be withdrawn for Post Office use."

The onset of the pandemic meant that a quick replacement was not possible, instead a short-term service was been provided from mid-February by the Mobile Post Office from Morton, 15 miles away but only for a few hours on Saturday mornings.

The Morton Mobile also serves small villages in the area, several of them for 4-8 hours on four days a week*.

Meanwhile the hunt for suitable premises and postmasters in Sleaford continues.  In the light of the litigation between past sub-postmasters and Post Office Ltd, known as the Horizon Trial, the quest might continue for some time.

For collectors of Horizon labels, the one from the mobile uses the Branch FAD 110444.

UPDATE 10 September

As noted in the comments, a temporary Sleaford PO has been opened with FAD 214501 at 18 Riverside, Southgate, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 7PD

 

My further thanks to JLB who has sent this letter posted on the last day of operation of the Morton Mobile at Sleaford.  It continues to operate at other locations - see comments.

 

 

* UPDATE 18 November

We now have more accurate information on villages served:

MORTON (Bourne, Lincolnshire) 

Castle Bytham, Grantham; Buckminster, Grantham; South Witham, Grantham (2 stops); Colsterworth, Grantham; Corby Glen, Grantham; Wymondham (LE14), Melton Mowbray. 

---