Post and Go overhaul

As previously mentioned, Royal Mail are cutting back on the Post and Go programme this

year,  although they have not made a specific announcement about just how much.  Already we know that they are not having kiosks at either Spring Stampex or the Scottish Congress in Perth, and I have been told unofficially that they will not be taking their machines to the political party congresses in the autumn. 

Partly because of this we have taken time to look over our Post and Go stock and ensuring that all our stock is actually listed in our webshop, that all is in the correct category and will be selected under the 'Faststamps/Post and Go' heading.  We've also adjusted many prices - now is the chance to get some you may have missed many at lower prices than advertised elsewhere.  Included are stamps printed in Australia, Hong Kong and Korea, and some of the newer digital printing versions of earlier stamps.

As with Machin Security Stamps, when Post and Go (or Faststamps as they were called) were first FS numbers.
While we were waiting for Gibbons to produce the first entries, we set about our own numbering system, partly because we wanted to list the stamps logically in our stock. So those available from Post Offices and elsewhere with no additional inscriptions were allocated
produced, there was no catalogue listing. When Stanley Gibbons catalogue editors did compile a listing it was fairly straightforward, with one catalogue number assigned to each of the five original values.

The localised or commemorative inscriptions (variously and incorrectly described as either underprints or overprints by some) to stamps sold at Stampex and international exhibitions, are in the FT series.

Stamps issued from machines at the BPMA, Postal Museum, local stamp fairs and exhibitions, and military and other museums and attractions are listed in FV series. We stock very few of these.

Our stock is listed on our webshop here.   The software arranges stock in a certain logicality, but it is not completely intuitive even in our system.   Some first day covers are also available.

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Post and Go Faststamp Checklist now available

I am very pleased to report that the Post and Go Checklist is now available to examine online* or download.  A tremendous amount of work has gone into it and it is a worthy addition to your Philatelic Library!

After we produced the Machin Security Definitives Catalogue last year, several people asked about a similar list for Post and Go Faststamps.   I made it clear in October that this was not something I would undertake and invited interested parties to contact me about production and distribution of a new list.  As I wrote at the time, "There is a demand out there - who's up for it? "

I'm happy to say that Stuart Leigh has produced a comprehensive illustrated check-list in multiple parts with a section for each stamp set/design - so if you aren't interested in the Channel Islands, you don't have to download those parts.

Visit the postandgochecklist.yolasite.com website, click on 'CHECK LISTS' below the page title, and then choose the sections that you want.

Part of Title page (right) and sample pages on the machines, and on the Union Flag Faststamps (below).  Click on these images for larger versions.

* Depending on your browser settings you may be forced to download these pdf files, or you may be able to see them in your browser and then decided whether to download them.

Like our own Machin checklist, there may be errors or omissions in the Stuart's list despite the assistance of some well-known authorities on the subject so do use the contact form on the website, to help make sure this is the definitive reference material.

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Remembrance Poppy Post and Go Faststamp at Autumn Stampex

As previously mentioned on an unofficial website (and then removed) we can confirm that a Poppy Faststamp will be available at Autumn Stampex from 17 September 2014.  

A poppy will be included in the Symbolic Flowers set of six designs to be issued on the same day, but we understand that the Poppy will also be produced on single-design rolls.  From what we have seen the design on the Faststamp is very similar to that being issued as one of this year's Great War 1st class stamps to be issued on 28 July.

It will be available for Remembrance Day - and at some places is likely to be used in parallel with the Winter Greenery set of 6 due for issue on 13 November.

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Christmas Robin Stamps appear at BPMA and Stafford

As foretold the Christmas Robin Faststamps were available from Post and Go machines last week.  Their first appearance was at the British Postal Museum and Archive in Phoenix Place, London WC1, and the first day of issue of the plain version with no further inscription was at the Stafford Stamp Show on Friday 8th, Saturday 9th November.

Discussion on their appearance at Post Offices - click here.

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BPMA

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Stafford

This doesn't really qualify as a variety but was a natural product of the machine with a little foreign matter trapped in the roll.  As you can see from the numbers it did not affect a continuous run, with strips starting with number 19 and number 25 unmarked.  (There's nothing on the back of any of the strips.)

It could be stray ink, but could be something else!

I'll be contacting regular customers about these as soon as possible, but if you want to write please do. 

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Freshwater Lakes Faststamps from Midpex Hytech machines.

As previously announced Royal Mail took Post and Go along the Fosse Way to Midpex - but there were two machines, not just one.  

Machines A3 and A4 which were taken to Melbourne for the Australia 2013 show were available with, for the first time from the Hytech machines, the Freshwater Lakes designs issued in Post Offices on 25 June 2013.

Freshwater Lakes collectors set, receipt, and Union Flag collectors set.  The Flag set from Hytech machines were first issued 26 September 2012.

 

As can be seen the receipt records the First Day of Availability of the Freshwater Life II stamps at Midpex, on 06/07/2013.  There is an error on the receipt as the postcode of the venue is CV31 1XN not CV11 and, as pointed out in the comments, Leamington is spelled incorrectly!

Unfortunately the machines were also operating while dealers were setting up on Friday afternoon/evening, so some receipts are available with the 5 July date.  (or not! - see below)

UPDATE 9 July

On the Saturday morning (6th July) I was told by a dealer "I got some Post and Go for xxxx, and they all have yesterday's date!"  From that I concluded that some were dated 5th.  It seems that is not the case, as Vince has now sent this:

"On Friday afternoon (5^th July) the two machines were set up. Due to location of the venue (i.e. country side) there was a week WiFi signal. It was taking longer than usual to process each transaction.  Fortunately there was a telephone connection in the office next to the machine, the Engineer managed to use the cable and get the connectivity. Receipts for the stamps purchased that afternoon were dated 6^th July. I don’t think that there were any receipts dated 5^th July.

"As the machines were left on during the night of Friday 5^th July, early users (mainly dealers) of the machine on Saturday 6^th July found that the receipts were dated 7^th July (i.e receipts were dated 6^th on 5^th so it would change to 7^th on 6^th). This was noticed and date corrected before the show opened at 10 am. "

Thanks Vince!!

IMPORTANT NOTE for Collectors:
When I go to events like this, I will often buy some of what is available, especially for long-time customers who have asked beforehand.  Inevitably after I have posted images here, more people contact us to ask if we have any for sale.  Usually the answer is no, or not in the form required.

In future I will make more effort to solicit your orders within the blog, before I go.  But if I don't and you would like me to try to get what you want, then please ask before the event, or by email/phone early on the day (see website for phone and email details).  

There is nothing easier, and cheaper, than selling something to somebody who has asked for it.  There is much more effort in buying for stock, judging what to buy, adding it to the shop, and waiting for people to pay for it. So take advantage of the opportunity, and ask before the event.

I won't be attending the York Fair.

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Strange errors on Australian Post & Go stamps.

The Post and Go Faststamps have arrived from Australia at last.  We weren't lucky enough, however, to receive any with errors like those shown below.

My thanks to Brian W for sending this picture of a strange occurrence down in Melbourne, where the details of 6 stamps were printed on 5 labels (below left)!

We know that spreading 6 stamps over 7-8 labels has happened before, and not just because the strip was pulled, but this is totally different.  The individual numbering is corect - 07 through to 12.  I can only guess that it was caused by some sort of spike in the power supply. 

Alex, in Australia, sent the image of the '6 on 7' strip above right, and wrote:

"As you can see from the image it is a strip of seven, with one being totally blank.  As the machines have been modified since collectors found they were able to create errors by pulling on the strips, this is a legitimate error. 

I am informed that it was most likely caused by a "buffer error".

It is interesting that my error also comes from Hytech machine A3. Both machines worked only intermittently for the first two days of the Expo, but A3 was easily the most recalcitrant."

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Freshwater Life and Butterflies stamps coming in the summer

We're now able to show you the images for two sets of stamps to be issued in the summer.   On 25 June the second set of 'Freshwater Life' Faststamps will be issued from (Wincor-Nixdorf) Post and Go machines in Post Office branches throughout the country.  

Water creatures from Lakes are, shown from upper left to lower right:
Perch, European Eel, Crucian Carp, Cadis-fly Larva, Arctic Char, Common Toad.

As usual these will be available for 6 service-indicators, with a total face value of £6.42.  At Autumn Stampex it is expected that these will be available from Hytech v2 machines.

Official First Day Postmarks (other special postmarks will be on our website)

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The 10 x 1st class Butterfly stamps will be issued on 11 July just before the National Butterfly Count campaign run by charity Butterfly Conservation.  

These are now images of the actual stamps (click on the images to see enlargements):

 Row 1: Comma, Orange Tip, Small Copper, Chalkhill Blue, Swallowtail

 Row 2: Purple Emperor, Marsh Fritillary, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Marbled White.

The 37 x 35 mm stamps will be printed in two sheets of 25/50 by Cartor Security Print in litho.  The design agency is MARCandANNA.

UPDATE MAY 2013
Royal Mail have sneaked into the programme another mixed retail stamp book: the Chalkhill blue and Comma will be issued in a self-adhesive booklet of 6 stamps with 4 x 1st class red Machin definitives which have code M13L MCIL.

A very colourful set which ought to be popular.

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Post and Go stamps (Faststamps) news round-up

A number of people sent information and images during and immediately after Spring Stampex and the Salisbury Stamp Fair, but it seemed sensible to wrap the news into one consolidating news item rather than scatter them in daily posts.

The first Stampex report is here.  This shows the 2nd class and Machin Coronation stamps and receipts, and a photo of the Smilers sheet.

These are the Pond Life stamps from the Presentation Pack, Stampex Hytech machine, and Trafalgar Square PO's Wincor-Nixdorf. (Click on any for larger images):

The presentation pack was printed using unit C2 and retained the indented second row of text. Stampex had kiosks A2-A4 with the second row of text as normal.

The Coronation overprint exists in two forms, as did the Diamond Jubilee; oddly these are both from machine B1, the later one (on the left) showing a more balanced alignment of the commemorative lines.  Now all we need is for the standard service indicators to show some balance.  You'll note that the 'Worldwide' line seems to be inset from the weight indicators all the time.

As previously mentioned the option exists on the Exhibition Hytech machines to pay for a half-sheet of 10 Smilers stamps.  Here are some images of the screen displays, the printer and a sheet showing a Hytech screen shot.

Thanks to John McC, Malcolm B and others for new images here.

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Salisbury Stamp Fair.
Most of the detail is shown on Brian Sinott's postagelabelsuk blog but here are some of his pictures.  The Machine set-up at Salisbury, and a Smilers Sheet.  Although photographs of the customer are the norm, sometimes an alternative is a good idea.  I believe some alternative images were available on the Royal Mail iPad.

 

 

Brian also reports that some 2nd class Post & Go Faststamps sold at Stampex (identified by the coding at the foot) have appeared with a Salisbury Stamp Fair overprint, postmarked Southampton.  I have a good idea who might have produced these, but investigations are continuing.

UPDATE:
I discussed this with Allan Grant of Rushstamps earlier this afternoon but decided at the time to wait to see if anybody else had the same guess as I did ! Now that the story is also on another forum, we can tell you about it here.


Rushstamps purchased the labels at Stampex so that they could overprint them using a 100-year-old letterpress machine.  This was a deliberate decision once it was clear that the Faststamps sold at local events such as York, Midpex and Salisbury would not have overprints.

These were used on mailing out Rushstamps pricelists as promotion for the fair.  Remainders were used on ordinary mailings, which is why this piece has at least 3 or 4 examples.

No mint copies exist. Allan subsequently told the Royal Mail representative at Salisbury about the overprinting. Clearly RM Southampton revenue Protection is used to Rushstamps' mailings and didn't give them a second glance.  

No mint copies exist, and none have been available for sale.

Comment.
Although the overprinting of miniature sheet margins and 'Boots' sheetlets was accepted, these overprints are on actual stamps so it would not have been surprising if they were rejected by Royal Mail's revenue protection department as defaced stamps!

Salisbury a success!
I wasn't able to go to Salisbury but both dealers and collectors have heralded it as a huge success.  One of the organisers, Tony Hender of Arun Stamps, told me that the attendance was over 1,500 - about 1,000 on Friday and 500 on Saturday, so clearly some collectors had a day off work to be there for the early bargains.

Speaking to the Salisbury Journal, Tony said:

“There has been so much interest already shown,” he said. “Dealers came from across the country, and there is a significant need for the two-day event.

“It’s the biggest stamp show in the south of England, and based on today’s popularity we will hopefully have another show next year.”

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2013 Stampex Faststamps - The Bureau Packs

We're now able to show you the actual stamps from the Bureau packs of Faststamps being issued later this month (details here).  The stamps are printed on Hytech machines.

2nd class - stamps are numbered 10 and 11

Pond Life - all 6 stamps are numbered 11

Contrary to expectations these do not have the NL code indicating printing in the Netherlands, but are coded A2GB13 indicating February 2013 in Great Britain.  Last September's Cattle were coded A9NL12.

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New images for February's new stamps

Royal Mail have provided these images for the stamps to be issued in February - preliminary images were shown earlier.  Click on any of these to see larger versions.

There will be two values of blue Machin Faststamps, 2nd class and 2nd class Large. I didn't notice that the year code MA12 was included in the original publicity image, and the same code is shown on these two, just NW of the Queen's nose.

The coding on these indicates printing in the UK in February 2013.  The stamps in the Bureau Pack are likely to be coded 2NL13 rather than 2GB13 unless different arrangements have been made from earlier packs.  I'm not convinced that the positioning of the weight service indicator is correct.

The higher resolution images of the Jane Austen publicity images (these are still not actual stamps) haven't improved them greatly but if you click on them you can see them as two larger images:

These images of the Pond Life faststamps show no year code in the background, and the spacing of the weight limit is different to that used previously (and is probably, therefore, wrong!)

Special printing of Hytech Faststamps from Camden Pop-Up Christmas shop, sold for Charity

We have been advised by several collectors about some new Faststamps listed for sale on the online auction site eBay. 

These stamps are printed from Hytech Post and Go machines A3 and A4 (the ones used at Stampex were A1, A2, B1, B2) and both the Machin and the new Robin stamps have been used.  This means that the Robin is in strips of 6 for the first time. 

All the sales so far seen are for the benefit of Royal Mail's 2012 charity, Prostate Cancer UK.

Full details are awaited, but my guess is that these are not available anywhere with public access.  We will provide more details as soon as we have them.

We now have details from Postagelabelsuk:

Hytech Machines A3 and A4 Pop-Up in London Post Office with some very exclusive products!

In a new venture for Post Office and Royal Mail, a totally new type of Post Office (Similar to ‘Pop- Up Shops’ previously seen in shopping malls in the lead up to Christmas)  opened last week in the very busy Camden Market,  London NW1. This new branch is called ‘Camden Christmas Post Shop’.


This new outlet is offering selected items from the Royal Mail ‘Collectibles’ range ,  personalised  Christmas 2012  Instant ‘Smilers’ and, more importantly from a Post and Go collectors point of view, it has given rise to the first outing of the brand new Royal Mail ‘Hytech’ Next-Generation machines No. ‘A3′ and ‘A4′.
 
This new branch offers full Post Office ‘Postal’ facilities where purchasers can post their gift  items  purchased from the shop or elsewhere worldwide.

The Post Office is open seven days a week from 10am to 8 pm every day apart from Sundays when it opens at 11am. Machines A3 and A4 are visually identical to those previously seen at Stampex – and appear to function the same, although, as they are in a full functioning Post Office branch rather than in an Exhibition setting , they do not have any overprints.

It is worth noting that this is the first time Hytech units have been  primarily positioned for Post Office customers-  posting mail specifically  Christmas cards and gifts– and not for stamp collectors purposes.

Each of the twin-reel Hytech machines are loaded with Christmas (MA12) Robin stamps as well as Machin Stamps – which for the specialist gives rise to two totally new and exclusive products to this Branch.

The Hytech Machin ‘Worldwide 40g’ stamps have not been previously issued - as when un-overprinted Hytech Machins previously appeared at Stampex, the WW40g had yet to be added to the range.

Additionally, this is the only outlet where ‘Hytech Christmas Robins’ (MA12), printed in strips of six, will be available. (These are not expected to appear at Spring Stampex 2013).

For Postmark Collectors the counter datestamps in use at the Post Office are ‘Equipment Team Temporary’ No. ’32′ and No. ’42′.

DID ANYBODY PRODUCE ANY FDCs ?  Cusomers asking!

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Pictures of the two Collectors Strips available: