Royal Mail is encouraging customers to use stamps without a barcode by 31 January, after which they will no longer be valid for postage.
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There are fewer than 100 days left for people to “rummage through wallets and drawers” to find stamps to use before the deadline, said The Guardian, otherwise they will have to swap them for new barcoded stamps.
The move comes as Royal Mail looks to change all the stamps in circulation following the death of the Queen, with a profile image of the new monarch, King Charles III, being used.
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Why is this happening?
Royal Mail is moving to a new system of barcodes, which old stamps don’t feature. The company says the new unique barcodes will “help make operations smoother” and enable the introduction of “added security features”, said ITV News. Customers will also be allowed to watch and share videos by scanning the barcoded stamps in the Royal Mail app.
However, the development might prove a disappointment to people who have bought stamps in bulk just before the price of first- or second-class stamps went up.
“For years, every time stamps go up in price I’ve suggested people stock up and bulk-buy in advance, as provided the stamp doesn’t have a price on it and instead just says the postage class, it’s still valid after the hike,” said Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com.
Therefore, he added, “this change will come as a shock to the many stamp-hoarders out there”.
How do I trade in my non-barcoded stamps?
You will need to fill in a Stamp Swap Out form and send your stamps back to Royal Mail to exchange them for the updated versions.
You can send back up to £200 worth of unused, non-barcoded stamps to be swapped using Freepost, but if you intend to swap stamps worth more than £200, you are advised to return them to Royal Mail using a secure postage service. However, Special Stamps with pictures on and Christmas Stamps without a barcode will continue to be valid and don’t need to be used or exchanged before the 31 January deadline.
What will happen if I try to use old stamps after the deadline?
If you use the old stamps after their expiry date, they will be treated as “insufficient postage”, much the same as if you forgot to put a stamp on the item. The recipient will have to pay an extra fee or the item will be returned to the sender.
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When will stamps start to feature King Charles?
Royal Mail is to change stamps, with a profile image of the new monarch being gradually introduced. However, said The Guardian, post boxes bearing Queen Elizabeth’s royal cypher, ER, are “unlikely to be removed” as “some with King George VI’s GR cypher remain in use today, 70 years on”.
Peter Cockburn, president of the Royal Philatelic Society London, did, however, tell the i news site that he estimates those bearing King Charles’s image will be released by Christmas.
Cockburn said that he expected there to be a sudden rise in interest in stamps when those featuring the new King are introduced, but the value of current stamps is unlikely to change much. “I don’t think there’ll be any great change in value. I think that’s probably not likely to have much effect,” he said.
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