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Original poster

Anyone work for Royal Mail / The Post Office I have a stamp question?

72 replies

frenchnoodle · 15/01/2023 15:04

Will the new barcode stamps be able to be reused?

By that I mean right now you can sometimes peel an un-stamped stamp off and reuse it, getting one over on the system.

Will the unique barcodes stop this being possible?

OP posts:
MistyRock · 17/01/2023 03:40

frenchnoodle · 16/01/2023 23:13

A couple of years ago my eldest sent a letter to his grandma using a Morrisons savings stamp as it's all I had to hand. It arrived.
There must have been a very nice person in the sorting offices who could tell it was a children's letter.

Be careful op, some on here might have the police knocking on your door for fraudulent behavior. You better watch out.

StarInTheHeavens · 17/01/2023 04:19

Someone'll work a way around it. They always do.

IdisagreeMrHochhauser · 17/01/2023 05:13

"Royal mail give sheets of stamps away at the end of the year to employees as a perk of the job.

There is no way stamp reuse matches the amount they give away.

On that note I guess the new stamps have stopped me committing occasional fraud."

Waitrose give their staff members discounts on purchases especially at Christmas. Doesn't make you entitled to go in there and shoplift.

TerfOnATrain · 17/01/2023 05:55

What a mad thread 😃 We’ve all seen unmarked stamps and some have reused them if they could.

but seriously, surely everyone knows you shouldn't do it, I can’t honestly believe that there is an expectation that you were ever allowed to do it, and therefore should still be able to when using the newer barcoded ones, especially if you’re skint.

PermanentTemporary · 17/01/2023 06:01

I grew up in a family that reused stamps all the time. I genuinely had no idea it was illegal until I was in my 30s. I did stop doing it then. I think the post was such a bulk service then that a proportion of stamps being reused was less of an issue.

MistyRock · 17/01/2023 06:15

TerfOnATrain · 17/01/2023 05:55

What a mad thread 😃 We’ve all seen unmarked stamps and some have reused them if they could.

but seriously, surely everyone knows you shouldn't do it, I can’t honestly believe that there is an expectation that you were ever allowed to do it, and therefore should still be able to when using the newer barcoded ones, especially if you’re skint.

Everyone knows you shouldn't do it, but it's also not the crime of the century. You're not suppose to pass on your parking ticket if there's time left on it to another person, but, shock horror, I've done this and accepted someone else's.

littlelid · 17/01/2023 06:19

It's stopping waste bit of reach

and if you are at a point where you are peeling stamps off of envolopes you probably need to do it? no some people are just like that. But I understand that some people may "need" to do it.

littlelid · 17/01/2023 06:21

frenchnoodle · 16/01/2023 08:50

Royal mail give sheets of stamps away at the end of the year to employees as a perk of the job.

There is no way stamp reuse matches the amount they give away.

On that note I guess the new stamps have stopped me committing occasional fraud.

Show quote history

One is a staff benefit. The other is fraud.

TerfOnATrain · 17/01/2023 06:40

MistyRock · 17/01/2023 06:15

Everyone knows you shouldn't do it, but it's also not the crime of the century. You're not suppose to pass on your parking ticket if there's time left on it to another person, but, shock horror, I've done this and accepted someone else's.

Show quote history

And indeed I never said it was.

My point however, that you have missed, was that the OP has an expectation that the freebie, that never was, should be available moving forwards.

Zingy123 · 17/01/2023 06:52

@RomeoOscarXrayIndigoEcho you have until end of July to use the old stamps now. The swap out scheme is free and mine came back quickly.

@frenchnoodle The machines check for the phosphorus in the stamps. If you have been reusing them then the recipients will be paying for your tightness. It's fraud plain and simple.

FamilyFunAdventure · 17/01/2023 06:59

frenchnoodle · 16/01/2023 08:50

Royal mail give sheets of stamps away at the end of the year to employees as a perk of the job.

There is no way stamp reuse matches the amount they give away.

On that note I guess the new stamps have stopped me committing occasional fraud.

Show quote history

Get a job with Royal Mail then.
I’ve had 26 years of free stamps at Christmas because DH works for them. I give a few away because they are not allowed to sell them and if a friend wants a stamp I’m happy to oblige.

Headoutofplace · 17/01/2023 07:11

Blainesmaries · 16/01/2023 09:28

I'm not sure this is true. Untill the end of this month I can fully legally use a 20p stamp from 1989 to send a first class letter, that's the whole service for 20p. Lot's of people only buy a book every few years these days, the prices will be whatever they paid at the time. There will be first class letters with stamps costing 95p, and ones costing 14p going through the same system with the same service.

There is no way this kind of thing can be worked out right down to the individual stamp price. Because users are still using stamps from years ago.

The money will be made on packages.

Show quote history

You're missing though that if they've had the 20p for that stamp since 1989 and not had to cough up the service for it until now they'll have made compound interest on the 20p for 34 years. I don't know what interest rate the PO has been getting for their investments over the years but they'll have made well over the 20p on that stamp now.

zen1 · 17/01/2023 07:17

@Zingy123 I can’t find any info online about old stamps being valid until the end of July. Royal Mail website says 31st January.

Hawkins001 · 17/01/2023 07:32

can you exchange your stamps before the change at the post office ?

Divebar2021 · 17/01/2023 07:39

I thought it was end of January too… have they extended it. I have quite a few older ones I’ve bought with different themes. I have a number of pen pals and I enjoy sending special stamps on their letters. The new ones are pretty horrible.

GolfEchoRomeoTangoIndia · 17/01/2023 07:43

Hawkins001 · 17/01/2023 07:32

can you exchange your stamps before the change at the post office ?

No. Annoying because a lot of people feel that it's logical, but they're separate operations. You need to send them off to Royal Mail.

GolfEchoRomeoTangoIndia · 17/01/2023 07:47

zen1 · 17/01/2023 07:17

@Zingy123 I can’t find any info online about old stamps being valid until the end of July. Royal Mail website says 31st January.

According to the Guardian the legal change date remains the 31st Jan but they're giving a 6 month grace period when they won't enforce it. So the RM website still says the original date but in practice you can use the old ones until July.
amp.theguardian.com/money/2022/dec/23/royal-mail-non-barcoded-stamps-deadline

GolfEchoRomeoTangoIndia · 17/01/2023 07:48

Divebar2021 · 17/01/2023 07:39

I thought it was end of January too… have they extended it. I have quite a few older ones I’ve bought with different themes. I have a number of pen pals and I enjoy sending special stamps on their letters. The new ones are pretty horrible.

Special stamps are still fine, it's the ones with just the Queen's head which aren't OK.

RomeoOscarXrayIndigoEcho · 17/01/2023 07:49

@Zingy123, yes I know I have until then but I need them for SAEs which might not get used for months!

I send the self addressed envelopes to my registered office (work address) who then post all my mail to my home address. I rarely get paper mail so they could wait to be used for months.

I'd better not risk falling foul of the deadline so I have to swap.

Zingy123 · 17/01/2023 07:50

Any picture stamps are fine to keep using. It's only the Queen's head ones that need using or changing.

MistyRock · 17/01/2023 07:51

TerfOnATrain · 17/01/2023 06:40

And indeed I never said it was.

My point however, that you have missed, was that the OP has an expectation that the freebie, that never was, should be available moving forwards.

Show quote history

Ah. Okay. I did miss that. Sorry.

Shecrazy · 17/01/2023 08:05

Divebar2021 · 17/01/2023 07:39

I thought it was end of January too… have they extended it. I have quite a few older ones I’ve bought with different themes. I have a number of pen pals and I enjoy sending special stamps on their letters. The new ones are pretty horrible.

DH took some old style ones to our local post office a couple of weeks ago. He was told that they had run out of new ones to swap and they were now valid for another 6 months.

LetsDoThis2023 · 17/01/2023 08:17

StaceySolomonSwash · 15/01/2023 16:48

You were never meant to reuse stamps in the first place. This is why they've brought in the barcoded stamps because of people committing postal fraud, like you @frenchnoodle.

It's not the crime of the century is it! 😂