Royal Mail "Swap Out"

[Pinkywoo]

I've just read that stamps are being released with barcodes and Royal Mail are running a scheme to "Swap Out" old for new. Why the "Out"? Out of what? Why not just swap? Why Royal Mail, why?

Out of circulatin maybe?

That would make sense but it's not what they mean, it says on their website you can "swap out" your old stamps, and even have a header saying shudder "Swapping them out".

The offending item.

I keep seeing this phrase and it's annoying me.

Well, exactly, OP.

In the same way, once we just used to park our cars, now we 'park up'.
We used to close things, now we 'close out' (as in 'close out the match' - every tennis player/commentator these days)
We used to switch accounts, etc - now we 'switch up'.

It's an Americanism.

(by the way, the stamp barcode thing hasn’t been very well publicised. The existing ones will be obsolete after 31st January 2023. People I’ve told about this - including businesses - have been amazed and knew nothing about it, though the scheme’s been running for months)

A long time ago, one of my folks used to say, "Why do people have to meet up with other people? Why can't they just meet?"

There used to be lorry firms around here which would have names like 'Smith's Transport'. Then 'transport' turned into 'transportation'. A friend used to snort about it!

Americanisations. I think.

"Swap out" has a more precise meaning than "swap", as is the case with most phrasal verbs. The particle adds a nuance of meaning.
"Swap out" means to exchange/replace something for a LESSER USED equivalent, hence RM using it to talk about stamps.
(The most common use for "swap out" though is in IT)

Similarly, "meet up" is different to "meet". To "meet up" you've made an arrangement, set a time and place etc, whereas "meet" is more generic.

Phrasal verbs are equally as common in British and US English, both consider them to be informal. They've been around for a lot longer than America. It's thought they originated from old Norse.

I got the leaflet put through my door yesterday and I thought exactly the same thing! I ranted at DH about it. I don't agree with PAFMO (above) - 'swap your old stamps for new ones' (or similar) is perfectly clear. No need to be trendy with 'swap out'. It just sounds pretentious.

I don't know why they have to piss about in the first place why not just give us 12 months to use up stamps with the queen on before they become invalid, and started introducing ones with the King on.

You don't have to agree with me. I was just pointing out the meaning of the verb "swap out" being different (my capitalising above) to "swap".

Ergh. I get annoyed when I see similar with "influencers" saying they're "switching up their routine", or "switching this out for that."

The American need to use more words than necessary is everywhere. I’ve noticed it in cooking - “fry off”, “sauté down”, “slice up”, etc etc.

I completely agree with you OP. My own DP has started saying the same and it really grates my cheese. It wasn't "Swap OUT Shop" I used to watch as a kid!!
Other utterings, I keep hearing and I'm really offended by (irrationally of course) are..."I'm excited for Christmas" etc. No, you're excited about Christmas.
And watch it back. No need to watch it back, just watch it, surely?!
And more and more people are starting to say bring when they actually mean take.
It's probably just me but they do make me quite angry.
My DD studied English literature at uni and should know better but I often hear her say "excited for" and I have to bite my tongue 😫

They do but I noticed some bemusement on Twitter yesterday when the BBC tweeted about 'the menopause'. Apparently they say just say 'menopause'. On the other hand, as one person pointed out, we say 'he's in hospital' and they say 'he's in the hospital'. Two nations divided by a common tongue!

My pet peeve is horse back riding, where else on the bloody horse would you be?!

The particle adds a nuance of meaning. "Swap out" means to exchange/replace something for a LESSER USED equivalent, hence RM using it to talk about stamps.

RM’s use of language isn’t very precise here, surely, because perfectly good stamps will only become ‘lesser used’ because RM are deliberately making them obsolete and not able to be used at all (because they’ve dreamt up a ridiculous new marketing scheme for stamps, fgs).

They’d have been clearer calling it ‘stamp replacement’ - but then they wouldn’t have been able to call it the ‘Stamp Swap-Out Scheme’, which somebody in marketing is clearly very pleased with for their use of alliteration.

As an aside to this, they say you won’t be able to use old, non-barcoded stamps. But their special stamps (picture stamps such as the current Wallace & Gromit ones which are lovely) won’t have barcodes on (I checked this with Royal Mail) and they will still be acceptable. How does that work then? I can’t imagine the sorting office machinery will be able to differentiate between one stamp and another. I’m genuinely puzzled as to how this is going to work and it just smacks of being a big swizz to me.

It's utter shite and unnecessary. I'm so fed up of seeing this creeping trend!

But their special stamps (picture stamps such as the current Wallace & Gromit ones which are lovely) won’t have barcodes on (I checked this with Royal Mail) and they will still be acceptable. How does that work then?

Yes, Remona, that’s right. Basically they’re just cocking it all up, completely unneccesarily, for the sake of barcodes which probably 99.9% of us won’t use or care about. I’d love to know how much the ‘Stamp Swap Out Scheme’ is costing them.

Maybe it’s time for an FOI request to go in.