old stamps

"We’ve added barcodes to all our regular stamps. Regular stamps without a barcode* will no longer be valid after 31 July 2023. This follows the introduction of a 6 month grace period from the initial 31 January deadline. You can either use up your non-barcoded stamps before this new deadline or swap them for the new barcoded ones."

That doesn't say the date of when swap-out will close. It says the deadline for use is 31 July, but not the deadline for swap-out. It may be they are intending a deadline of 31 July, but they aren't actually saying that.

Theo

I am too - but I bet it was to benefit Royal Mail and bugger the general public.

Post Office Counters Ltd (POCL) have a long and distinguished history of seeking exorbitant payments for work which they think the public will insist should come their way.

That is completely different from what I said.

Tim

That always used to annoy when you went direct to the HM Gov or TV licensing site and you had to pay more if you paid by card. No extra fee if you purchased at Post Office Counters who not only had similar card charges but also must have been taking a fairly large commission.

Do they return stamps of the same denomination, or simply the same total value?

I have both 1st and 2nd class, and would be peeved if I only got

Chris

Well, I watched the postie get out of it with our mail, and walk up our drive to deliver it....

What? Not sure what you are saying. Two answers. 1 you have till July to use them 2, the self adhesive ones are not able to be removed from paper surfaces. Steam won't work. Brian

The same mix of 1st and 2nd. If you send in loose stamps with a penny value (17p etc) they'll convert them into the equivalent value of 1sts and 2nds (and maybe you get a single penny-valued stamp for the change, not sure)

Theo

I got back like for like.

If the old stamp just said 1st, 1st large or 2nd that's what I got back.

I also send stamps in the old stamp books which were a mix of values in pence. Where the equivalent still exists I got back individual stamps of the same value. The rest were made up of 1p stamps :) These lower value stamps are unlikely to be used as the total I got back fall far short of a second class letter fee.

That will be really annoying. We deliberately have quite a few stamps of values 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p etc so we can add them on to make up the right postage when using up old pictorial stamps, so I'd like the same selection back.

It's a while since I investigated the procedure for exchanging stamps, but I seem to remember there was a check-box on the website where you could choose between receiving 1st and 2nd class stamps (plus penny-values stamps to make up the difference) or else receiving stamps that exactly matched the denominations that you sent in.

I managed to use up all my old first class stamps by "natural wastage" as I sent letters, but I still have a load of second class ones which I may not get through by the end of July, so I'll probably have to send those in for exchange.

I sent in a mix of large 1st and 2nd class stamps, with a few small value stamps. I was annoyed to get back only standard first class stamps, probably more than enough to see me out. I'll end up having to buy large stamps fairly soon.

Although I've used the service to exchange stamps I've found it more convenient to now print my own using a laser printer with sticky labels rather than using individual stamps. Using the RM click and drop web site I get PDF format address label with a digital stamp.