Stamp swap

[Seehof]

Has anybody sent away their old stamps to be exchanged under the Royal Mail Stamp Swap Out scheme? I, perhaps stupidly, sent away approximately £60 worth of stamps about a month ago and have received or heard nothing since. Many belonged to my father in law who used to buy far more than he would ever use in the belief he was saving money when the next price increase came into effect.
On reflection, not able to get any official proof of the value enclosed before posting them, does lend itself open to fraud and loss.
Your experiences and advice welcome. Thanks.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Hi, yes, I sent some off about 2 or 3 weeks ago, but upto now have not had any new ones back.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Hi, yes, I sent some off about 2 or 3 weeks ago, but upto now have not had any new ones back.

Same here.

 

[Seehof]

Thank you. I have sent Royal Mail a complaint e mail. I will let you know what they say (hopefully they will reply).

 

[Ediswan]

I sent some off recently, still waiting. What prompted me was a form put through the letterbox. If that was widespread, it may have led to 'unprecedented demand'.

 

[Gloster]

There has a little bit of disruption with the normal postal services recently, so any letters tend to be delayed. That is just as likely the reason as anything else. (If I was the Royal Mail, which I am not (*), I would concentrate on getting regular post delivered, rather than stuff like this, which is likely to seen as non-urgent.)

* - I am a corpulent body, not a corporate one.

 

[Seehof]

I appreciate your comment but surely the Royal Mail should not judge what type of mail should be more important than another? Especially when they have been distributing forms encouraging people to “swap” stamps.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Thank you. I have sent Royal Mail a complaint e mail. I will let you know what they say (hopefully they will reply).

Thank you. I hope it was not a scam.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Has anybody sent away their old stamps to be exchanged under the Royal Mail Stamp Swap Out scheme? I, perhaps stupidly, sent away approximately £60 worth of stamps about a month ago and have received or heard nothing since. Many belonged to my father in law who used to buy far more than he would ever use in the belief he was saving money when the next price increase came into effect.
On reflection, not able to get any official proof of the value enclosed before posting them, does lend itself open to fraud and loss.
Your experiences and advice welcome. Thanks.

What was the tracking number? Given the value ( which you don't need to prove to use Recorded or Special Delivery ), I am guessing you didn't just put them in the ordinary post?

 

[Gloster]

I appreciate your comment but surely the Royal Mail should not judge what type of mail should be more important than another? Especially when they have been distributing forms encouraging people to “swap” stamps.

I presume that the stamps being returned go to a specific address or adresses, which can be identified by the Post Code or something higher up in the address, that is being used for this purpose and no other. Therefore Royal Mail know that letters to that address should not contain anything urgent and should be able to concentrate on bags of post that may contain urgent matters. It is not life or death, is it? But a hospital appointment might be.

 

[Ediswan]

I presume that the stamps being returned go to a specific address or adresses, which can be identified by the Post Code or something higher up in the address, that is being used for this purpose and no other.

The address is: Freepost SWAP OUT

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Especially when they have been distributing forms encouraging people to “swap” stamps.

Reckon that this may well have been a key factor. A previous request sent bh me earlier in the year was turned around within just 7 - 10 days, but quite possibly they're suddenly a lot busier now with both the recent mailshot and the 2023 deadline approaching.

 

[Senex]

I did mine a couple of months back, and it worked exactly as promised — replacements back within the week.

 

[pdeaves]

Thank you. I have sent Royal Mail a complaint e mail. I will let you know what they say (hopefully they will reply).

I predict some stuff about 'greater number of requests than expected' and 'short staff', but the swap will work itself out in the fullness of time.

As an aside, I do find it amusing to email Royal Mail if one wants a response!

 

[wilbers]

Has anybody sent away their old stamps to be exchanged under the Royal Mail Stamp Swap Out scheme? I, perhaps stupidly, sent away approximately £60 worth of stamps about a month ago and have received or heard nothing since. Many belonged to my father in law who used to buy far more than he would ever use in the belief he was saving money when the next price increase came into effect.
On reflection, not able to get any official proof of the value enclosed before posting them, does lend itself open to fraud and loss.
Your experiences and advice welcome. Thanks.

I did that one year when there was a particularly large increase - bought over £500 worth and used them up over the following months - I do sell things online though, so was guaranteed to use them all (and many more after that), did get to be a bit of a pain sticking them all on but still just about worth doing that year.

I got that flyer about a month ago as well which prompted me to have a search for stamps - found a few, but now only got 3 left, so those will be cleared on sending Christmas cards (not that I send many that I can't deliver by hand).

 

[XAM2175]

Exactly, the looming deadline has been in the news recently and vast swathes of the country got a flyer about it through the letterbox in the last fortnight or so. Nobody should be even slightly surprised that they're going to be handling a much larger volume of requests now than they were earlier in the year.

 

[Seehof]

Totally agree with XAM2175 however I am amazed that there are many people who have large amounts of unused stamps and are sending them in before Christmas.
Most of mine came from my very elderly in-laws and were found on the floor under some stuff in an upstairs room they had given up using.

 

[XAM2175]

I suspect they are also having to spend a certain amount of time on checking the stamps they receive to ensure they're not re-used or forged.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I suspect they are also having to spend a certain amount of time on checking the stamps they receive to ensure they're not re-used or forged.

That's undoubtedly being done as a matter of course, more likely that the department has been swamped out of recent due to the nationwide publicity campaign.

 

[XAM2175]

That's undoubtedly being done as a matter of course, more likely that the department has been swamped out of recent due to the nationwide publicity campaign.

Oh yes, of course, but it's an explanation for why the process takes a wee bit of time regardless of demand.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I presume that the stamps being returned go to a specific address or adresses, which can be identified by the Post Code or something higher up in the address, that is being used for this purpose and no other. Therefore Royal Mail know that letters to that address should not contain anything urgent and should be able to concentrate on bags of post that may contain urgent matters. It is not life or death, is it? But a hospital appointment might be.

The address is: Freepost SWAP OUT

I am afraid it seems to me that it will be pretty obvious to any staff member, who is tempted, that there is something to steal in the envelope.

I should easily use up my old stamps before the deadline which is just after Christmas. But I wonder if I will find a whole book or two in later years. Then the question is : What is the deadline for exchanging ?.

And I cannot help thinking there will be a postponement of one or both deadlines. I can imagine the post office running out of time. Or possibly discovering that there are a lot more old style stamps out there in peoples drawers than they have new stock to replace them with !.

 

[Ediswan]

I should easily use up my old stamps before the deadline which is just after Christmas. But I wonder if I will find a whole book or two in later years. Then the question is : What is the deadline for exchanging ?.

I can't find one. In only see the 31-Jan-2023 date quoted as being the last date when non-barcoded stamps will be valid for postage.

 

[Cletus]

We had loads of old 1p, 2p, 5p and upwards stamps at work that I sent back. Expected to get a batch of equivalent value of 1st or 2nd class stamps, we just got new versions of the 1p, 2p, etc stamps.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I can't find one. In only see the 31-Jan-2023 date quoted as being the last date when non-barcoded stamps will be valid for postage.

It's one of the FAQs on the Royal Mail site, the operative words are "..there is currently no end date..." which could, of course, always change.

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps

Extract..

When does the Stamp Swap Out Scheme end / when do I need to swap out my non-barcoded stamps by?
It’s fine to keep using non-barcoded stamps as postage up until 31 January 2023. You can swap out your stamps any time from 31 March 2022 onwards — there is currently no end date as to when you need to swap out your non-barcoded stamps by.

We had loads of old 1p, 2p, 5p and upwards stamps at work that I sent back. Expected to get a batch of equivalent value of 1st or 2nd class stamps, we just got new versions of the 1p, 2p, etc stamps.

Me, too. You effectively get like for like.

 

[jfollows]

I swapped my stamps on the first possible day (31 March I think) (https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/royal-mail-to-introduce-barcoded-postage-stamps.228045/) and they were very fastidious in processing my stamps, in the end sending me more than I had asked for because I'd made a miscalculation.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I have just received new stamps back, after sending the old ones back 2/ 3 weeks ago. So hopefully others will get theirs soon.

 

[Seehof]

Just received my new stamps having sent the original ones off five weeks ago. All 1st class just like the ones I sent off.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Just received my new stamps having sent the original ones off five weeks ago. All 1st class just like the ones I sent off.

That's good to hear.

 

[DelayRepay]

Money Saving Expert are saying the deadline for using old stamps has been extended to July.

You've got less than six months to use 1st and 2nd class stamps without barcodes after a Royal Mail U-turn – here's what you need to know

You now have until 31 July 2023 to use any non-barcoded everyday stamps – those with the Queen's profile on – before they become worthless. Alternatively, you can swap them for barcoded versions for free through the Royal Mail scheme.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

The Royal Mail FAQs refer to this as a six month 'grace period' where they won't surcharge a letter if an old stamp is used.

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps#paragraph-11255

 

[Ediswan]

Replacements arrived today. I sent in 3x1st, 2x2nd. Received 5x1st. With 3 sheets of A4. One letter/statement, one despatch note, one (thinner) sheet explaining the substitution.

As to the date extension, I am wondering whether Royal Mail have concluded they won't be ready to implement the surcharge for insufficient postage by the original date.