New Barcoded Stamps.

I knew about the change - our Xmas stamps had the QR code on them but the staff at the PO said they had no idea what it was for.

The BBC reported earlier this week that you’d be able to exchange old-style stamps (I’ve got loads!) at your local PO but that seems to have changed now. ?

What I can’t get my head round is who on earth requested that you got a Shaun the Sheep video when you bought a stamp!

Brill. I took out a loan yesterday and bought 12 first and 12 second class stamps, to keep in stock for cards and forms that need posting and to avoid any price rises. Nothing was said at the Post Office, but they are the old ones. I’d better get some letters written.

Hardly any of my Christmas cards had been franked The stamps had nearly all missed the franking machine
What’s the point of the bar code ? so you don’t eat them if they re out of date ? ???

BlueBelle

The barcoded stamps will have a digital ‘twin’, and you will be able to watch a Shaun the Sheep video somehow. And other stuff I think. But it means nothing to me, and can’t see the point. You need to have an app I think, a Royal Mail one.
?‍♀️

You have until the end of January 2023 to use old style stamps, so they will still be valid to use on Christmas cards.

I must admit, I’m a bit baffled as to why the PO feels we need stamps with a bar code. A stamp is a stamp, surely - it’s purpose is to allow a letter to be posted via Royal Mail as it is proof you’ve paid for the service. Unless they are changing their mechanisation process in some way that makes non barcoded stamps redundant, then I don’t see the point, and even if this is the reason, not sure why it would be necessary to change a system that works. ( I’m only surmising this might be the reason, it probably isn’t - maybe someone knows why might be along to explain to us baffled sorts ?).

I read about this recently. I think it sounds plain daft.

The Christmas stamps had a barcode attached to the side but I noticed that on some we received, the senders had carefully removed it. ?

I must admit, I’m a bit baffled as to why the PO feels we need stamps with a bar code.
Me too

Sounds a load of complicated twaddle why would I buy a stamp to watch Shaun the Sheep !!!

BlueBelle

Sounds a load of complicated twaddle why would I buy a stamp to watch Shaun the Sheep !!!

And having watched it once why would you want to watch it again?

Apparently there are going to be new Shaun the Sheep videos put out during the year and the sender can decide which one to attach to their stamp. The recipient can then use the Royal Mail app to watch them I think. So you can send your GC a video to watch with their letter I think is what it is aimed at. Maybe they will have different videos and extend the service if it takes off. The barcodes are being used to provide a better processing and tracking service for the mail, the videos are an add on to that.

I think the barcodes have to be left on, if you remove them, they probably aren’t valid.

Making everything complicated seems to be how everything is done now. Why did they have to change the parcel system? It was easy, you just weighed it. Now you have to weigh and measure it, and different sizes have different prices. It's much more complicated. Couldn't they just have adjusted their prices to keep it weight only?

AreWeThereYet

Apparently there are going to be new Shaun the Sheep videos put out during the year and the sender can decide which one to attach to their stamp. The recipient can then use the Royal Mail app to watch them I think. So you can send your GC a video to watch with their letter I think is what it is aimed at. Maybe they will have different videos and extend the service if it takes off. The barcodes are being used to provide a better processing and tracking service for the mail, the videos are an add on to that.

Surely the whole video business will only add to the cost of producing the stamps? And who on earth even wants to see them? Not me, my children or my grandchildren, that's for sure.

I can just about see the value of being able to send the grandsons a holiday postcard with a stamp on that plays them a video of Shaun the Sheep. If I can find postcards to send, that is. When I eventually found some in a dusty corner of a gift shop on our last UK short break they were faded relics from the 1950s (a bit like us, really).

The last letters I sent were to HMRC and the Pension Service. I doubt they'll be impressed by Shaun and his antics.

And who on earth even wants to see them

Nor me either. But I would take a bet that lots of people will jump on any old band wagon.

Then again, if you were able to put a personal video on of you wishing your GC a 'Happy Birthday' when you send their birthday card maybe that would tempt some?

I think the barcodes will eventually allow better tracking of post, hopefully by the sender.
I will download the app and I love Shaun the Sheep, might send myself a letter ?

??Jax*

I miss the days of nice big old stamps with lovely pictures on that made your Christmas cards look so festive. I had the barcode ones at Christmas - a tiny Christmassy picture and a whole lotta barcode. Not at all attractive.

The Christmas stamps were very dull this year, Coastpath, they used to be lovely little works of art.

I wonder if they played Away in a Manger or Hark the Herald Angels Sing?

I never even thought about it.

I wonder if they'll get to Australia any quicker?
DD got our Christmas card last week and I posted it in November.

Come to think of it, there were no pretty stamps on it, just a horrible label.

I bet your DD was so pleased to get your card with or without pretty stamps Callistemon21*

At least it got there in the end. Last November I posted a Christmas parcel to my cousins in Tasmania - it arrived back on my doorstep undelivered and with no comment at all in February!

Couldn’t get Christmas stamps last year. Only ordinary ones. Much as I like Shaun the Sheep, something tells me that stamps are going to get even more expensive. And will the code have a shelf life so we can’t stock up to avoid price rises? Cynical, moi?

Coastpath

I bet your DD was so pleased to get your card with or without pretty stamps Callistemon21*

At least it got there in the end. Last November I posted a Christmas parcel to my cousins in Tasmania - it arrived back on my doorstep undelivered and with no comment at all in February!

Australia Post is very spasmodic, Coastpath.
Pre-Covid it was quicker to deliver by hand.