An expensive year for stamp collectors

[callmemadam]

click to see all the stamps

Here’s the latest mailshot from Royal Mail, introducing the new stamps which will be in use from 30th April. The interesting thing about this leaflet is that nowhere does it say, ‘This is the biggest price hike ever! We have to do this in order to maintain our wonderful service.’ Instead, it goes on and on about how beautiful the stamps are. If you like Machins (I do) you’ll probably agree. Look closely at the new Large Letter stamp and you see that the security background printing ‘ROYAL MAIL’, with its hidden codes, has been changed to ‘DIAMOND JUBILEE’and wow! it's iridescent. How can you resist? I wrote before about the ludicrous expense of all the new Olympic stamps. Do they really expect people to buy these as well as paying so much more for their regular postage use?

I'm guessing that big companies like Amazon may try to absorb the new postal charges but that won't be an option for small sellers and people who use eBay. Trouble ahead. So are you stocking up now? What about the idea of buying stamps in advance for the next three Christmases? (Suggestion from money expert Martin Lewis.) Apparently, some people are investing thousands in stamps, hoping to make a profit later. Not really an option for most of us.

Poll
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Comments

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

I clicked the last one, which isn't quite true, but I mostly use the mail to send parcels rather than letters, these days, so buying up stamps is a bit more hazardous.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

You can of course use stamps on a parcel. I need a calculator to do it, you probably wouldn't.

[trixiebacon.livejournal.com]

They've really had to squeeze the pounds and pence prices in, haven't they? As if nobody would have believed that a single stamp would have pounds and pence on them.

When it's all privatised, will the Queen still have to appear?

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I'd be horrified if we lost the right to have the Queen's head on all stamps and also our unique privilege of not naming the country of issue. There are people who still haven't forgiven Tony Benn for the changes he made when he was Postmaster General.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I was queueing in the PO this afternoon and the man in front of me asked for 100 2nd class self-adhesives.

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

I've stocked up on first and second class, and first class large letter stamps - if I don't use them for letters and cards, I can use them on parcels. I bought them online from the RM website - there were no limits there, and they do free postage too, mine came special delivery, but I did spend £150!

I'm actually pleasantly surprised to find that the changes won't actually affect me much when posting books - the vast majority of my books are sent second class, up to 500g, which goes up from £2.16 to £2.20, and heavier books have actually gone down, as the £2.20 band now covers up to 750g. Large letters have gone up a bit, but not much. Posting overseas on the other hand has gone up hugely - I'm going to have to put at least an extra pound on everything, even paperbacks.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Coo, well done! Good news about the parcels but a shame about abroad. I already feel embarrassed by the amount I have to ask and assume (often wrongly) that the high cost will put people off. As a stamp collector, I have quite a lot of old, mint stamps which I don't collect but which are still valid for postage. I'll be using more of those.