Time to Use or Exchange Your Old Non-Barcoded Postage Stamps!
A quickie today to remind you that you have just 10 days left to use or exchange any remaining non-barcoded stamps you may have. The stamps concerned are the plain ones with the late Queen’s head on (all stamps with the new King’s head are barcoded).
Christmas stamps and other ‘special’ stamps with pictures on will continue to be valid for the foreseeable future, but it would still be a good idea to use them up now (or give them to a collector in the family!).
If you can’t use the stamps before the end of July, you can exchange them free of charge using Royal Mail’s Swap Out scheme. You will need to complete a Stamp Swap Out form for stamps worth up to £200, or a Bulk Stamp Swap Out form for stamps worth more than £200. Forms are available from post offices, though note that you cannot exchange the stamps themselves there.
An image from the Royal Mail website showing which stamps can and can’t be swapped is shown below.
The deadline for using plain non-barcoded stamps is 31 July 2023. If you use them after that date, the recipient will have to pay a fee (to be announced) on delivery. That’s assuming they are delivered at all, of course.
As well as post offices, you can print Swap Out forms from the Royal Mail website, or phone their customer services on 03457 740740 to request one. There is currently no deadline for the Swap Out scheme and it will continue after 31 July 2023, though again it may be best to do this sooner rather than later.
For more information on the Swap Out scheme – and barcoded stamps more generally – see Royal Mail’s Barcoded Stamps info page.
As always, if you have any comments or queries about this post (no pun intended!), please do leave them below.