Size of the new Barcode stamps

[JaggyThistle]

Hi folks

Would love to hear what others think of the new Barcode stamps.

Personally I don’t like them too way to big especially when placed onto a postcard. I must admit I am not into stamp collecting much but I know many who postcross are. The new £1.85 stamp is huge as are all. The bar coded stamps.

If I was to be use two 1st class instead of the £1.85 that would probably take up just the same space as the new stamp and that got me thinking my commemorative stamps if I put 2 commemorative first class stamps that’s equivalent to £1.90 (5pence over the £1.85 price) and I have also found out that commemorative stamps are not being withdrawn unlike the otherb non bar coded stamps so even though its a massive 5p over the price I may start to use 2 commemorative 1st class instead of the massive new barcoded £1.85 stamp

What’s your thoughts? do you like the new stamp size? If do you like the barcoded stamps

[Wendyloued55]

I dislike the new barcode stamps very much. Also, as you say, they are too big.

[roving]

I haven’t bought any yet. I’m still using a stash of commemorative ones and will probaby stay with them. Two Jubilee ones fit nicely at the top of the address area of most if the postcards I have.
I’m not sure what i will do when these run out. Most commemorative stamp series don’t seem to have the overseas postcard value.
Has anyone worked out the combination of commemorative 1st/2nd and small value stamps that uses the fewest stamps?

[Florallle]

And a first and second class together will need 22 pence of smaller stamps to get to £1.85.

Or 49 pence with two second class stamps.

[Florallle]

It’s discussed in this thread, (fast forward up to 4th March):

[Stamps] UK stamps, prices, Royal Mail & Post Office matters

Keep an eye on https://www.royalmail.com/prices2022 - Postage rate change on 4th April 2022. Current rates, hopefully valid at least until the end of the year (Royal Mail need to give 30? days notice). Edit 22nd October 2021 - belatedly updated prices, sorry! 1st - 85p, large £1.29 2nd - 66p, large 96p 20g Surface Mail / International Economy (letters/postcards outside Europe) - £1.45 20g Airmail / International Standard Worldwide and 100g Europe - £1.70 (two x 1st class) Postage rates 4th…

[Florallle]

Or should that be “fast backward”?

[JaggyThistle]

@roving 1st class is £0.95 and no matter what price first class was when you purchased it if it has the first class on it its still usable as a 1st class stamp ie £0.95… If you use two 1st class stamps that’s £1.90 = £0.05 over the £1.85 for international standard postage which is what I would do but you are paying an extra 5 pence quid but your not using the horrid huge barcode stamp

If you want the cheaper option of international economy (which is surface mail instead of air mail which can take much, much longer to get to the destination than that costs £1.60 use a 1st class (£0.95) and a 2nd class (£0.68) which comes to £1.63 which means your only 3 pence over and as I said earlier if you use commemorative stamps that you have in stock which don’t have a bar code or that’s fine as commemorative stamps are not getting taken out of use next year like the in barcoded 1st and 2nd etc and are fine to use after that date

Hope that All. Made sense of the and it use for the extra few pence we are using in the stamps I thinks its way better and way nicer than the awful huge barcoded stamp (I personally am hoping that royal mail will see some sense and reduce the size of stamps) and I dread t think what the size of a book of 10 stamps will be

[rvalkass]

@roving

Has anyone worked out the combination of commemorative 1st/2nd and small value stamps that uses the fewest stamps?

Here’s the guide I made myself and taped to the top of my box of stickers, which others might find useful.

[Schwarzwaldalex]

Other country, same problem The Deusche Post has come with an extension stamp of 5ct with barcode, and a big one in 30 by 32 mm. The small alternative is older and only available at a 500pc roll. Nothing for a little postcrosser :-/

[rvalkass]

For those who haven’t had to use the new barcoded stamps yet, here’s an old and a new 1p stamp side by side.

The barcoded stamps are massive by comparison. It’s very difficult to fit more than one of them alongside a commemorative first or second class stamp on a standard 10x15cm postcard. And it seems so unnecessary when all the useful information is in the barcode itself - the portrait is completely unnecessary now!

[Maddymail]

So I’m starting to (reluctantly) use the Barcoded stamps in combination with commemorative/special stamps.

I’ve used some of the £1.85 stamps for some postcards but don’t like them,

1. they are too big!
2. the colour is awful
3. the print quality is awful, I was explaining to some at the recent London meet-up that the ink runs on some of them abit like the airmail stickers that leave your fingers blue.

Here is my first example of using a 20p make-up stamp, it is almost the same size as the adjacent Doctor Who stamp.

[DrHyde]

I mostly use commemorative stamps anyway, because people like receiving interesting stamps just as much as they like interesting cards. The barcodes are ugly, which in my opinion is a crime even worse than being too big!

Every so often I place an order with Philatelink for a large number of weirdly numbered stamps. My most recent, placed this evening, was for 34 of 77p, 72p and 34p, because I’ve got 34 tuppences that need using up and 77 + 72 + 34 + 2 is £1.85. Philatelink make no guarantees about whether you’ll get commemoratives or not, but that’s mostly what they send.

[Florallle]

Yes, I did exactly the same a couple of weeks ago. I worked out what I had, and what I needed to buy from Philatelink to make them all up to £1.85. There were hardly any Machin’s in the order, so I was pleased. I too like using commemoratives.

[JaggyThistle]

I’ve not used Philatelink as of yet that is a thing I want to do but was concerned I got the normal stamps which has to be used up by end of January 2023

The other awful decision royal mail or whatever the powers to be are doing is instead of swapping your stamps over at the post office cosunter you have to send them away to be swapped for the new Barcode stamps… I think this is going to be an absolute cluster… The backlog and delays are going to be crazy.

You will have no or the stamps available to use while there been sent off the effectively making you out of pocket of the money you spent on them until the new stamps are posted back to you.

Pitty the Royal mail didn’t decide to make all stamps as they commemorative and do away with the ugly bar at code completely as what u see from other countries they have a vast array of stamps way more interesting and colourful than the normal 1st and 2nd class etc we have