Which is what I’ve done this morning! I usually have a stock of £1.70s, but I used them all up last week (the FA Cup ones were so big I would have struggled to fit the additional 15p postage on most of my cards, so was keen to send them on their way before the price increase).
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Oh yes I’ve got quite the mix of different value stamps and not many 1st class at all. But just wanted to double check!!
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Really disappointed with the new barcode stamps. Price increase - ok that happens but why do they have to be so big? I guess it’s for the barcode. 
Oh well.
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From another forum, someone wrote:
Received back my brand new stamps today. It took less than a week and everything was perfect. I received back the exact same number and denomination of stamps that I sent. Simple. Great job!
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Bah humbug, approaching that time of year when there’s no post/collection on Easter Friday & the bank holiday Monday, and well, depending on how things are at your local delivery office, will you be lucky to have post on Saturday? I don’t think I have requested addresses over the Easter period.
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For those asking about return times of postmarking from the Handstamp Centre’s
I recieved this yesterday and what could possibly be the quickest turn-around of a postcard from postmarking, this was sent in on Monday and returned Thursday, they even acknowledged my backdated request for a Sunday. Returned in a clear glassine envelope.
I wonder if it was due to the theme of the postcard, as 110 years ago today, the news hit of the sinking of the Titanic
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Hello everyone, I hope I am posting this in a relevant place.
I will be in the UK in the following weeks and would like to send some postcards from there. I was looking at the postage rates and saw that there were two options for out-of-Europe delivery (economy for £1.60 and airmail for £1.85), but for Europe there only seems to be one (£1.85).
So does that mean I have to use stamps that add up to £1.85 for sending postcards to Europe, but for the rest of the world, postcards with £1.60 will arrive too?
Thanks a lot for your help!
I’ve never used the economy postage, so can’t comment on its reliability, but yes, stamps adding up to £1.85 can be used for postcards to Europe and the rest of the world.
Make sure you buy bona fide Royal Mail stamps. There are stamps (I can’t remember what they’re called, maybe someone else can?) that are sold at tourist venues and in some shops that sell postcards, and they are very unreliable, likely to take more than a year to reach their destination.
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Adding to what @Florallle has said, the stamps to avoid are produced by a company called Universal Mail. You might be offered them at tourist attractions, usually in sheets of five or six with pictures of the attraction or stereotypical British images (e.g. black taxi, red Routemaster bus) but I echo her advice not to buy them. Best to visit a Post Office (find branches near where you’ll be staying / visiting here: Branch Finder | Post Office) where you can buy proper Royal Mail postage (international standard information here: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/international/international-standard; international economy information here: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/international/international-economy) to post your cards. Note that at a larger Post Office you may have the option of using a self-service machine to buy postage labels; for traditional stamps you’ll need to see a clerk at the counter. Post Offices may sometimes not have stocks of special stamps, but they should have plenty of the Machin definitives (stamps in a block colour with a profile portrait of HM The Queen on them). The new barcoded £1.85 stamps are brown. Have a great trip!
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Also bare in mind, that there is No £1.60 stamp denomination at the moment, you will have use a mix of smaller stamps to make the international economy rate and post office clerks will pretty much do anything to discourage you from using it.
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How do you find travelling times when using £1.60 ? Any noticeable difference ?
I did a test a while back… although “BC” but the test items I sent seemed to arrive quickly as if they’d been flung on a plane. When that Icelandic volcano disrupted air travel, RM said about sending via ship to US to arrive within the month.
Before Christmas, someone accidentally sent me two Christmas cards, so I sent two back, one via airmail, and one via economy… the US… both arrived the same day.
I sent out 13 items of post with surface mail postage on 7th March 2014 (a Friday) from the United Kingdom. I haven’t heard if 2 of the letters have been received or not… but:
11th March - one arrived in Massachusetts.
12th March - one arrived in Toronto
13th March - arrivals in South Africa, Australia, Hawaii, Montreal, Iowa,
14th March - arrivals in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Texas,
15th March - one arrived in Texas
Oh, almost forgot, wrote a postcard this year on Pi day, March 14, to Australia. Arrived 12th April.
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No, not really, most international economy arrives in the same time as standard post.
For me only China & Hong Kong seem to take ages with the International Economy Rate.
I posted two cards at the same time to Hong Kong in August 2020, standard took 32 days the economy one took 99 days.
I should use economy more often, just in the last year the convience of using two 1st class stamps has made me lazy, I guess.
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Commonwealth Stamps Opinion: 2067. 🇬🇧 Britain’s Women At War. 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 has info on the next RM stamp issue. £1.85 only in the miniature sheet…
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The issue is under embargo but can be found on the Royal Mail website!
These are images of the postcards
Unsung Heroes: Women of World War II
Issued: May 5th
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Oh, I love these! Such a great set! 
(But exactly when I DO NOT NEED any more stamps! Disaster!!)
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@FairyFoot Mia thanks for the link to see all the stamps …I did baulk when I saw the QR code that were in Gold (? Brown) and Silver (grey?).
Something to get use to.
Hi! I will be travelling to London within few weeks and I’m planning on to send some cards. So I would like to make sure I have understand couple of things right 
There is a tiny post office nearby my accommodation, but I’d like to use special issue stamps (platinum jubilee etc). In order to find them, I have better chances stopping by some bigger post office like Regent St, High Holburn etc and buying the stamps from the clerk rather than the machine. Am I on right path? 
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You are indeed on the right path! The self-service machines will give you postage labels rather than proper stamps. Have a great trip!
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Perfect, thank you so much! 