I’ve sent E stamps within Europe without problems. I don’t know about further away.
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I often use them, I’ve sent E stamps in the last months and they have all arrived though I can’t be particularly specific especially as those to Russia are still travelling much longer these days, and I use a wild mix of stamps. Inside and outside “Europe” too.
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I came on the forum just now for this very reason, to see if anyone else was finding their postcards are taking longer. It sucks that some of us are having longer postage times, but hopefully it speeds back up soon
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I think there must be backlogs from the strikes, Christmas and the cyber incident. Plus once postcards get abroad, are affected by such things as the strikes in Germany. Plus, everywhere, Covid and the flu are still around, so there might be staff shortages. I’m having to relearn to be patient.
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I posted 8 postcards using E stamps from Philatelink last week to various EU countries and one US… time will tell how long these will travel for, hopefully not too long!
On the other hand I received a swap off another site from the US and it came in 2 days. Seems to all be a bit hit and miss at the moment.
I don’t know about others, everytime I receive an order from Philatelink, I’ve always noticed the price of postage written in the top left hand corner, of the envelope.
David? At Philatelink gave me the idea to write the price of multiple stamps or the use of ’E’ stamps on postcards and letters.
All of my postcards using ’E’ have arrived In the last few years.
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Good afternoon!
I’m new to the UK and just catching up on this hobby.
The thing is that I have some doubts about the price of postal services: I have seen that two first class stamps can be used to send an international postcard. But can you use a first class and a second class to send a postcard at International Economy rate? What is the difference with the international standard? Both reach anywhere in the world, right? I understand that first class and second class are for within the UK only, am I correct? Thank you very much for your help!
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@Cerv I’ve recently started postcrossing again so with the stamp changes I’m not too sure what the protocol is with using old 1st & 2nd stamps… you could probably also make up the value with the new barcode ones but I’ll let another member do the maths and explain!
Regarding International Standard vs Economy, the latter takes much much longer to arrive. See the price difference here
I personally haven’t and probably won’t use Economy, simply because I’m conscious of time and would want recipients to receive their cards in a timely manner. That’s just me though, again someone else might have a positive experience to share
International Standard is £1.85, and the rate can be made in any number of ways with different stamps, e.g. 1st Class x 2 (95p x 2) = £1.90, or 1st Class (95p) + 2nd Class (68p) + 20p + 2p = £1.85. This option should use airmail where available, and typically gets to Europe within a week or two, North America within a week or three, and Asia and Australasia within 2-4 weeks. I’ve not sent enough cards to Africa or South America to know their travel times very accurately.
International Economy is £1.60, and is only available for destinations outside of Europe for postcards. This is a fancy name for surface mail - a.k.a. going by boat, rather than plane. This can take anything from a week to several months depending on luck of the draw (which boat you get on; whether your card is sorted into airmail!). To get to the £1.60 rate you can use any stamps again, for example 1st Class (95p) + 2nd Class (68p) = £1.63, or 2nd Class + 2nd Class + 20p + 2p + 2p = £1.60.
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I send most of my cards outside Europe with the International Economy rate to save money and generally don’t notice it taking too much longer than airmail. Cards to Japan often arrive within 10 days. I’ve found cards to China take ages regardless of whether they’re sent via International Standard or International Economy so I might as well send them Economy. The only card I ever remember taking ages using economy was one to a penpal in Australia and it took over two months. However it may have just got a bit lost on the way (which has happened to International Standard items too). Overall, I’ve found it’s no less reliable, sometimes just as quick as International Standard and saves me 25p on every card I send outside Europe!
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Hopefully some good news:
Royal Mail resumes overseas deliveries via post offices after cyber-attack | Royal Mail | The Guardian
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Well, it’s taken me a concerted effort for an ENTIRE YEAR, but, unbelievably, today I am finally saying goodbye to my last two old style definitive, barcode-free stamps! The end of an era…
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I can’t wait!
This might be a stupid question but does anyone know how to get the new stamps other than ordering off Royal Mail’s website? My local post office said they don’t do the commemorative stamps other than Christmas and last time I ordered stamps off Royal Mail they took over two weeks to arrive. Not ideal when you’re after first day of issue postmarks lol.
I don’t even appear to have a post office in my city centre anymore, other than a small one inside a shop opposite the place I work. I’d thought maybe a big central city post office might have more selection but nope. Closed down.
I’m tempted to email royal mail or give them a call just to ask but figured some knowledgeable stamp lover here may know 
Some post offices stock but its at there own discretion.
Might be worth conversation with your local one to encourage
Thanks!! I’m not sure if my local po would do it as its pretty small.
I did find out last night after I wrote this that if I go to the post office website rather than royal mail I can actually search for post offices across the uk who stock commemorative stamps! Game changer. Theres one in Liverpool which is about a ten minute drive and on the route I travel going to work every day. It’s the only one in Liverpool too. The next closest is 35 miles away.
Pretty lucky for me
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Hurray! All 1st Class and £1.85! (I don’t like filling up the space on a card with massive barcoded make-up value stamps)
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My local Post Office were talking about no longer stocking special issues (though thankfully they’ve changed their mind). The Royal Mail shop is a joke - I ordered a set of postcards, a set of stamps and the miniature sheet for the Tutankhamun special issue, and they arrived as three separate deliveries over the course of ten days.
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That’s not the only problem, I order about two or three times a year and they keep getting things wrong: once a postcard set was simply missing - i was able to reach them on the phone and they sent the missing cards in under a week. More recently last autumn they sent a sheet of 2nd class when i had ordered (and paid) for first. This time my only option was their on-line form, it took over a month to get a response, they then sent me an return envelope which took another few days, and once i had returned my sheet the refund was actioned reasonably quickly… but i was out of pocket for about 2 months…