[singlepic id=212 w=640 h=480 mode=watermark float=left]   Royal Mail have today indicated that following on from their trials of Hytech Postalvision equipment at Spring Stampex 2011, they will issue a tribute to ‘Arnold Machin’ in the form of an overprinted  set of  Post & Go stamps at next weeks Autumn Stampex.

This overprint will be only available at Stampex, and will be applied on the existing ‘Machin’ Post & Go stock on one of two new Hytech Self-service Stamp Machines.

These new self-service machines will be situated on Royal Mails stand and will exclusively  vend the new stamps, either singly or  in the now familiar ‘strip of six’ format. Payment will only be possible via Credit or Debit card -the machines will not accept cash.

The machine numbers will be 91 and 92 (The ‘9’ indicating September- self service  machines No.1 and 2).

Further details and further information will appear here as soon as known.

For three days only we have the Hytech Stampex-Only Machin Overprints available in our ebay shop on a ‘Buy it now’ basis:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170696884525

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Once ‘V2’ has been activated then the Post and Go machines will offer new products and services, including the facility to process Special Delivery, Recorded Signed For and Parcelforce Worldwide products both inland and overseas. They will also offer a ‘Retail Checkout’ function allowing for  the payment of packaging items such as Jiffy bags and packaging Tape etc via the Post & Go machine.

The new functionality will provide collectors with opportunities to add to their collections in the form of a new stamp , new labels and associated  receipts.

The only visible sign of this upgrade currently is the presence of a newly- fitted barcode scanner just above the Pin Pad in all machines in the network, (except those at Tudor Street as, being sited in an unmanned environment, they will not be offering a ‘Retail checkout’  facility).

Post and Go V2 is due to commence roll-out at the beginning of September to reach at least the ‘Birds’ network by the First Day of Issue of Birds 4 on 16th September.

Full information on the upgrades the  new labels and stamps will appear here as soon as known.

Machin Head Post and Go stamps have been dispensed from Wincor-Nixdorf kiosks in the UK since 2008.
There are two versions of the print – one printed by the kiosk at Post Offices across the UK and another press-printed version of the original font set available from the Philatelic Bureau at Tallents House in a presentation card.
The labels can be obtained with 5 different service indicators: 1st class & 1st class Large up to 100gr, Europe up to 20gr, Worldwide up to 10gr and 20gr, singly or in strips of up to 5 of the same value or various values.
For those that are printed by machine there are two further versions of the oveprint- original and updated font (see below) , for these we supply a strip of the five different values currently available in a special ‘collectors strip’ and offer a choice of machine code (when available) and font.

LEFT- ORIGINAL FONT

The second set of Faststamps depicting British garden birds was issued on 24th January 2011, one of three sets to be issued this year.  There is two versions – one printed by the kiosk at 31 selected Post Offices across the UK and another press-printed version from the Philatelic Bureau at Tallents House, available in a presentation card.

The labels can be obtained with 5 different service indicators: 1st class & 1st class Large up to 100gr, Europe up to 20gr, Worldwide up to 10gr and 20gr,  singly or in strips of up to 5 of the same value or various values. Thus there are 30 different value/design combinations in total.

Note the Birds Of Britain 2 set was only available on the first day of issue fom Ludgate Circus Branch.

For the machine printed versions, we supply a strip of five different values plus an additional sixth stamp with a extra 1st class faststamp printed by the machine in a particular location.

The presentation card consists of 6 machine printed ‘1st’  Faststamps.

Postage is FREE to all worldwide destinations~ We ship anywhere!

This issue shows (In the order that they are printed on the machine-vended strip):- Collared dove,  Greenfinch , Blackbird,  Magpie, Long-tailed Tit  and Chaffinch.

The stamps are available in two different versions :-Firstly as as a sheet of six different stamps all with ‘1st Class’ press- printed directly from Royal Mail in Edinburgh and secondly, the ‘real’ machine printed  versions (available from

31 different outlets

) with five different overprints.

The Machine printed versions are cut every fifth stamp. The third set of British birds is scheduled for issue in May and the fourth in September 2011 .

The image shows the set of six, with Ludgate Circus self-service facility kiosk No.4 overprint, which was available for the first day of issue only.

To purchase these stamps from our ATM Shop click here:-  http://postagelabelsuk.com/?page_id=929

The full list of Wincor-Nixdorf Proposal Kiosks currently in use in the UK, along with branch addresses and their go-live date is now shown here:-

http://postagelabelsuk.com/?page_id=497

Post And Go Labels are getting so popular with collectors that the first forgeries of First Day Covers are now appearing on Ebay!

As can be seen from the image below – Labels with a very high session number of 7066, issued from the Galleries Machine  have been stamped with a Glasgow ’10’ Double Ring CDS of 8th October 2008.

But- 1) Only low numbers were issued in Bristol on that day and it was a few months before that session number was reached.

2) How did the cover travel from Bristol to Glasgow in the same day?

Glasgow '10' Faststamp First Day Cover Forgery 8 OC 08

Royal Mail  Security have been notified of the misuse/missappropriation of this handstamp- all covers with this datestamp should be viewed with suspicion.

Obviously a Forgery- produced with intent to deceive.