Royal Mail today announced significant increases in the cost of Inland Letter mail and simplification via the removal of weight steps for international letters to take effect from 1st January 2021

1st class inland rises from 76p to 88p and 1st Class large rises from £1.15 to £1.29

For International Letters the 20g Europe weight step has been removed – a single weight step 100g and under now applies to all European Letters with a corresponding increase to the cost of posting those letters to £1.70.

For Worldwide Letters, the three existing zones have been removed with a single tariff of £2.55 applying for items over 20g but equal to or under 100g. For items 20g or under the same £1.70 tariff as European 100g rate applies.
This simplifies the values required for international letters to £1.70 and £2.55, which is likely to be reflected in future commemorative issues.

With a standard 1st Class set of four values, Royal Mail has taken the opportunity to add the two ‘missing’ International Large Letter rates for Europe and International Large Letters of £3.25 and £4.20 , resulting in a eye watering cost of £13.84 for the 1st class collectors strip.

Each of these new rates will now be reflected in the SSK and RM Museum 1st class collectors strip with corresponding Machins issued or reissued.

All Post and Go stamps will be available individually from the day of issue with all dashes removed, which will please collectors and dealers alike.

Some of the newer, smaller Post Office outlets recently trialed with single SSKs could, of course, be open on Jan 1st, so a first day strip is not beyond a possibility, as well as a first day listing on Ebay.

New NVI and OV stamps plus a Horizon label 

Monday 30th March 2015 – ‘Tariff Day’ ,  the day that Royal Mail change their prices.  Some up and some down -including some significant drops in the Medium Parcel rates and penny or increases so most other rates.

One of the main changes to interest to collectors is related to the introduction of a new international ‘Large Letter’ size and related increases to the international weight bands for Letters.

But what does this mean to collectors of Postagelabels and Post and Go Stamps  ?

With the demise of the Wincor-Nixdorf Post and Go we are left with the NCR units in the Post Office network plus the IAR units in Royal Mail operational and fixed ‘Philatelic’ locations.

NCR and IAR NVI Stamps

These have been updated to include the two new “100g Letter’ stamps for the new weight bands (replacing the previous 60g step). The collectors set has been updated accordingly.

NCR OV Stamps 

To reflect the introduction of the new International Large Letter size, new Large Letter text has been added to create new OV stamps as applicable.

These appear with a ‘LgLetter’ description and are available in the A, IS, IT and ITS versions.

Our catalogue has been updated accordingly. Please ask for a copy.

Horizon Labels 

One Horizon label has been updated. For details of this change watch this space.

As reported yesterday, Wincor Post and Go units are now all history for Post Office Ltd. However on a happier note the last operational kiosk – that from the WH Smith branch at Swiss Cottage, was today removed to the BPMA store for preservation for decades to come.

A fitting place for an important part of our Postal Heritage.

It is with a certain amount of sadness I report that Wincor Post & Go machines are no more in UK Post Offices.

The final curtain fell at a few minutes after 4pm this afternoon where the final operational unit at the Post Office situated in the Swiss Cottage WHSmiths (London NW3) was finally taken out of service .

Yes there is a updated , more modern NCR  kid on the block , but there will always be a certain fondness for the first nationwide “toe in the water” for self service mail in the uk – the Wincor Nixdorf propostal .

What many collectors don’t realise is that this is also the end of “post and go” for the Post Office as the new NCR units are not Post and Go machines – the thinking being that they offer much more than “just post” . They are named “self service kiosk” ( or SSK)  units and so the signage around offices that have never had a a WIncor unit will not mention “post and Go”

The “Post and Go” terminology will live on however , but now will only apply to the stamps produced by Royal Mail .

Self service will never be quite the same again .

A full range of pre-orders from spring stampex 2015 are now available here:-

• http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/postagelabelsuk

RM Latest Operational Machines are not just for Stamp collectors

In an important move in the introduction of self-service automation for customer-facing services, and following on from the temporary placement of exhibition series machines in Crewe and Bradford, yesterday, 9th February saw the A series machines replaced by two new customised RM Post and Go machines, ‘M (or Mailcentre) series’ into Royal Mail’s live operation – and these are not just for Stamp Collectors!

‘M’ Series machines include additional functionality which allows ‘real’ customers to not only purchase the usual range of stamps but also now pay monies due to Royal Mail, such as ‘Postage Due’, VAT and Customs Duty.

Currently fees or charges are raised on a mail item fit into one of two categories, either :-

Postage Underpaid (These days just inland items are surcharged) where the amount of postage underpaid (or due) is payable plus a surcharge of £1 (So technically the minimum payment is £1.01 , but more typically amounts of £1.20 (£1+73p-53p) or £1.52 (£1+52p) are due.

or

Customs Duty (or more usually VAT) is due on incoming item originating from outside of the EU that has been assessed by HMRC as containing goods over the applicable VAT or Duty threshold. In this case a surcharge of £8 is payable and amounts are typically around £15- £20.

Once a customer has received the notification that a payment is due via a P4605 card, they have had, up to now, three ways to pay the amount due:-

1) Pay online at royalmail.com/feetopay and await delivery
2) Stick stamps to the card and post and await delivery
3) Visit the delivery Office and pay in cash (Staff will will stick the stamps to the card to show the amount has been paid for accounting reasons)

But now at Crewe and Bradford there is now a forth option available – namely to pay by Credit/Debit card, obtain a Post & Go receipt and then collect your item immediately on production of the payment receipt.

In order to use to use the new Post and Go facility, navigate to the required screen (Customs or Postage Due) input the amount due (As shown on the card) pay via Credit or Debit card and obtain a receipt confirming payment. Your item can then be collected from the hatch.

M series Stamps

The stamps dispensed by M series machines have the office of origin shown ; this is usual for fixed location RM kiosks.

In other respects the Kiosks offer the usual range of Post and Go stamps.

Examples of the 1st and 2nd Class stamps dispensed are shown below:-

Countdown to Autumn Stampex 2014

At Autumn Stampex 2014, Royal Mail will issue a special “Poppy” Post and Go stamp with a commemorative overprint “First World War Centenary” . The single image ‘Poppies on a reel’ will be also be available from NCR and Wincor units (A ‘first day’ of 21st October has been quoted in the Philatelic Bulletin, but this is unlikely to be enforced as branches will update their machines once stocks are available).

A mock up of the stamps is shown, and this is subject to change.

The stamps are available via pre-order here

Building on the success of the existing static location at BPMA, Royal Mail are installing the A002 kiosk as a static kiosk at the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth.  The Royal Naval Museum, in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard, is one of Britain’s oldest maritime museums. The Museum’s aim is to preserve and present the history of the ‘Fleet’ – the ships and the men and women who manned them.

Initially Union Flag and Machin stamps will be installed but thoughts must be as to why this location has been chosen and the potential for a ‘Ship’ or other Naval related  theme for the Post and Go 2015 issues. The first day will be 28th July 2014.

Acknowledgement:  http://iarroyalmailpostandgo.com/latestnews/

On 28th February 2014 , the UK Post Office launched Self Service ‘Postal Kiosks’ manufactured by NCR corporation into the Crown Post Office branch in Harpenden, Herts.

Kiosks number ’67’ and ’68’ became operational on Friday 28th February 2014 in the Crown Office Branch in Harpenden, Herts.

These kiosks , similar to those seen worldwide (such as those in Australia) take the self service of the acceptance of Post Items to the next level.

NCR kiosks short and wider than the existing Wincor units that are currently found in over 200 Post Offices, feature faster processing of almost all Royal Mail and Parcelforce products that are usually only available at the counter.

Customers can choose from 8 different stamps for later use or process their mail quickly and easily using the intuitive touch screen- which produces  a never-seen-before Open Value (or ‘OV’) Stamp.

Almost all mail can be processed though the kiosks- both letters and parcels -including inland first and second class mail, International mail and priority mail that includes tracking and delivery guarantee worldwide.

For stamp collectors these new range of stamps-  have become available for the first time, featuring the ‘Iconic Machin Queens Head’ image combined with  electronic information printed at the point of mails acceptance -they are sure to prove very popular with collectors and customers alike. Welcome to the 21st Century Post Office!

2nd Class Letter OV Stamp

For more information see https://postagelabelsuk.com/ncr-self-service-kiosks-welcome-to-the-21st-century-post-office/ (Log-In Required)