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:-

Royal Mail have announced ( at www.royalmail.com/postandgo )that their Post and Go machines, previously only used in exibition settings are to be used in real operational, customer-facing settings over the xmas period (Not just for collectors!) The idea is likely to be to  relieve the pressure on queues and provide additional capacity for the sale of stamps.

Machines A003 and A004 are to be put into frontline service (with some slight modifications) and loaded with the ‘Winter Greenery’ stamps.

The two locations involved are

Royal Mail Crewe,

Weston Road,

CW1 6AA

and

Royal Mail Bradford North DO

Inkersley Road

Bradford

BD1 4RS

Both sites are expected to be operational from 3rd December until Late January 2015 (when the machines are scheduled to be moved to their show locations).

The BPMA – 80th Anniversary of Inland Airmail -1st Class on 2nd Class Reel ERROR

New Error

As part of this and subsequent software modifications a further ‘incorrect’ setting arose – known as a ‘Carousel error’- where incorrect stamps are added to the ‘Carousel’ that customers select to purchase their stamps. In this case those stamps that are added to the 2nd Class carousel in error (the 1st Class Letter and 1st Class Large Letter Stamps) meant that they were incorrectly dispensed from the 2nd Class reel – but all other purchases were unaffected. This meant that many collectors had visited the BMPA machine, purchased their Collectors Strips (which would have been printed normally) not noticing this error for the many days it had existed. It is known that a dealer from Germany and one from the Netherlands who purchased single stamps had not noticed the error until later as all of their collectors strips had been printed in the correct way on the correct reels . As this is not a ‘reel’ swap then only 1st class and 1st Class Large values exist printed in this way and ‘collectors Pairs’ of differing values cannot exist (as they would have been printed normally). So far only single stamps have appeared on Ebay although multiples of the same value could exist as well . http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/postagelabelsuk/

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/