Royal Mail have just issued the detail of the Tariff changes for 2nd April 2013.

The headlines are that 1st and 2nd Class basic rates do not change- either Letter or Large Letter varities.

Some international rates (e.g. 40g ww) reduce.

This should result in three new machins and some updated ones

From a Post and Go point of view the cost of a collectors strip (That we all love) is unchanged.

Current Price       Price from 2nd April

1st class                            60p                                60p

1st Class Large               90p                                90p

Europe 20g                     87p                                 88p

Worldwide 10g              87p                                 88p

Worldwide 20g             £1.28                             £1.28

Worldwide 40g             £1.90                             £1.88

————                     ————

Total for strip                £6.42                            £6.42

So- carry on collecting Post and Go!

At Spring Stampex 2013 , the continuing development of the Post and Go machines became very evident. Not only were the Post and Go machines for the first time located away from Royal Mail’s main stand, the offering of Instant Smilers via the Post and Go machines signals the ‘independence’ of the Post and Go machines –  ready for the “Post and Go Tour 2013.”

The first in the ‘Tour Series’ of  ‘Red White and Blue’ smiler sheet  includes a ‘venue specific’ image in ‘position 1’  (expected to change at each venue) and a choice of either an image taken on an ipad in the venue (for example in  of the gold postbox ) or a choice of pre-prepared generic images – the image shown depicts the ‘Post and Go’ generic choice.

It has been reported to me that there two versions of the ‘Diamond Jubilee’ Overprint exist. The first a ‘Standard Version’ where the two lines of the overprint are both left aligned – Shown in the top image and a second,  much rarer ‘inset’ version, shown in the bottom image where the 2nd ‘Date’ line ‘1952-2002’  is inset to the right by one character space.

This Inset version has so far been reported from both “Back Office” machines – B1 and B2. It is believed this variation was introduced where the overprint is added and removed between prints of Cattle and Flags.  Reports of ‘Inset’ session numbers welcome. All those so far reported from B1 have had receipt dated on the afternoon of the 28th September 2012- so check yours!

http://www.stampshows.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=5

With thanks to John McCallum via http://pmechuk.blogspot.co.uk/and a correspondent from Australia, the first DIY Post and Go stamps have been reported.

These are likely to have originated from someone who has illegally obtained ‘Blank’ (unprinted) Post and Go stamps and attempted to overprint them to look ‘real’. (although the Post Office in Devon appears to have accepted these as valid).

These are likely to be viewed very seriously by Royal Mail and I would expect an thorough investigation to be carried out with possible legal action for such a serious attempt at fraud.

Anyone with any further sightings of these items please email me at postagelabelsuk@gmx.com .

The BPMA have announced the successful go-live of the installation  of Machine A1 (Previoulsy seen at Spring Stampex this year ) in the foyer of Freeling House , Phoenix Place, London, WC1.

http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/we-have-a-post-go-machine/

The machine was initially  loaded with ‘Xmas Robins’ and Machins. It is expected that the robins will be replaced by the Union Flag in January and then 2nd Class in February.

The overprint in use in both cases is ‘The B.P.M.A.’.

As we enter Advent the Hytech machines at Camden Pop-Up shop have a updated ‘Date identifier’ – with the Text String ‘rolling over’ to ‘ADGB12’ on the 1st of December.

See post below for detail of the Hytech ‘Next generation’ Text String. Originally the Text String was ANGB12 and now is ADGB12. This means the MA12 Hytech Christmas Robins with a ANGB12 identifier are now obsolete.

The first ADGB12 Session number for A3 was 226 and A4 was 225.

In a new venture for Post Office and Royal Mail, a totally new type of Post Office (Similar to ‘Pop- Up Shops’ previously seen in shopping malls up and down the country at the lead up to Christmas)  opened last week in the very busy Camden Market,  London NW1. This new branch is called ‘Camden Christmas Post Shop’.

This new outlet is offering selected items from the Royal Mail ‘Collectibles’ range ,  personalised  Christmas 2012  Instant ‘Smilers’ and, more importantly from a Post and Go collectors point of view, it has given rise to the first outing of the brand new Royal Mail ‘Hytech’ Next-Generation  machines No. ‘A3’ and ‘A4’.

This new branch offers full Post Office ‘Postal’ facilities where purchasers can post their gift  items  purchased from the shop or elsewhere worldwide.

The Post Office is open seven days a week from 10am to 8 pm every day apart from Sundays when it opens at 11am. Machines A3 and A4 are visually identical to those previously seen at Stampex – and appear to function the same, although, as they are in a full functioning Post Office branch rather than in an Exhibition setting , they do not have any overprints.

It is worth noting that this is the first time Hytech units have been  primarily positioned for Post Office customers-  posting mail specifically  Christmas cards and gifts– and not for stamp collectors purposes.

Each of the twin-reel Hytech machines are loaded with Christmas (MA12) Robin stamps as well as Machin Stamps – which for the specialist gives rise to two totally new and exclusive products to this Branch – Hytech Machin ‘Worldwide 40g’ which have not been previously issued, as when un-overprinted Hytech Machins previously appeared at Stampex , the WW40g had yet to be issued.

Additionally, this is the only outlet where ‘Hytech Christmas Robins’ (MA12) , printed in strips of six,will be available, (As these are not expected to appear at  Spring Stampex 2013).

For Postmark Collectors the Datestamps in use at the Post Office are ‘Equipment Team Temporary’ No. ’32’ and  No. ’42’.

Items are available from our Ebay shop here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170953368569

Today the Christmas 2012 Re-issue of the Post and Go Robins have started to appear in Post Office Branches.

They have, for the first time for Post and Go stamps, a in-built ‘Security code’ to identify them from the 2010 variant and the future 2013 printing.