Hardly a day passes without somebody writing on social media, stamp forums, in the philatelic press, or as a comment to me, that "nobody uses modern stamps".
What the commenter really means is, "ordinary people don't use modern stamps", because some dealers, some collectors, and many many Postcrossers do. And whilst even correspondence between dealers and collectors in either direction could be classed as 'commercial' (ie 'in the course of business/commerce') rather than purely philatelic, the numbers are declining year on year.
One reason is that Post Office Ltd do not allow sales of special stamps at a considerable number of branches, most often those operating out of small shops, with limited secure storage. Another is the large number of Outreach/Mobile branches, where the postmaster often doesn't take special stamps 'because nobody asks for them'. The old Catch-22 situation: if nobody knows they exist, they won't ask for them. And of course PO Ltd pay a larger (though still small) commission for the use of labels rather than stamps.
So I thought I would use this post to show some of the special stamps that have been used in the last few years, just to show that some do get used.
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1st class Red Arrows stamp used within a month of issue 12 July 2024 (from customer).
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| Another 1st class Red Arrows stamp used within a month of issue 17 July 2024 (from another customer). |
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1st class Peppa Pig stamp used within weeks of issue 26 May 2024 (a different customer)
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1st class Vikings stamp used a week after issue - 26 February 2024
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1st class Weather stamp used a few weeks after issue 9 March 2024 (customer)
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1st class Weather stamp used two weeks after issue17 February 2024
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Blackadder 2nd class stamp issued 17 May 2023 and used within the following week.
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Blackadder 2nd class stamp used December 2023 (issued May 2023)
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1st class Robin Hood stamp used 14 April 2023, the day after issue (collector/contributor)
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UDPATE 20 August
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Yeoman Warders Tower of London 1st class stamp issued 13 August used 19 August 2024 (Customer)
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A selection of others recently acquired and not in any particular order. Some of these have been supplied, others are mine (click on them to see a larger image):
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Only Fools & Horses 1st class issued 16 Feb, used 8 November 2021.
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Rupert Bear 2nd class issued September 2020, used July 2021.
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2nd class Battle of Tewkesbury (Wars of the Roses) issued May, used December 2021
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Rupert Bear 2nd class issued September 2020, used October - greetings card, social.
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2nd class Roman Britain issued June 2020, used July 2021 (ebay postcard seller)
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Gruffalo 1st class issued October 2019, used January 2020.
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UPDATE 31 July 2024: Another 1st class Peppa Pig (issued in May)
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| The other 1st class Peppa Pig stamp issued in May, used 30/7/2024 |
So what can we conclude? Use of modern stamps is scarce - missing from the 2023 issues are Iron Maiden, X-men, Flying Scotsman, Flowers, Coronation MS, Warhammer, Windrush, River Wildlife, Discworld, Paddington Bear, Shirley Bassey, and Harry Potter!
If you receive any, especially from businesses or friends and family, then I would be interested to record them, obscuring addresses. Given their general scarcity, it would also be useful to record when dealers and other collectors are using new stamps, given the relatively cheap postage deals available.
Scans, rather than photos, please and no more than 200 dpi - smartphone photos are megabytes tooo big!
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I don't recall receiving mail from family using a special stamp (old or new)- they usually use definitives. I did recently receive a letter from a dealer with a Labrador Retriever 2nd on it (unfortunately pen-cancelled) but that is ususual - in my experience dealers seem to be either still using up old special stamps, or use recent definitives (probably from the swap-out scheme).
ReplyDeleteYours is a common experience, John. My incomings are mostly from collectors who still pay by cheque, another uncommon experience but it does mean stamps are used!
DeleteBut I have so many Machins from the SwapOut that I use a mix. On parcels/packets I use one old aerogramme, some old special stamps with a value - because they need using up too - and some Machins with a value. I'll keep the NVIs of special stamps and Machins for now as there worth increases. Still plenty of special stamps to use or sell for postage.