I'm sorry there has not been much added here recently but that it largely down to far fewer instances of mail being surcharged, and less confusion over validity. It also seems that the crackdown on the use of forged definitive and commemorative stamps is paying off, as there haven't been many of these either.
I've today added to this post Proactive methods to avoid surcharged or delayed mail
I am starting a new post on this since the postage rates were increased again in October. Please send images of any special stamps (except Christmas low values) used on letters or parcels.
A customer is still using up Peppa Pig stamps (issued 16 May) when writing to me: sad to see that using the £2 stamp produces a cover only overpaid by 35p at the new 1st class rate.
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| Peppa Pig £2 stamp (issued 16 May 2024) used 7 November to pay first class rate of £1.65 |
Porridge 2nd class used quite soon after issue.
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| 2nd class 'Porridge' stamp used soon after issue probably early October. |
Update 29 June 2025. I've received a few more special stamps on cover, some from customers using up stamps so occasionally well over the rate for 1st class. But not really valid for a collection of proper usage.
Porridge £2.50 x2 used inland for £1.70
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| Porridge £2.50 used inland for £1.70 1st class rate May 2025 |
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| The other Porridge £2.50 used inland for £1.70 1st class rate June 2025 |
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| Valour & Victory Violette Szabo 1st class used 21/06/2025 |
I'll repeat the conclusion of the previous post:
So what can we conclude? Use of modern stamps is scarce - missing from the 2024 issues are Spice Girls, Dinosaurs, Dungeons & Dragons, Porridge (but used in 2025), Spiders...
But I will harvest a few usages from the Stampboards forum where some others have been shown. I do have a report of a Spice Girls 1st class used with a 1st class Machin on a postcard to Australia, but there is no postmark.
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!
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) |
UDPATE 20 August
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| Yeoman Warders Tower of London 1st class stamp issued 13 August used 19 August 2024 (Customer) |
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. |
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!
..
The first definitive (NVI and £2.20) stamps bearing the likeness of King Charles III were issued on 4 April 2023 and are detailed in our 'new stamps' blog.
Although further valued stamps were issued in August these have not, at the time of writing, been seen in Post Office branches after the day of issue. Stamps supplied in the Royal Mail Swapout scheme (exchanging now invalid Machin and Country definitives) have only been Queen Elizabeth stamps.
This can clearly only continue while stocks of Queen Elizabeth stamps remain available in Post Office stores and at Royal Mail's warehouse. Before long we will see non-philatelic examples of mail with postage paid by King Charles stamps - or a mixture of those and Queen Elizabeth stamps.
Here is an example of a packet sent to Canada by the International Signed service, costing £11.20 with postage paid by 11 x £1 and a single 20p Queen Elizabeth stamp. |
| November 2023 International Signed 101-250g letter sent to Canada, with £11.20 in Datamatrix Machins all properly cancelled at Petersfield, Hampshire. |
Unfortunately for collectors of Postal History, current practice at Post Offices is to use Horizon labels for postage on this sort of post. So this was more than likely sent by a dealer or collector.
Mixed frankings
Mixed frankings have, in the past, been eagerly collected. There will always be philatelic examples produced by collectors and dealers, but as supplies of some QE values are exhausted other values may continue to be available.
Here's one I sent earlier(!), in May 2023 when old-style Machin stamps were still valid. I sent this to the USA with a mix of old Machins (to use them up) and a few datamatrix stamps. It's a bit messy because the Norwich Mail Centre decided to cancel the stamps which had already been cancelled at the Post Office Counter.
The rate for the up to 100g letter was £4.20 (£3.62 old plus 58p new). The King Charles low-value stamps had not been issued at this time.
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| Under 100g letter sent by International Standard mail to the USA; postage of £4.20 paid by £3.62 still-valid old Machin and 58p new datamatrix stamps. |
However, as with early First Flight covers (many sent by the leading dealer Francis J Field) this sort of thing may not exist if it was not for dealers and collectors.
MIXED FRANKINGS PART II - UPDATE 5 December
The next stage in Mixed Frankings comes after the invalidation of the old Machin and Country definitives on 31 July 2023. Now there is the opportunity for a mixture of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles definitives.
When the latter were first issued on 29 August collectors and dealers took the opportunity to create philatelic mixed frankings, but not all post office branches received any significant stocks, in line with the King's instruction that there should be no waste and that the stamps of the previous reign should be used up rather than being wasted.
At the time of writing there have been no reports of King Charles stamps being supplied in the Swap Out scheme.
It is only now, in December that King Charles definitives are being supplied to post office branches as a matter of course. PA sent this picture of two covers produced from this situation; his description is below the picture.
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| Pair of covers from different post office branches with a mix of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles definitive stamps, November 2023. [1] 5p, 20p QE, 50p KC. [2] 5p, 10p QE, 3 x 20p KC. |
"Whilst they might appear philatelic, in fact the Cruden Bay Outreach (lower cover) is as supplied by the P.O. (28 Nov) and in the case of the Chudleigh one I supplied the 5p and 20p whilst the P.O. added the 50p King (25 Nov)"
Cruden Bay is in Aberdeenshire, and Chudleigh is in Devon.
So that is the start: the King Charles stamps are starting to appear, so check out your local post office branches, especially those that do a lot of business, and please let me know what you find, or receive through the post.
UPDATE 8 January 2024 - sheet versions of the 2nd class Charles stamps were on sale in my Crown PO in Dereham last week, but not booklets. I wonder how long it will be before the supermarkets start asking for Charles stamps - they have been known in the past to influence what they are supplied with.
UPDATE 10 June 2024 - Royal Mail decided to stop selling Queen Elizabeth Machin datamatrix definitives from 1 June, but country definitives continue. However, Post Office branches and other outlets continue to sell the stamps that they have: King Charles stamps are becoming more common, and the first have now been received from their SwapOut scheme.
Royal Mail have been strongly criticised by the public and politicians for their policy of raising a £5 surcharge on mail with allegedly counterfeit stamps. The pressure built up when postmen said that the free stamps they were given at Christmas had been surcharged (they would have been Christmas stamps rather than definitives), as had mail with the stamps people received from the SwapOut according to other reports.
So this - although without any definitives - may be an indication that Revenue Protection are being more careful or checking more.
I'll use this post to add more covers, both inland and international, with any of the new stamps and especially either mix of old and new.
I recently found a cover from America with a label on the reverse which I showed in our regular blog. It was applied to incoming mail to remind the UK recipient of the correct postage rates if they sent a reply.
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| Royal Mail rates reminder label, USA or Canada 2001 |
In that blog I asked if anybody had any others, and I am grateful to a couple of readers who sent me copies of other examples, which I will show in chronological order. Remember these are always applied to the reverse of the cover.
From the website of the Great Britain Philatelic Society*
On 20th October 1986 a concessionary rate for members of the EEC (EU
from 1993) had been introduced for all-up mail – the lowest weight step
letter rate (up to 20g) became equal to the minimum inland first class rate. The distinction was retained for European airmail in 1991 but the rates became equal again in 1998.
This label was introduced as a reminder that the EU rate no longer applied and that the basic rate for all letters to Europe mail was 30p from 6 April 1998.
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| 26p first class rate no longer valid to Europe (including the Republic of Ireland), the rate now being 30p. |
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| One price of 30p for Europe up to 20g - this applies to the Republic of Ireland. |
Rates changed twice in 1999 but we don't have any labels for that period. The next change was from 27 April 2000 when another range of labels was put into use. I don't know when these were introduced nor why there are two different styles
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| Replying to anywhere in Europe, including the Republic of Ireland, now 36p for 20g. |
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| Replying to USA or Canada 10g 45p, 20g 65p (from 27.4.2000). |
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| Replying to Australia or New Zealand, now 65p for up to 20g (no mention of 45p for 10g). |
A vertical format was used for some labels for the rate from 2 July 2001 and the label has a number - OE1060, but the previous "Don't guess it"style continued.
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| If replying, Airmail rates to the Republic of Ireland are 20g - 37p (from 2.7.2001) |
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| If replying to the Republic of Ireland 20g 37p, 40g 52p (from 2.7.2001) |
The rates were changed again from 4 July 2002 and the vertical format continued, form number OE1061.
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| If replying, airmail rates to US & Canada are 10g 47p, 20g 68p etc (from 4.7.2002) |
My thanks to SC for the vertical Ireland label, and MM for the rest. I think I have some somewhere, and if you have any of these or similar reminder labels, please send images to the address at top right.
UPDATE 9 June 2025.
I'm sorry to say that I haven't had time look for any other labels, but I'm grateful to MM for sending this example tailored to the USA which covers postage rates from November 1993 to July 1996. This would have been applied to mail incoming from the US, so that the recipient knew the correct rate for the reply.
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| Reminder of the rates to the USA 1993-96. |
* Postage rates and many other resources are available free on the website of the Great Britain Philatelic Society. But there is much more available to members only, so why not join?
The last 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic have been difficult for all of us, and for postal operators there were, back in the spring, sudden and immediate difficulties when many countries imposed travel bans leading to an almost complete cessation of airline travel.
Although airfreight was still being carried, a lot of mail is normally carried on commercial passenger flights and this introduced many delays into mail delivery. Not only that, but postal operators around the world had to pay more for their cargo to be carried. This, coupled with changes to the Terminal Dues (TD) process forced on UPU members by the USA, meant that tariffs changed, and for Royal Mail, that meant more than one change.
Small Parcel prices were increased effective 1 July as a result of that TD change; this had no effect on letters and no new stamps were issued.
On 31 July Royal Mail announced new rates effective 1 September. The immediate and most obvious effect for letter writers was a rounding up of the basic letter rates - £1.42 to £1.45, £1.63 and £1.68 to £1.70*, and £2.42 to £2.50 or £2.55.
But no new stamps were issued. This was unfortunate with no 3p, 8p or 13p stamps available and up to three make-up stamps had to be added to the old rate stamps. (*This now covered worldwide letters to 20g and Europe letters to 100g so was a very well-used rate. Fortunately some commemorative stamps were soon issued.)
This was rectified in December when new stamps were issued in readiness for another change on 1st January 2021. The new stamps included two for large letter rates which came into force on that date, a re-issue of the £2.55 value (a new printing), and a new £1.70 stamp. These stamps were issued on 23 December, meaning that they could be used for the existing (1 September) rates before the new tariff was in force, although a little late for Christmas!
A customer in Israel sent a scan of this cover for the clean quality of the slogan, which was useful for the slogan postmarks post on our 'Latest News' blog.
As you can see this is the new £1.70 stamp issued on 23 December, but here it is used on a 20g letter to Israel from Sheffield on 15 December. So a pre-release by a post office in Sheffield's area - but a stamp which it would have been very useful to have had three months earlier!
It's very difficult to get non-philatelic use of special stamps these days, especially the airmail rates. Whilst serious postal history collectors like to have them used 'in period' it is very difficult to get agreement from them on just what this means, especially currently. Is it "before the next stamp of the same or equivalent value is issued"? Is it a fixed period, such as 2-3 months? Well with fewer letters being sent abroad in 2020 due to flight cancellations and non-acceptance by the destination country, the period could perhaps be stretched quite a long way.
Stamps marking the End of World War 2 were issued on 8 May 2020, so January 2021 might be considered over-stretching the definition, but this is definite non-philatelic use, again to Israel, in January 2021 - by which time there had been three tariff changes! This £1.63 rate stamp showing the Rangoon Memorial, Myanmar, passed through the postal system unscathed and unsurcharged from Romford Mail Centre.
Postal History is being made daily. Look closely at your incoming mail, and anything that friends and relatives offer you. You never know what you might find! Happy Hunting.
My thanks to PA for this additional information, which coincidentally identifies the postmark on the above cover as Reading:
The cancellation is actually 635. These rectangular ‘killers’ were applied to uncancelled stamps in the Reading Foreign Section in the 1970’s. i.e the letter could have been posted from anywhere in the South East. Reading FS was in a separate building from the MLO at that time.
