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 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| 26p first class rate no longer valid to Europe (including the Republic of Ireland), the rate now being 30p.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.
