Royal Mail ‘uses Google to check stamps’, claim whistleblowers

One whistleblower said they dealt with surcharges “on a case by case basis” and said colleagues would often not charge customers and let them have the post without paying the “silly” £5 fine.

They added they had sympathy for revenue protection staff who they claim are “misidentifying” stamps because Royal Mail has cut resources “to the bone”, and are prioritising parcels and special delivery post.

“Tracked items take priority because that’s the thing customers can see, they are the things they can go online and see if it’s sat at a delivery office or stuck somewhere. They know stamps are on the way out, they know letters are on the way out, they don’t care.”

The insider said letters spent “days and days” in delivery offices over Christmas because it was not a “priority”. “They had a paper trail, everything with stamps stayed there until they had to go and clear it.”

They added last Christmas they dealt with more than 60 letters a day which were accused of being counterfeit – almost 500 per week.

Another insider revealed stamps gifted to employees by Royal Mail at Christmas had been flagged as counterfeit.

They said their colleague had received a set of four barcoded Christmas stamps – one of which was deemed counterfeit and led to a family member having to pay a £5 surcharge.

The whistleblower said: “It is very strange. Unless Royal Mail are sending us counterfeit stamps, which of course they wouldn’t, there is definitely an issue.”

Last week, a senior executive at Royal Mail told The Telegraph scanning machines were not used for all post at Christmas because of the “incredible volume” of letters being sent.

They said some decisions about whether a stamp was counterfeit were therefore only taken by a member of revenue protection staff and because the counterfeits are so realistic, they had made mistakes.

They said: “As we’ve been very clear about, you can’t tell [it’s a counterfeit stamp] in most cases just by looking at it so if it’s been sorted manually, it hasn’t been spotted and frankly that’s on us, us losing revenue that’s a fact.”

The whistleblower added staff were “embarrassed” to surcharge customers they believe incorrectly, adding: “The whole thing is horrible, it’s not pleasant.”