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The Royal Mail is rolling out a new barcode system to replace traditional stamps – meaning thousands of stamps are set to be unusable within months. Using the new barcode system is meant to be safer and will allow sending letters to become easier. However, it means that many people who have traditional stamps only have months to use them before they become invalid.
From January 31, 2023, you won’t be able to use the current style of stamps that feature an image of The Queen. Instead, only the new style stamps complete with their new barcodes will be valid, and you’ll face a surcharge trying to use anything otherwise. It’s in an attempt to make letter sending more secure, but it doesn’t make post any easier or cheaper for customers to track.
The barcodes will soon become commonplace on all standard and Christmas stamps with each one having a “digital twin” that contains a unique code alongside it. The Royal Mail website says: “The barcodes will enable exciting new services by connecting physical stamps to the digital world through the Royal Mail app.
“We’re giving you plenty of notice about this change and any non-barcoded stamps you have will still be valid until 31 January 2023. If you won’t be able to use all of your stamps by that date you can swap them out for new barcoded ones.”
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