Royal Mail will not accept common stamps from January

Royal Mail is overhauling its stamp system with new stamps featuring special barcodes coming into circulation.

These will replace stamps that have ‘1st’ or ‘2nd’ class written on them and from January 2023 these will be unusable.

The barcodes on the “reinvented” stamps are deemed to offer more security and will allow you to watch videos, messages, and access information on the Royal Mail App.

Royal Mail will let you exchange your older stamps for the newer type for free. The ‘Swap Out’ scheme opens via the Royal Mail website on March 31, 2022 and will run until March 31, 2023.

The scheme will require you to post your stamps that will no longer be valid to them.

Current stamps that will be affected include those with the Queen’s head that say ‘1st’ or ‘2nd’ class, or any other price, and those that are Christmas-themed.

After the January cut-off date they will not be valid and you will have to pay an as-yet-undefined surcharge.

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, has warned his readers to use their stamps up this year.

He wrote: “For years, every time stamps go up in price I’ve suggested people stock up and bulk-buy in advance; as provided the stamp doesn’t have a price on it and instead just says the postage class, it’s still valid after the hike. This has been an effective tactic, as a first class letter stamp is now 85p – a decade ago it was just 60p.

“So this change will come as a shock to the many stamp hoarders out there. It’s the first time I can remember you’ve not been able to just lick it and stick it. And we don’t yet know if you’ll still be able to swap the stamps after March 2023, so this is a call to arms (or tongues) to ensure you either use ‘em or swap ‘em.”

“Special” commemorative stamps are the only exception and can continue to be used after 31 January 2023.