Along with the publicity for the Peppa Pig stamp issue Royal Mail published the Postmark Bulletin for May 2024. This is page 4, the special handstamps available from the London Special Handstamp Centre. Extract from Postmark Bulletin 26 April 2024, for May stamp issues. There are four others produced by Royal Mail for their first day covers and medal cover including the non-pictorial one.   Twenty years ago, in October 2004, Royal Mail issued a set of six stamps marking the 150th Anniversary of the Crimean War.   150th anniversary of Crimean War set of 6 This ..read more

I will start by quoting from Royal Mail about this issue. This special issue celebrates 20 years of Peppa Pig.  Peppa Pig, the British animated TV series for preschool children, has been delighting and charming viewers of all ages for two decades. Created by animators Neville Astley and Mark Baker, Peppa Pig is a multi-award- winning series, watched in more than 180 countries around the world. Today, the character has grown into a truly global phenomenon, with theme parks, live shows, toys, books and even music albums to her name.   The adorable Peppa and her family and friends ..read more

Following widespread media and political criticism about the handling of counterfeit stamps, I have been told this by a reader, but I have been unable to confirm that things will be changing. Royal Mail is changing how it handles counterfeit stamps it identifies. From tomorrow (29th April) if the item does NOT have a return address it will be delivered with a yellow sticker informing them the stamp is fake and advise them to let the sender know, but it will not be surcharged.  If there is a return address, it will be sent back and surcharged as now. Look out for new yellow labels! Please ..read more

Especially since Royal Mail have suffered from an influx of forgeries and pre-used stamps, they have made efforts to recover the lost revenue by raising surcharges.  This has brought even more publicity since the charge for unpaid inland letters, and those bearing counterfeit stamps, has risen to £5. But what happens with mail addressed to overseas destinations?   Traditionally, within Universal Postal Union regulations/agreements letters were flagged as underpaid and a charge raised (or not) by the postal authority in the destination country. 1958 cover from England to Be ..read more

 ------ back on Monday 22nd April ..read more

I wrote last month about 'Son of Horizon' in connection with a postage label trial at Aldwych PO, London, which has now finished. My thanks to Nick Wallis who, alongside reporting on  the Post Office Inquiry suggested "if you want to build a replacement for Horizon and fancy taking £75,000,000 of taxpayers' cash to do so, now's your chance." This is a link to the Government website which details new contracts available and invites tenders. The key part on this is Post Office is in the process of replacing its existing EPOS system, known as Horizon. Post Office is building the new system ..read more

I suspect many readers are old enough to remember Reader's Digest (RD) Prize Competitions. The company and competitions continue, which may explain why it is difficult to find on the world wide web anything other than the stamp coils which were included in their mailings from 1981. The mailings were always offering either one-offs or series of their products – books, records, etc – with the strapline of 'Your chance to win....' various amounts. RD was criticised in the US for misleading advertising and in the UK the Advertising Standards Authority determined that recipients could be led to bel ..read more

I expect the current default slogan is for Royal Mail's staff-chosen charity, the British Heart Foundation, but the absence of any stamped letters at Norvic HQ, and none from correspondents suggests that nothing exceptional has been seen anywhere! In the event that there are any, this will be where we will show the slogans in use in April 2024, along with any other interesting postal material. One slogan I will expect is for St George's Day on 23 April.  This is likely to be another 'one-day wonder', used on Monday 22nd only.           OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL ..read more

There was considerable media coverage yesterday about the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal in the week that the Public Inquiry resumes hearing evidence. In case you missed the publicity, and hence missed seeing the whole of today's sessions with Alan Bates, you can catch up on the Inquiry's YouTube channel here. You can watch each session live, but if you watch the following day in catch-up mode you can advance the speed of playback through the YouTube settings cog. The list of witnesses - all of whom will have provided written statements answering questions put to them by the Inquiry's legal t ..read more

So-called 'Stamp on Stamp' designs are always popular and Royal Mail have even managed to include a 'Stamp on Stamp on Stamp' in this set of 10 x 1st class stamps.  However, by including three representative stamps from a decade, they have rather crammed the designs - some of which were arguably already too small to be on a stamp originally. Royal Mail's write-up In 1924 stamps were proposed to commemorate this British Empire Exhibition, to be held at Wembley Park in London. King George V was a keen stamp collector but he was somewhat unsure about the idea of a commemorative stamp issue ..read more