Best not hoard too many postage stamps in future, as after the end of this year you wonb’t be able to use them anymore. They are all changing to Bar Code stamps.
No doubt this will also be another good excuse to raise the price again.
According to Martin lewis:
I don’t use postage stamps or hoard any, so it won’t have any affect on me.
Thanks for that information Mups - I had vaguely heard something about it but didn’t know the details. I always keep a book of stamps handy to use on birthday cards and so on and will now make sure I have used them all by next January.
I’m the same, Margaret. I usually keep only 3 or 4 of 1st and 2nd though, but I know some people have books full.
I think the biggest problem will arise when folks buy in bulk for next Christmas, then any left over, they won’t be able to use up afterwards.
I still have Christmas stamps from last year, guess I’d better put them on letters then.
Why they have to change things not broken I have no idea & what about all those stamp collectors ( Philatelists) out there, they will be gutted.
Further on in the article -
You will, however, be able to exchange current stamps for barcoded ones for free under Royal Mail’s new ‘Swap Out’ scheme, which opens on 31 March 2022 and will run until 31 March 2023.
To do this, you just need to fill in a ‘Swap Out’ form from its website (the page isn’t live yet), or call it, or get one from a local delivery firm (not post office though). You’ll then have to post back the stamps you want to swap. We’re waiting to find out if there are any limits on the numbers you can swap, whether you need to pay for postage, and if you’re covered for non-delivery.
What a load of faffing about, Tango.
Going on a website, getting forms off a driver, then sending them back. Do you need a stamp on the envelope? 
Then what? Will they replace them through the post I wonder?
And what delivery drivers do they mean if not the postman?
It would be so much simpler just to be able to exchange them at the post office when you go in to buy more?
Indeed Mups, too simple - perhaps they are hoping some people only having a couple of stamps just won’t go to the bother. Memo to self - I really must try not to be so cynical.
They’re making things so bloody difficult for peeps. Why can’t we just walk into a post office and change them out over the counter? What’s so difficult about that?
There will be many legal challenges to this problem. When you pay for a stamp you enter into a delivery contract with Royal Mail. If they refuse to deliver or impose a surcharge, they have effectively broken the contract they have with the stamp purchaser.
Just as a matter of interest and completely off topic…
With the Post Office privatised does writing OHMS in place of the stamp still get a letter delivered to a government department or agency?
