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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
World
Christopher Harper & Louisa Gregson

Thousands of Royal Mail stamps set to be unusable in months as Queen's head is replaced

Stamps with the Queens Head will soon disappear from letters as a new barcode system is set to be brought in to replace them.

From January 31, 2023, you won't be able to use the current style of stamps that feature an image of The Queen 's head. 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 reports Birmingham Live.

The postal company will be rolling out a new barcode system to replace the traditional stamp system and thousands of Royal Mail stamps are set to be unusable within months as the new system is set to be brought in. So it means many people who are using stamps have only a few months left to use them.

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The barcode system is said to be safer and will allow sending letters easier. Only the new style stamps complete with their new barcodes will be valid, and you'll face a surcharge if you try to use anything otherwise.

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.mpt to make letter sending more secure, but it doesn't make post any easier or cheaper for customers to track.

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