We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
royalmail.com
We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
1–10 of 105 posts
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#2At the top:
> The barcodes will enable exciting new services by connecting physical stamps to the digital world through the Royal Mail app
> Why are you adding barcodes to stamps?
>
> The move is part of the Company’s extensive and ongoing modernisation drive and will allow the unique barcodes to facilitate operational efficiencies, enable the introduction of added security features and pave the way for innovative services for customers.
"The barcodes will prevent fraud" would be fine.
(People sell counterfeit or used stamps on eBay. The first result is [2], on sale for £9.99 with a face value of £80. Royal Mail's own site even says "Counterfeit stamps are often sold in quantities of 55..." [3]. Obviously eBay have a "policy" against this, and obviously they don't enforce it [4].)
[2] https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284986420186
[3] https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/...
[4] https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-i...
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#3I see a barcode without bars but ok
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#4At the top: > The barcodes will enable exciting new services by connecting physical stamps to the digital world through the Royal Mail app Then in the FAQ > Why are you adding barcodes to stamps? > > The move is part of the Company’s extensive and ongoing modernisation drive and will allow the unique barcodes to facilitate operational efficiencies, enable the introduction of added security features and pave the way f…
"Any person importing, distributing, selling or otherwise assisting in the sale of counterfeit stamps is committing offences of fraud and/or counterfeiting" [1]
I am surprised there are so many listed on eBay.
Just the two "sponsored" listings on eBay for the search "first class stamps" have already sold over £1000 of counterfeit stamps, and about £20 in fees for eBay.
[1] https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/...
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#5I see a barcode without bars but ok
They are small, square bars of equal width and height, arranged in a pleasingly grid-like grid. Thank you.
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#6I see a barcode without bars but ok
More of a squarescode.
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#7I see a barcode without bars but ok
Does anybody know which standard they're using? It's not either of the common 2D codes, namely QR Code or PDF417, and while it looks a bit like Data Matrix, AFAIK those are always square.
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#8I see a barcode without bars but ok
Does anybody know which standard they're using? It's not either of the common 2D codes, namely QR Code or PDF417, and while it looks a bit like Data Matrix, AFAIK those are always square.
It appears to be 2D Mailmark Type 29
https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/Royal-Mail-Mai...
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#9Translation: Keeping with our effort to turn this country into more of a Panopticon, and aligned with our belief that no two parties should be able to communicate privately, we hate that you can send mail mostly anonymously, and this gives us a bit more power to surveil you by making stamps unique.
Re: We’re adding barcodes to our regular stamps
#10At the top: > The barcodes will enable exciting new services by connecting physical stamps to the digital world through the Royal Mail app Then in the FAQ > Why are you adding barcodes to stamps? > > The move is part of the Company’s extensive and ongoing modernisation drive and will allow the unique barcodes to facilitate operational efficiencies, enable the introduction of added security features and pave the way f…
Is it to stop counterfeiting? It could literally just be so that stamps can be scanned automatically to check whether they are the right denomination, which squares up with "facilitate operational efficiencies". Is "added security features" really less clear than "prevent fraud"?
The barcode would only be useful to prevent counterfeiting if each stamp had a unique barcode that could be invalidated once used, but the linked page doesn't say whether or not that is the case.