A little while ago, to ease my grumpiness over the new barcoded Royal Mail definitive stamps I thought it might be nice to make little stickers with pretty drawings on that I could stick over any that landed on my doormat. I thought anyone who felt the same could make some of their own if they wished.
It was just a little social media post but it led to a printing friend making some actual printed licky ones for me to use. They really are a thing of beauty!
Somehow, Simon Usborne, a journalist from The Guardian saw them on Twitter, as well as my feelings about adding digital content to iconic stamps, and asked if I would be happy to talk to him about why I wasn’t so keen on them.
You can read the article that appeared in The Guardian on 4th July HERE.
From the feedback and new membership numbers it’s lovely to know I’m not alone in my feelings about the codes, and perhaps more importantly letter writing is still very much a part of people’s lives and could boldly be described as thriving!
Anyway, have a read and see what you think.
Dinah
I was initially concerned about barcoding, but I think it’s being done in a fair and sensible way, and Royal Mail clearly think it’s necessary to protect their revenue. You can avoid using them completely by using special issue stamps, and the choice of those is absolutely vast. I’ve always found Machin Definitives incredibly boring anyway, they’ve been the only design used on most stamps since before I was born.
It’s partly about the aesthetics, which in fact a lot of people object to the size and fake perforation, but it’s also the sadness I feel about how people at Royal Mail don’t seem to understand the power and beauty of letter writing in itself and without digital content. It’s sold on sending a Shaun the Sheep video or your own personal messages but I think it’s more to do with tracking, and yes of course they need to protect their revenue but the technology that must be available, or even issuing hand-stampers to posties for non-franked stamps, must mean they didn’t have to ruin something as iconic as the Machin Definitives. I’m no tech person but would microdots have been an option? This wonderful video (made by Royal Mail!) might make you see the Machin differently… (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYcc7skgIXY) Dinah