Stumped by stamps

What is happening at Royal Mail? Just months after barcoded stamps were rolled out nationwide to improve “efficiency and security” fears are mounting that customers have been unfairly fined for receiving letters. Members of the public are complaining of £5 penalties, four times the cost of first-class postage, because Royal Mail has deemed the existing stamps, including those purchased at Post Office branches, to be counterfeit.

The scale of this problem is as yet unknown, although one Royal Mail representative has sought to assuage concerns by claiming less than 0.1 per cent of stamps going through its network are spotted as counterfeit. This may not provide much reassurance, however, given some eight billion letters are delivered each year by the organisation.

Whatever the origin, and some MPS believe China could be behind the scourge, it appears the wrong people are once again being held responsible. Postmasters have said that the allegedly fake stamps were bought from Royal Mail directly, prompting fears they may have been erroneously identified as counterfeit. It would be a travesty for postmasters, some of whom are still seeking justice following the Horizon IT scandal, to now face false allegations about something else.

Royal Mail cannot insist that its new systems are flawless when problems have so quickly emerged. The organisation has questions to answer, over the efficacy and security of its supply chains. It is one thing for the British public to feel like a cash cow, milked for often minor and innocent infractions. It is even worse if they are punished for errors they have not made.