"Reaction [beta]"
Electronic mail 20 Sep 2006
If you've ever spent your entire lunch hour queuing at the post office, you'll probably appreciate The Royal Mail's latest venture. They've just launched an online service allowing customers to buy and print stamps online. You simply pay your money and then print a "unique barcode" onto a label or envelope. Prices are the same as for normal stamps.
However, not everyone is happy at the introduction of e-stamps...
Stamp collectors are disappointed that the black and white barcode will not feature the traditional image of the Queen. Ashley Lawrence, a member of the Royal Philatelic Society, told The Gulf Times that "It is a pity that Royal Mail - of all people - should allow the Queen's head to disappear from our postage stamps...Great Britain was the first country to issue stamps, in 1840, and the monarch's head has graced our stamps since then. We are the only country which has not needed to display its name on postage stamps; the Queen's head gave our stamps their unique distinction."
It seems that in making our stamps more technology-friendly (the barcodes are more amenable to automated sorting systems), we have lost some of the qualities that made them attractive to consumers. The Royal Mail hopes that the convenience of "e-stamps" will offset their bland barcode aesthetic and the loss of heritage.
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