Are stamps accepted after price hike?

Poncke

I am sending my xmas cards (cheesy I know), but I am using some older stamps.

I have 60c (domestic) and 82c (international), but that has gone up to 68c and 1 Euro.

Does that mean I have to purchase 8 cent and 18 cent stamps to make up the postage? Or are stamps still valid for the price they were purchased for?

I think there is an 8 cent stamp, but I havent seen the 18c stamp. How do you do that? Seems like to use old stamps, I have to use two per card or something.

These price hikes are always a pain as they make a bundle on people overpaying postage to use up older stamps.

Cheers.

Edit: Title is a bit off, sorry for that.

henryporter

Yip - you need to purchase stamps to make up the difference unfortunately.

Sunny Dayz

Post office can print stamps for what ever monetary amount you need

evolving_doors

I 'heard' the machine just checks for a certain reflectivity so doesnt know the value!

PAIN in the proverbial though OP as I'm in the same boat, I just stuck on a few of the 60c ones and hoped for the best.

Poncke

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Post office can print stamps for what ever monetary amount you need

So the post office at SuperValu in Blanchardstown will print me custom value stamps?

Poncke

Armelodie wrote: »

I 'heard' the machine just checks for a certain reflectivity so doesnt know the value!

PAIN in the proverbial though OP as I'm in the same boat, I just stuck on a few of the 60c ones and hoped for the best.

Yeah, I am about to stick 1 x 60c and 1 x 82c per envelope for abroad, overpaying 48c per envelope. Meh.

I think they used to offer stamps to make up the difference after a price hike, when I lived in Holland

Reesy

I've had some letters returned with insufficient postage because the stamps had gone up. And moreover the nice lady in An Post had told me that they'd be honoured...

punisher5112

Post office has stamps as said above to make up difference.

I done this the other day 60cent then applies 8cent one beside it

Poncke

Ok, will get into the post office tomorrow to get some additional stamps then.

Cheers.

hfallada

Reesy wrote: »

I've had some letters returned with insufficient postage because the stamps had gone up. And moreover the nice lady in An Post had told me that they'd be honoured...

I have seen them only return them, if you put a returns address on them. But will they will deliver them if you dont have a returns address on them.

Also An Post worker said on boards before, they do deliver the letters. But have a tendency to delay delivering them for a while to penalise you for not having the right stamp

pinkypinky

I've had a couple of xmas cards in this year with only 60c postage, so they obviously do honour them on some level. At work, I've been sticking extra stamps on everything for the last couple of months, as I'm only now getting to the end of my stockpile. I wish they would tell us in advance of a price increase so that I could plan better at work.

Poncke

I have just come back from the post office and they do print any custom value you need at any quantity. I just bought a bunch of 8c and 18c stamps. So that is a good service to be honest.

P. Breathnach

pinkypinky wrote: »

I've had a couple of xmas cards in this year with only 60c postage, so they obviously do honour them on some level...

I'd suspect that it is simply a matter of not having the means of checking everything. We have even occasionally received letters with no stamp of any denomination.

I have also heard it suggested that there is a policy of allowing a short period of grace after price increases where they are not too strict.

L1011

N rate stamps don't expire or become invalid when the rate changes, but they don't make buying the bloody things easy:

http://www.irishstamps.ie/shop/p-1267-self-adhesive-booklet-of-10-x-n-rate-stamps.aspx - note that they're still charging €6.00 for ten when it should be €6.80!

nava

hfallada wrote: »

I have seen them only return them, if you put a returns address on them. But will they will deliver them if you dont have a returns address on them.

Also An Post worker said on boards before, they do deliver the letters. But have a tendency to delay delivering them for a while to penalise you for not having the right stamp

I had a small packet deliver to me with a sticker to say insufficient postage was paid should be €3.40 (Packet) but only had stamps €1.65 (large envelope), there was no return address so there was another sticker that parcel was open as insufficient postage was paid to check if the sender address was inside.

rubberdiddies

With domestic stamps having gone up approx 24% this year we decided to scrap sending Christmas cards, buying stamps etc, instead giving the money that we would have spent to the charity that we normally buy the cards from.
As much as I love seeing Christmas cards in people's houses, I hope the giving the money to worth causes instead becomes a 'thing'

To answer the OPs question, yes you can pretty much get any value stamp in the post office to make up the difference. I did hear from one person, although I may have read it on boards, that the postmaster asked them for proof of their lower value stamps before issuing them with extra ones.

Shelflife

rubberdiddies wrote: »

With domestic stamps having gone up approx 24% this year we decided to scrap sending Christmas cards, buying stamps etc, instead giving the money that we would have spent to the charity that we normally buy the cards from.
As much as I love seeing Christmas cards in people's houses, I hope the giving the money to worth causes instead becomes a 'thing'

To answer the OPs question, yes you can pretty much get any value stamp in the post office to make up the difference. I did hear from one person, although I may have read it on boards, that the postmaster asked them for proof of their lower value stamps before issuing them with extra ones.

Where are you getting 24% ?

They were 60 went up 8c thats a 13% increase.

rubberdiddies

Shelflife wrote: »

Where are you getting 24% ?

They were 60 went up 8c thats a 13% increase.

apologies, i was referring to the increase from 55c to 60c and subsequently to 68c. i believe the increase from 55c to 60c took place in March or April 2013. So the 24% increase happened within 15 months