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UK Issues High-tech Stamps

Posted by michael on from the stick-to-the-topic dept.

bgood writes: "According to this story on Excite@Home, the UK's Royal Mail has released a series of "interactive" stamps. Included in the series: A scratch-and-sniff stamp, a stamp with a hologram, and another that shows an electrically-charged particle when warmed by finger heat. The stamps commemorate 100 years of the Nobel Prize and Britain's achievements. The Royal Mail describes the stamps here."

5 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Telepathy by pallex · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Theres been a bit of a hoo-ha about the fact that the accompanying booklet has stuff about telepathy in it.

    http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,5 60 604,00.html

  2. Don't forget by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Don't forget the Alan Turing persecution and eventual suicide commemorative stamp, and the cameras on every streetcorner big brother stamp.

  3. *Hum* Prior Art * Hum by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From what I know (please go and cress me 8) :

    First stamp ever used was Chinese, a 3 part stamp : one for the sender, one for the office and one for the taker (no Goatse joke !)
    Payment was due by the recipient.

    Funny thing : People had to write the adress and a commentary on the stamp, to identify themselves...
    After some times, people started to "code" the important news on the stamps, allowing the recipient to read the message and refuse the letter, not paying the fee and still having the news 8)..

    => the system got abandonned and they had to wait till 1853 to have another post office 8)

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  4. Re:Sounds like a huge waste of money by jbrw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From my limited knowledge of Royal Mail, these stamps, while valid for postage, wont be widely distributed.

    Most people buy their stamps here in little books of between 4 and 10 stamps - these are almost always your standard orange/blue first/second class stamps.

    I'll pop 'round to my local Post Office in a few minutes and specifically request some of these special issue stamps, and, with a fair degree of luck, they may have some in stock.

    All countries produce special stamps that primarily intended for collection. Indeed, I believe some small pacific island states use stamps as a major source of revenue.

    More interesting than Royal Mail producing some funky stamps is the claims that they're about to lay off up to 15,000 workers.

    ...j

  5. The USPS does this too by gelfling · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My coworker has a framed wallmount of very expensive and specialized stamps commemorating NASA - some are round, some have holograms, embedded photographs, etc. Some of them are over $30 dollars. This a big money maker for the USPS because those are stamps that no one will ever use.