Norvic Philatelics

Royal Mail Horizon Postage Labels - Summary

Update - new format from Epson printers, added July 2007

Early in 2002 after successfully installing computer terminals in all post office branches, Royal Mail followed the lead set by postal authorities in the USA, South Africa, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, by producing at the post office counters labels to be used instead of stamps. These are known, after the computer network, Horizon labels. Unlike some other countries the British labels indicate the postal service for which payment is made. But also unlike some other countries, the British labels are plain white labels, printed in black.

In January 2004 Royal Mail introduced 'Smartstamp', a system which allows users to produce postage impressions - confusingly referred to as 'Postage Marks' on a personal computer. For more about the system and examples of the product, click here .

On this page I have described the rationale behind the move to labels, and given some details of the initial trials and the timetable for introduction across the country. At the foot of the page I show labels of various types. And I have also discovered why an unintended consequence of the introduction will be of benefit to collectors who may have thought that their chances of finding fine-used stamps had reduced.


The trials

On 14 February 2002, Royal Mail started trials of a new postage label, to be printed at post office counters. This initiative, promoted by Consignia's Business and Consumer Markets Directorate, was trialled in about 650 post office branches in the Edinburgh, Southampton, and Watford postcode areas (EH, SO, WD). So confident was Royal Mail about the success of these trials that they announced in April that the scheme would be rolled-out to all 17,500 branches by the end of May 2002, and the Philatelic Bulletin reported extension to Portsmouth (PO) and two London areas on 9 May. In the event the trials produced useful information which was used to modify the system and the nationwide launch was delayed until August - See below.

Why use labels?

With my accounting background, it is difficult to argue against the economics of the new labels, which will help to solve two major problems, and should achieve manpower and financial savings.
The inland mail is divided into 1st and 2nd class for letters and packets weighing up to 750gr, the higher cost of first class being reflected in priority handling and earlier delivery. But if a mixture of stamps is used, how quickly can postal sorters decide whether a packet is 1st or 2nd class? In Europe, where blue 'Priority' labels are used, this is easy. Not so in Britain. Consequently if there is any doubt, the postman will assume 1st class, otherwise the item might be delayed into the 2nd class stream, which may bring complaints.

Secondly, all postage stamps must be cancelled to prevent re-use. While ordinary letters - inland up to 60gr and international up to 20gr - can be machine processed, most items of mail over these weights cannot be machined, and the stamps have to be hand-cancelled at the sorting offices. Royal Mail estimate that over 500 million items a year fall into this category, of which 80% are posted at post office branches. This labour-intensive operation will be avoided by the use of labels for items in these categories, as these labels will not be postmarked.

Label Types

Label produced for 2nd class inland postage costing £0.44 in area TS23 - Teesside

This label is for a 2nd class packet with postage costing £0.44, ie weighing 101-150gr. The service indicator in the top segment shows 1st for first class, A for international airmail, S for international surface mail, SD for special delivery, and P for parcels. Earlier PF had been used for parcels indicating 'ParcelForce' the division of Royal Mail responsible for parcels at that time.
Illustrations of these have been added at the end of the page.

The labels can also be used for inland Recorded Delivery, and the following international services:
International Recorded,
International Registered,
Swiftair,
Swiftair+Registered, and
Swiftair+Recorded.
These have now been replaced by Airsure, Swiftair and 'International Signed For'.
Coloured service indicator labels and bar-codes will continue to be used on these priority services.

At this stage the labels will not be used for international parcels or mail to British Forces.

Size and format
The labels are 59x65mm [2.3x2.6"] and are plain white with no preprinting (unlike the US ones, with the pink strip at the top). As a security measure each label has four 2cm cuts, one from the centre of each edge towards the centre of the label. [These can be seen in the picture above.] This is to prevent reuse, as in similar (but more colourful) labels from Spain and Portugal. According to the British Philatelic Bulletin the printing is by ink-jet, but the machine sounds like an old dot-matrix printer!
The labels are not available in mint condition, and as they contain information which identifies the machine (and therefore the branch) which produces them, action will be taken against staff if any unused examples are on the market. (They are not sold by the Philatelic Bureau.)

The national roll-out

The scheme was extended nationally in three phases from 8 August 2002. The first phase was in London, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and south-east and the very north of England. Phase 2 the following week includes north Wales, central england and East Anglia. Phase 3, on september 5, includes south Wales, south & west England, and the rest of northern England, as shown in the table below.

Phase 1 - 8 August Phase 2 - 15 August Phase 3 - 5 September
CT
CR
BR
SM
DA
BN
RH
HA
UB
KT
ME
TN
TW
EC
WC
E
N
NW
SE
SW
W
RM
IG
SS
AB
ZE
BT
CA
DG
DL
DH
TS
G
ML
KA
PA
IV
HS
KW
NE
SR
Canterbury (Kent)
Croydon (Surrey)
Bromley (Kent)
Sutton (Surrey)
Dartford (Kent)
Brighton (Sussex)
Redhill (Surrey)
Harrow (Middlesex)
Uxbridge (Middlesex)
Kingston-u-Thames (Sy)
Medway (Kent)
Tunbridge Wells (Kent)
Twickenham (Middlesex)
London EC
London WC
London E
London N
London NW
London SE
London SW
London W
Romford (Essex)
Ilford (Essex)
Southend-on-Sea (Essex)
Aberdeen
Shetland (Lerwick)
Belfast
Carlisle
Dumfries & Galloway
Darlington
Durham
Teesside
Glasgow
Motherwell
Kilmarnock
Paisley
Inverness
Western Isles (Harris)
Orkney (Kirkwall)
Newcastle
Sunderland
B
CH
LL
CV
GL
HR
WR
HP
WV
WS
ST
DY
OX
RG
SY
TF
LD
SN
CB
SG
CM
CO
DE
IP
LE
MK
LU
NN
NR
NG
PE
Birmingham
Chester (Cheshire) #
Llandudno #
Coventry (Warwickshire)
Gloucester
Hereford
Worcester
Hemel Hempstead (Herts)
Wolverhampton
Walsall
Stoke-on-Trent (Staffs)
Dudley
Oxford
Reading (Berkshire)
Shrewsbury (Shropshire) #
Telford (Shropshire)
Llandrindod Wells #
Swindon (Wiltshire)
Cambridge
Stevenage
Chelmsford (Essex)
Colchester (Essex)
Derby
Ipswich (Suffolk)
Leicester
Milton Keynes
Luton (Bedfordshire)
Northampton
Norwich (Norfolk)
Nottingham
Peterborough (Cambs)
BL
WN
BD
HD
HX
CW
WA
DN
LN
HU
LS
HG
WF
L
M
OL
PR
FY
BB
LA
S
SK
YO
BH
DT
BS
BA
TA
CF
NP
EX
TQ
GU
PL
TR
SL
SA
Bolton (Lancashire)
Wigan (Lancashire)
Bradford (Yorkshire)
Huddersfield (Yorkshire)
Halifax (Yorkshire)
Crewe (Cheshire)
Warrington
Donacaster (Yorkshire)
Lincoln
Hull
Leeds (Yorkshire)
Harrogate (Yorkshire)
Wakefield (Yorkshire)
Liverpool
Manchester
Oldham (Lancashire)
Preston (Lancashire)
Fylde Coast (Lancashire)
Blackburn (Lancashire)
Lancaster (Lancashire)
Sheffield (Yorkshire)
Stockport (Lancashire)
York
Bournemouth (Hampshire)
Dorchester (Dorset)
Bristol
Bath (Somerset)
Taunton (Somerset)
Cardiff #
Newport #(Monmouthsire)
Exeter (Devon)
Torquay (Devon)
Guildford
Plymouth (Devon)
Truro (Cornwall)
Slough
Swansea #

I would be interested to hear of any labels with postcodes FK (Falkirk), KY (Kircaldy) and TD (Tweed) which should be in phase 1, AL (St Albans) and EN (Enfield) phase 2, and SP (Salisbury) in phase 3. It is possible that these were included in the trial areas, being 'close' to Edinburgh, Watford and Southampton respectively. post office receipt incorporating certificate of posting for 4 items
# These postcode areas are wholly or partly in Wales and should be producing bi-lingual labels, but this is not always the case.

Another extra - a new certificate of posting
The computer terminals now installed at counters nationwide produce receipts (on request) for any purchase. As the items bearing labels are handed over the counter, the receipts for labels can also serve as a certiciate of posting, as shown below. If less than 4 items are posted, unused spaces should be struck through. Because the name of the post office branch and the date are shown on the receipt, this does not need to be datestamped. But for postmark collectors, traditional certificates will still be available.

The end of stamps?

Well, no. Counter clerks will still supply stamps to those who want them. Also, the system has drawbacks which actually makes it slower to issue the labels than stamps. The computer has a 'quantity' facility for stamps, but not for these labels. So if you have six 550gr packets at £1.60 it is quicker to tear off 6x £1.50 stamps and 6 x 10p stamps than to produce 6 individual labels.
At sub-post offices, which are owned as businesses by small shop-keepers, the postmaster receives a payment based on business throughput. I understand that the payment is less when labels are used than when stamps are used: this may explain why some postmasters are keen to continue the use of stamps rather than labels, especially as the computer is not linked to the scales so there is little benefit of speed!
Update March 2004. With effect from 31 March 2004, all stamps with a face value over £1 will be withdrawn from post office counters so that they cannot be used on packets and parcels. The £1.50, £2, £3, £5 stamps will only be available in bulk by mail order to Royal Mail's business customers, and from the Philatelic Bureau and Counters.

Mixed Franking??
This is a definite possibility, and it will be interesting to see how inventive collectors can be in creating covers bearing a combination of stamps plus a label. No item can bear two labels, because any fee can be paid on one label. In the event that a customer changes his mind - say from 2nd class to 1st class - or upgrades to special delivery after a label has been produced, the extra postage should be shown by stamps. Any item bearing two labels "will be treated as suspicious and will be investigated".

New source of Very Fine Used stamps
For collectors the new labels, and the ability to mix labels and stamps does open up a new facility. Collectors of British postage stamps have known for years how difficult it is to get very-fine-used (VFU) copies of any stamp. Ordinary letter rate stamps have a machine postmark, higher value stamps on packets have ugly black rubber postmarks, either round(ish) for letters and packets or rectangular for parcels*. Postal items bearing these labels will not be cancelled at the sorting office. But - if the postage is partly paid by stamps, then those stamps must be cancelled at the branch when the label is affixed for the balance of the postage cost. And that cancellation must be done with the branch's steel counter date stamp - the very thing that collectors of VFU want! [* update September 03 - I understand that the rectangular parcel post handstamps have been withdrawn.] post office receipt from Abergavenny showing lines 1 & 3 in Welsh

Update - actual treatment of labels in the post

It is no surprise that labels have not always been treated in the way that the system intended. I have received one packet on which the label has been clearly postmarked, and another which has a postmark, but not on the label. (Both are shown in the images table below.) Watch this space for more reports!

Update - Wales is different!

Current UK legislation requires widespread use of the use of the Welsh language in Wales. Public signs, postal rate leaflets, Special Delivery labels, internal signs and voice announcements ("Please go to position 3") have Welsh versions. This is also the case with these labels, as shown at the foot of this page. Two lines are added between 'Postage Paid UK' and the variable date/value information. Post Brenhinol = Royal Mail. Talwyd Y Post DG = Postage Paid UK. The till receipt is also adapted, but with the minimum of Welsh content in lines 1 & 3 - Swyddfa'r Post Cyf. and Eich Derbynneb. The first line on the receipt is for an actual stamp rather than a label.

Update - new typeface & layout - August 2003

From August 2003 labels appeared in a new format with the 1st & 2nd class indicator placed centrally and a different typeface, with 'nd' and 'st' in lower case - see below. This label from LL53 (North Wales) is entirely in English, not the first time non-Welsh labels have been seen from this Welsh-speaking area.

Update - new typeface & layout, Wales - August 2003?

The earliest Welsh label we have in the new format is December 2003, so we cannot be certain of the actual date of introduction of the new format which incorporates a change to the service designation. In English, 'second' is abbreviated as 2nd. The Welsh for 'second' is 'ail', so the Welsh 2nd class label now reads 2 il - see below.

Update - AX for Airsure - May 2005?

Normal airmail labels have A on. I posted an Airsure packet to the USA and the label was printed AX. The postmaster didn't recall seeing AX before, so we don't know when this started. I asked the customer for a scan of the label for this page and it is shown in the table below. Parcel labels have changed again, from P to SP (= Standard Parcel). I have been told by a correspondent of an example dated 20 October 2003 which is much earlier than I thought. If you have an earlier date, please let me know (link at the foot of the page).
I'm told that the sheet of 2 labels is now narrower than originally, which means that the impression is not printed centrally on the label. But the size of the label remains the same. This will account for any off-centre labels you see from spring 2005 onwards.  (See July 2009 for change to AAX)

Post Office Ltd receipt from Epson printer.

Update - Epson Printers, spring 2007

I understand that these were trialled in September 2006 but my informant did not say where, and I hadn't seen any of the new labels. Epson printers are being gradually introduced at all post office branches. A special delivery (SD) example of new label from Glasgow (postcode G2) is shown at the foot of the page. The most noticeable difference is that the bottom line is only 2mm high instead of nearly 3mm. The overall height of the printed area is 38mm compared with 41mm from the old printers, but the size of the labels remains the same (65mm).

The other change that the Epson printers bring is the use of colour and a new format for receipts. These now show the Post Office logo in red, as show here.

Update - PIP changes, November 2007

Fifteen months after the introduction of Pricing in Proportion and the sale of appropriately-marked adhesive stamps, changes were made to the Horizon labels.   2nd was replaced by 2L, 2LL or 2PK.  !st class changed in a similar way, and British Forces mail adopted the designations BL, BLL & BPK

At about this time Royal Mail or Post Office limited prevented the use of the labels for basic rate mailpieces.  This means that simple letters must be over 100gr to get a label - which means in turn that they are no longer simple letters but Large Letters!   Apparently even a partly-paid simple letter cannot receive a label for the make-up value.  I understand, however, that a simple letter sent by the Recorded Delivery service can have any shortfall made up with a Horizon label, which would be 1L 2L or BL.  

Update - Golden Machin label - 8 June 2009

This is such a big unannounced development that we've given it a separate page.

Update - no longer 1LL - 27 July 2009

A further unannounced change took place in July 2009 when the LL designations were changed to LG, thus 2LL became 2LG, etc.  Some say this is tied in with the introduction and possible nationwide use of a label bearing the Queen's head.  Some have said that there could be adverse comment from some of the non-philatelic press (insert the name of any appropriate newspaper here!) regarding overprinting the Queen's head with the word ILL.  At the same time Airsure changed from AX to AAX for some reason.

Pictures of these, including Welsh versions will be added as soon as we have time to scan them.  (If anybody has an AAX label, please contact us on the link below.)


How to obtain covers with labels

Given the volumes which Royal Mail expects to be processed with these labels, there should be no shortage. The difficulty will lie in finding covers or portions of parcel wrappers which are good enough to be collected. These labels certainly have a place in exhibition displays of postal history*, but finding 'better quality' items will be difficult. Of course, collectors can send letters to themselves as they always have done; and the inclusion of some heavy card (or lead!) will increase the weight of the letter.** But it should also be possible - as it is with stamps - to overstate the weight of the letter and pay extra.

Royal Mail have suggested that they will not normally expect labels to be applied to envelopes as small as DL-size (110x220mm). Time will tell. The 'danger' in applying labels to DL envelopes is that they will be machine-processed and receive a postmark, although this is less likely with 'premium' items as with the Special Delivery envelope shown at the foot of the page.
* Indeed, a display by Lincoln Philatelic Society at StampLincs 2003 included a 12 page display, including early trial items.

** This should not be necessary - I recently posted basic rate (20gr inland) letters with labels.   Update - see November 2007 entry.  

If you would like to receive envelopes bearing these labels, please email Norvic Philatelics  - note that this is not a free service, given that basic letter labels can only be obtained for the more expensive (75p currently) recorded delivery service, and Large letters have to be 101gr (which currently costs 90p for 1LL and 76p for 2LL).  

Return to H O M E page


This page created 21 February 2002 and modified 15 August 2009.

1st class label Parcel label 2nd class label incorrectly postmarked 2nd class label SY1
1st class label from NN8 (Northampton) area 30 September 2002 for letter packet weight 1-1.25kg, postage £4.34 Parcel label from EX36 (Devon) 30 November 2002 for parcel of between 2kg and 4kg, postage £6.55.
[In early trials, parcel labels showed PF for ParcelForce.]
2nd class label unnecessarily and incorrectly postmarked at Milton Keynes 17 September 2002 2nd class label from Shrewsbury centre (SY1) with bi-lingual postmark SHROPSHIRE & Y CANOLBARTH (Mid-Wales)
Business envelope sent by special delivery Special Delivery label
(Above)Special Delivery business envelope, with silver bar-code label applied correctly at top left, and SD postage label for £3.65, posted 21 October 2002 in Stevenage area (SG5).
£0.79 label on partly paid (£0.81) 500-600gr 2nd class packet requiring £1.60 postage <<<<
This 79p 2nd class label is on a 500-600gr packet (postage rate £1.60), where 81p has been prepaid. Note the stamps have been cancelled with the counter handstamp.
1st class label from Abergavenny, Wales 2nd class label from Abergavenny, Wales < < Left
1st & 2nd class labels from Abergavenny (NP7) with the additional Welsh language lines above the date. These are both basic rate 20gramme letters at the new rates of 28p and 20p effective 8 May 2003.
AX label for Airsure, 2005
new font label introduced August 2003. From Llandudno (LL53) but in English, not Welsh. < < Left
From August 2003 labels appeared in a new format with the 1st & 2nd class indicator placed centrally and a different typeface, with 'nd' and 'st in lower case. This is also from a Welsh area (LL53) but is solely in English.
Right >>>
The new format label in Welsh shows the correct designation 2il instead of 2nd as shown on the Abergavenny labels above. This one is also from the Llandudno area (LL38).
new font Welsh label from Llandudno area LL38 ^^^^
Probably introduced in spring 2005 this AX label for Airsure, used with stamps prepaying a packet to the USA.

See paragraph above.

2007 label from Epson printer - overall height reduced to 38mm. < < Left
English language label from new Epson printer introduced in spring 2007, overall height reduced to 38mm. Last line now 2mm.

>> Right
Welsh language label from new Epson printer from Swansea area, SA2.  Zero value because the postage and fee had been prepaid in cash.
Horizon label SD in Welsh from Epson printer.

New January 2004 - SmartStamps - postage via the PC - see a page of specimens and covers.

New June 2009 - Machin head on Golden Horizon label - Details and pictures!

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