🇬🇧 Royal Mail -
13 January 2026 - Stranger Things, American television programme (of no significance at all to the United Kingdom) - 10 stamps (2 se-tenant strips of 5) and 1 miniature sheet containing 4 different stamps plus other items including a Prestige booklet costing £28.45. These illustrations of presentations packs can be seen on the internet from 2 different sources. Rating:- 0.
British stamps should celebrate Britain in all its aspects. Royal Mail has sunk to the level of Stamperija. It surprises me that Buckingham Palace approves this rubbish; it seems demeaning to place the King’s cameo on products such as these which have no relevance ro the country over which he reigns. One can only imagine what George V would have had to say about it all.
Hello WK do you have any info on the stamp size of the 4 on the miniature sheet? Sorry to be a pain I am having trouble finding the stamps online other than your very useful post. Thank you
ReplyDeleteWK - regretfully I have only found these poor quality images to date and I have no details other than those provided. It may be that more information will slip out prior to the official announcement of the issue of these products.
DeleteIf anything, the reality of Royal Mail's first issue of 2026 is even worse than my fevered imagination had dreaded.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many long-standing collectors will see this offering, and decide that 31 December 2025 is a good place to draw a line under their hobby.
I (from the USA) am terminating my Royal Mail subscription that I’ve had since 1997. This is the final straw.
DeleteA wise decision I think.
DeleteI ceased collecting Great Britain stamps in June 2024, precisely for the same reason. RM have a lot to answer for of late. The subject matter is atrocious, GB doesn’t exist any longer on GB stamps!
DeleteAs for the possible view of His Late Majesty King George V, may I suggest that he might have added the following to his famous last words: "and bu**er Netflix as well!"
ReplyDeleteThat precise point had also passed through my mind.
DeleteMaybe this is the only way for RM to attract new collector's by feeding them the dross they consume on a daily basis? However I wholeheartedly agree with your comments and share your disappointment
ReplyDeleteThere are four British actors in the main cast including Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven, the series' principal character.
ReplyDeleteAs for attracting new collectors, this is not Royal Mail's aim, and there is really no reason why it should be. There have been stamps issued for over 180 years and they fill six volumes of just the Simplified catalogue (SOTW).
If we can't get people into the hobby with the millions of stamps which already exist then maybe it is the hobby and the trade which is doing something wrong. (And I say that as a former FDC producer and supplier of stamps on a new issue basis.)
A friend of mine, commenting on presents for (and from) his daughters, told me that young people now prefer EXPERIENCES to POSSESSIONS & if they don’t particularly want to HAVE things then it’s clear they won’t COLLECT things. Stamp collecting may never find the formula to interest newer generations in the hobby.
DeleteThe main criticism I’m seeing of this release is that these stamps don’t celebrate Britain or British culture, appear to have been chosen at random, and will not resonate with traditional collectors (who, I assume, are largely not fans of Stranger Things).
ReplyDeleteRoyal Mail is not releasing this set to appeal to younger collectors specifically. Rather, it seems obvious that the decision was made because Stranger Things is a global phenomenon. Many will remember the scale of “Titanic-mania” in 1997 and how many merchandise items there were for the film. This is no different. Quite simply, Stranger Things is a huge hit, and Royal Mail wants (even if briefly) to own the rights to sell postage stamps featuring this intellectual property in the UK and its associated territories.
Royal Mail is a business. It exists to provide a service that people pay for. It will not invest time and money into producing stamps that it believes will not sell. While this release may appear to be a blatant “cash grab” (and to some extent, it is), what many people forget is that Royal Mail sells internationally. The United States has not even released stamps for this series, which arguably makes Royal Mail’s acquisition of the IP even more significant. Fans of the show (those who are not exclusively philatelists) will want these. And let’s not forget the global fanbase: people around the world enjoy the show and live in countries that Royal Mail ships to. To them it's not a 'stamp set' or a 'postcard', it's now a 'collectors item' which features they're favourite streaming/ television programme.
There is a valid argument that this release risks distancing some collectors, potentially leading them to stop purchasing sets or cancel subscriptions (which, judging by some comments, does appear to be happening). That is unfortunate. However, surely one of the reasons many people started collecting stamps in the first place was to celebrate the sheer diversity of what can be depicted on them. I would encourage collectors to try to embrace the novelty of the “new”. Change occurs and needs to be embraced, if not, consider Denmark’s postal service which will cease letter delivery after more than 400 years. We didn’t see them attempting to modernise their stamp issues to reflect contemporary culture and media. In contrast, we in the UK should recognise—and perhaps even celebrate—the fact that we still have a postal service that keeps up to date with trends, engages with what the wider public (not just a small group of collectors) is talking about, and works to keep a very old institution relevant and alive.
It’s also worth noting that there is no real suggestion that younger people will actually buy these stamps—I doubt they will, frankly. But all it takes is a small number of people to notice the release and share it on Instagram or TikTok. Even without a purchase, that visibility drives traffic to Royal Mail’s website, which in turn has value. Royal Mail can demonstrate to advertisers that its platforms attract a wide and varied audience. Revenue is not generated solely through physical sales.
I won't be buying them, I don't like Stranger Things but I can see why RM have released them. I recall there were complaints on 2025's Duck and Mushroom sets - both of which celebrated UK specific species... damned if they do, damned if they don't!
We shouldn't always wrongfully assume that RM are trying to appeal to a younger audience, they're not. Times and tastes change and RM are trying to keep up.
I wonder how sales of the Steam Locomotives series compared with sales of Peanuts this year? I'll give readers a hint, some items from one of these releases sold out in pre-order.
Written by a 22 year old philatelist.
WK replying - thank you for your detailed and well-reasoned comment. You are right - Royal Mail is a business and in the interest of its shareholders and the mail-sending public it might be considered that it should release any products which are in tune with fashion, no matter how temporary that fashion be, which RM considers will add to its financial profits. Conversely, it might be argued that RM has a duty to ensure that the stamps it releases represent not just itself but the nation as a whole and indeed it should be an honour to be featured on a postage stamp as a part of RM celebrating all things British.and British people who have played a significant role in our nation’s history. Clearly these latest products shamelessly celebrate the product of a foreign culture and have nothing to do with celebrating Britain and its people and charging a large amount of money for those interested in them, in Britain and abroad, to obtain them. There are signs that regular British collectors are not prepared to splash out vast sums to buy this stuff and there is a danger for those who are responsible for RM’s stamp issues in losing their regular base of collectors that any continuing interest in new stamp issues will fade completely and revenues from stamp sales will dry up completely. After all, from a practical point of view we really don’t need postage stamps any more, and people who buy them as ‘collectors’ items’ are not going to replace ordinary stamp collectors as a regular source of income. The collecting of RM new issues is in a death spiral. As regards the Peanuts issue, when I looked a few days ago, all products apart from the postcards, appear to still be on sale on the RM internet site.
DeletePeanuts presumably !
DeleteAppreciate the response - all in your comment is true.
ReplyDeleteThey should have a commitment to celebrating people who have made an impact on the nation but how many times can they release a set featuring Churchill and Queen Victoria? I really enjoyed both of those recent sets (and bought a few commemorative items) but there were still rumblings that RM were ‘running out of ideas’ etc.
Re Peanuts - items have gone out of stock and have been brought back in on several occasions.
WK replying. Thank you. I would only say this that if Royal Mail has run out of ideas for celebrating subjects relevant to Britain, I will be delighted to suggest a few thousand to them. Merry Christmas!
DeleteYou do realise the main character (and some supporting characters) is played by someone who is British. Nevermind that this is a PERFECT way to get younger people into collecting.
ReplyDeleteWK replying. To be totally honest I had never heard of the programme until all this blew up. But the argument that a British actor has an important role in it is no excuse. You might as well issue a set of stamps featuring foreign bridges because some of the workers who had participated in building the bridges had been Britons working overseas on the projects. I don’t believe that young people will be at all persuaded to become regular stamp collectors because Royal Mail issues a set of philatelic items with a probable total cost of around £40-£50 on the subject of a foreign television programme of short-lived passing interest.
DeleteIs it RM's goal to convert people to stamp collecting?
ReplyDeleteIf stamps weren't old and fuddy duddy in the 1960s and 1970s why do we insist that they are in 2026?
RM have put out a teaser on Instagram and Facebook - without even showing any stamps, and not even mentioning the name Stranger Things (yet if you know, then you'll know) and this teaser has got over 16k likes on the Meta platforms alone. Remind me how many visitors where at Birmingham NEC in May, or at Stampex in October, which is now in a smaller side hall?
Fact is the British Stamp Programme has always represented popular culture, and indeed many collectors got into stamps because of this, is RM Stamps just to grow old and die off with its collectors - given that none of the first stamp collectors from the 1840s are still alive then we presume stamps has a life, and represents what interests Briton's today, long after each of us were collectors.
Ask ourselves, if i have moved on from Pop Culture and do any other brands that i like grow old with me - the fact is they don't, all brands refresh and modernise to appeal to the population as a whole. Why do Stamp Collectors insist that stamps should grow old with them?
I often wonder what George V might have made of the Football stamps in the 60s or this new fangled "supersonic" aeroplane that had never flown any passengers, yet was featured on a beloved Gentleman stamp in 1969. Indeed i wonder what George V might have made of David Gentleman full stop.
With regards the other comments about collecting today. You surely must all have noticed, of maybe you don't, the comic, trading card, and anime stores popping up in high streets in towns and cities across the country. Also the Comicon's on every weekend in a town or city somewhere in the UK.
All of this is collecting in 2025, in the 1970s these were stamp shops and stamp fairs. Life moves on , Britain moves on, people still collect but they collect differently from the generations that preceded them.
With Steam Locos, Winston Churchill, Royal Armouries, VE Day, Stamps of Queen Victoria and Royal Observatory to name but a few over the last year or so, i think RM does a pretty reasonable job balancing appeal to multiple ages and interests and keeping stamps relevant - surely we all want that.
Indeed I'm sure Sir Rowland Hill would be delighted, and probably astonished, that his small label solution for postage, was still in use and relevant to millions, 186 years later!
WK replying - Thank you, an interesting opinion. 16K likes on a social media page is unlikely to translate to 16 thousand new committed stamp collectors though the latest upcoming junk may lead to 16 thousand newly committed ex-collectors, especially when the price of this next lot of products is likely to cost in the range £40 - £50 (we shall soon know). The 16K ‘likers’ presumably were unaware of the likely cost - I wonder how many of them would have ‘liked’ that. It has always been an honour to be featured on British stamps but sadly it is not only any more. People of real national accomplishment, events of outstanding importance, the most significant of national anniversaries which have featured on British stamps are all cheapened by the irrelevant and catchpenny subjects which feature now as an attempt by Royal Mail to screw as much money as possible out of naive people.
Delete