A second class large Horizon label 2009. Early labels were very crude.
2003 "VOID" Horizon labels for training post office staff

A Horizon label is an adhesive postage label that is a type of variable value stamp. The labels were introduced in the United Kingdom in 2002[1] as part of the computerisation of the counter services of the post office network of Royal Mail using the Horizon System.[2]

Reception

The labels received a frosty reception from philatelists initially as they were seen as replacing postage stamps, but as they have become more complex and more stamp-like, collectors have warmed to them and they have now become a popular collecting specialism in the U.K. and an established part of modern British postal history.[1]

Timeline

The first labels were large plain labels composed purely of text but later labels are of a gold colour with a Machin head and a repeating pattern of the words ROYALMAIL in order to prevent forgery.

The principal events in the development of the labels were:[3]

  • 14 February 2002 – First labels used in about 1000 post offices. Plain white with straight edges.
  • 30 April 2002 – Security slits added to prevent reuse.
  • August & September 2002 – Labels rolled out nationally.
  • April 2009 – Labels with simulated perforations appear.
  • 8 June 2009 – First gold labels appear featuring the Machin head for Special Delivery only from the Camden High Street P.O., London. Gold labels gradually introduced nationally.
  • 20 April 2010 – First labels with dual English-Welsh language inscriptions available from Welsh post offices.
  • 23 August 2010 – Straight-edged labels reintroduced first at Old Street then nationally.
  • 29 September 2011 – Value Added Tax codes added.
  • May 2015 – "Pre-cancelled" labels trialled at the Europhilex exhibition with corner "Single Use Only" wording. Colour changed back to white. Subsequently used nationally.
  • September 2015 – Barcode added to the design.

Post Office training

The training of postal workers includes the use of voided horizon labels,[4] noted as early as 2003.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "GB Postal Stationery, Postal Labels and Postmarks: Horizon Labels" by John Holman in Gibbons Stamp Monthly, February 2008, p. 43.
  2. ↑ Horizon Labels British Postmark Society, 27 June 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013. Archived at Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ "Horizon labels pass under philatelic radar", Michael L. Goodman, Stamp Lover, Vol. 108, August 2016, pp. 114-115.
  4. ↑ "Another view" by Douglas Myall in British Philatelic Bulletin, Vol. 51, No. 5, January 2014, pp. 149-151.
  5. ↑ "Horizon Training Labels" in Dummy Stamps, Issue 25, Quarter 2, 2012, p.12. Archived here.
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