UK Priority Air Mail. Reference-/Barcodes On Stamps?

Hello,

I will live for a longer time in the UK and am looking for a relatively cheap mail service that offers tracking and delivery confirmation from the UK to Germany (European Union).
I considered priority air mail international. Royal mail.
I read that Royal mail air mail services introduced reference codes on the stamps.
Is this service now fully trackable?

(I found a link ,in which it is said the reference codes are not tracking numbers. However, they have exactly the format of tracking numbers)

http://support.shiptheory.com/suppo...l-references

sorry. I figured this is the correct place to ask

Sincerely,
Petar

Petar

Hello, and welcome.. Royal Mail's International Tracked and Signed service is
fully tracked, and a signature is required on delivery. The tracking/signing adds roughly £5 to the cost of International Standard. Unless you're sending items of particular value, you may find that International Standard will suffice for letters/packets to Germany.

Please see pages 10 and 11 of the attached leaflet for rates

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/def...rch-2019.pdf

Hi

Thanks for your help. Does that mean priority air mail is not trackable (no delivery confirmation)?
And does international standard equate to priority air mail ,which was not trackable in the past?
Because neither the royal mail webpage nor your leaflet contain priority air mail, which was said to be the cheapest way.


Just out of curiousity, I am wondering why those reference numbers were introduced (please, see my link) although they are not functioning as reference numbers. I cannot understand that. They exactly look like reference numbers.

Best,

International Standard is, as I understand it, basic air-mail, and isn't tracked/signed for. In my experience it's reliable, although I'd add tracking/signing for certain values or countries (eg Russia). A tracking code looks different to those on the link you've shown.

okay,thanks.
I thought Royal Mail tracking numbers have the format : 2 letters 9 digits GB in the end.

Hence, I figured that the link shows a valid tracking number newly introduced to all airmail, even cheap.

I theory, this works. However, sometimes, the code is changed into a local one when it arrives in the receiving country. I had a few instances when my correspondent gave me the Royal Mail tracking code, but was unable to track & trace through the PostNL website. I called PostNL and they gave me the Dutch code.

In the last two weeks, I received signed for/registered mail from the UK and from Germany. The postman just put it in the letterbox. Some time ago, an item of mail did not arrive. When I called PostNL, they told me I had received it. They sent me a scan of my signature. It appeared I had become illiterate and signed with a cross.

Now, Germans tend to better stick to regulations.

Piority mail is the quickest mail and it may involve carriage by air. However, priority is not by definition airmail.

at NSK.
just to clarify: Do you mean that those numbers in my link are indeed tracking numbers for the UK?
And the destination country carrier assigns a new one?

I do not get why it is said that these new numbers are no tracking numbers?

Unfortunately, I did not find a Royal Mail email , so that I cannot ask Royal Mail.
I would love to ask them.

The code below the barcode is indeed of the type used as a registration/tracking number.




PostNL certainly does so on occasions. But even this does not seem to be a certainty. My latest delivery from the UK had a code starting with RV. PostNL's tracking site uses 3S. Sometimes, I get an item with a PostNL sticker with a 3S barcode. This time, it was not the case. I have given up on understanding how this works.

You may be able to track the item using the original code on the Royal Mail site. However, the information may not be updated once the item has been transferred to the receiving service.




The link suggests the number is used for administrative purposes. Since you do not pay for a tracking service, that service is not provided.