Royal Mail attempts a speedy delivery with Olympic stamps

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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The Royal Mail is to issue stamps recognising the achievement of every British gold medal at this summer's London Olympics and plans to get them on sale the day after each victory.

For an organisation normally criticised for being too slow, the Royal Mail has set itself an ambitious challenge – to produce a new stamp in less than 24 hours after each gold medal won by British athletes at this year's Olympic Games.

A team of picture editors, graphic designers, printers and drivers will work around the clock to ensure each of the new stamps are on sale by lunchtime the day after each victory.

It is the first time the Royal Mail has ever issued next-day stamps.

The design of each stamp will feature photographs of the Team GB medal winner in action in their final.

If they cannot use images from the athlete's medal winning performance, the stamps will feature a picture from one of the heats or the presentation of the medal on the podium.

This will be the first time any host country has used action shots for gold medal stamps and issued them immediately during the Games, a Royal Mail spokeswoman said.

Moya Greene, Royal Mail's chief executive, said: "Royal Mail is proud to be involved in this once-in-a-lifetime event and to recognise the success of Team GB.

"Our gold medal stamps will be unique souvenirs of the Games, marking the great achievements of our talented athletes.

"They will be a special way for people across the country to celebrate Team GB's gold medal wins and help mark their amazing achievement.

"We look forward to issuing many gold medal stamps to honour Team GB's victories."

At the Beijing 2008 Games, Team GB won 19 gold medals and with hopes that British athletes will top this performance on home turf, the Royal Mail's stamp designers could have their work cut out.

The celebratory stamps will be on sale by lunchtime the next day at 500 selected Post Offices across the UK. They will then be distributed three times during the Games to a further 4,500 Post Offices operating as normal across the UK.

The Royal Mail said that even if a medal win is late in the evening, they will still aim to deliver a new stamp to post-offices for sale by lunchtime the next day.

Although this is the first time Royal Mail has issued stamps to mark Olympic victories, the company issued its first Olympic Games stamps in 1948, with four stamps bearing the five Olympic rings.

Olympic stamps were not issued to mark the 1908 London Games as Royal Mail stamps then bore images of the reigning monarch only.

[Lounge Lizard]

A big disappointment for Moya then if we don't win any gold medals.
And what if one's won by someone from Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, islands with their own postal administrations for the past forty years ?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

A big disappointment for Moya then if we don't win any gold medals.
And what if one's won by someone from Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, islands with their own postal administrations for the past forty years ?

or Bude

[KDHULL]

"The Royal Mail said that even if a medal win is late in the evening, they will still aim to deliver a new stamp to post-offices for sale by lunchtime the next day."
Presumably by SD so don't all rush out until after 1pm to be sure they are there.