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Royal Mail are discontinuing traditional stamps in the New Year – leaving many people with obsolete books of them and sparking uproar. The troubled postal service and courier, which plans to axe 10,000 jobs, will bring in barcoded versions.

But it means millions will be left with stamps they can no longer use, with pensioners hit the hardest.

Consumer champion Martyn James said: “For a company that’s all about communication, Royal Mail has failed to communicate the most radical change to postage in decades.

“It doesn’t matter that you can exchange existing stamps. For many people, they simply won’t learn of the changes until after the deadline or will find exchange rules confusing.”

Royal Mail has given customers until January 31 to use old stamps – currently 95p for first class, 68p for second. After that, they can be traded in by post.

The barcode allows letters and parcels to be tracked via an app yet only 55 per cent for those aged 65-plus own a smartphone.

Baroness Ros Altmann, backing a Daily Express campaign for an Older People’s Minister, said: “I fear older people are being marginalised – they are not being properly considered.”

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