La Poste to offer digital stamps from 2023

LA POSTE is promising a digital stamp service that will let you write a code on your envelope and pop it straight into a post box for delivery.

The digital stamps will be available from next year and work via a mobile phone app that will create a short code of a mix of numbers and letters.

Then you write this code in the top right hand corner of your envelope - replacing the need for an 'old fashioned' stamp - before placing it in a post box.

Eco green stamp equivalent

The service will cover letters weighing less than 20 g and be charged at the same rate as the current Eco green stamps, currently €1,16, and will arrive at its destination two days later.

Developers have produced a system using algorithms to combat potential fraud and camera equipment installed in postal sorting offices will be able to read the hand written codes.

Don't worry, normal stamps will still be available and the digital stamps come as part of a plan announced by La Poste to offer more services, despite them now delivering only a third of what they did fifteen years ago.

The postal service across France will see increased investment, totalling €800 million, in equipment such as digital screens and parcel collection points, with agreements signed with postal staff unions to boost job openings and provide training and support on the new technologies.