2 weeks Ago
An Post has ended the sale of savings stamps, which will put an end to a decades-old practice of children purchasing them in schools and saving enough to make their first lodgement to a post office savings account. A spokesperson for An Post said savings stamps, which children used to affix to Cyril savings booklets – named after the Cyril the Squirrel character introduced in 1987 – were sold for the final time last Tuesday. Instead, young savers will now be encouraged to lodge money directly to a savings account.
An Post has cited both “sustainability” reasons – reducing the use of paper – and a switch to digital savings products, for the decision. “The stamps had largely been used by younger savers as a straightforward way of saving and encouraging the saving habit,” a spokesperson said. “However, with advances in the technology behind financial services and phone-based apps, the use of a paper saving stamp has lessened in appeal and utility value.
“Post offices will now encourage savers to save directly to State Savings products or to use the savings featured in An Post’s own financial services product offering. “Savings stamps currently represent just a small fraction of the total amount of savings-related funds handled by An Post.” Existing stamps in full or partially filled stamp booklets will still be accepted by post offices, where the full value can be lodged into a post office savings bank account.
“These will continue to be honoured by An Post but we would encourage anyone with a stamp booklet to get in touch as soon as they can with their local post office,” the spokesperson said. “But in any event, no need to worry, there’s no deadline and we will always honour the stamp booklets.” An Post, which emerged in 1984 from the old Department of Posts and Telegraphs that was created by the Irish Free State in 1924, declined to state the exact year of the first savings stamp being issued in Ireland.
Some callers to RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline programme earlier this month told presenter Joe Duffy that they had savings stamps booklets dating as far back as the 1940s and that their first stamps were purchased with their First Communion money. “They were a common feature of post offices and post office financial services across the globe,” the An Post spokesperson said..
