Royal Mail’s Harry Potter Bonanza

Linn’s Stamp News reports in its August 20, 2007 issue that Royal Mail took 340,000 advance orders for its recent Harry Potter issue. This breaks the record of 300,000 orders set earlier this year by the Beatles issue.

As I stated previously, Royal Mail is maximizing its revenue from stamps and related items, so it is jumping on the bandwagon of popular topics. Apparently, their efforts are a huge success.

It’s a fair guess that nearly all of the advance orders included the set of stamps at £2.38 and the miniature sheet at £1.70. That’s more than £4 right there. Many no doubt included the generic (Smilers) sheet of 20 at £7.35, bringing the total to over £11. And then there are the stamp cards, first day covers, and presentation pack. And each of these orders includes a postage and handling fee.

I think it’s fair to guess that the advance orders totaled a minimum of £2 million, and there will be more sales over the next 12 months.

With a bonanza like that, does anyone really think that a petition signed by less than a thousand people will get Royal Mail to change its stamp issuing policy?

--Larry