We are back!
After closing for relocation for three months it is a relief that we can finally reopen our local post portal on 1 September, 2026. Our philatelic agent Alpha Thematics will also be re opening on the same day to offer CILP stamps and covers to collectors in the UK.
As we are no longer located on Canvey Island the nature of our service must change. We can no longer operate as a fully functioning private local post and all that entails, but we will continue as a local post stamp producer with the occasional cover being carried to, and mailed from, Canvey Island. The alternative option of closure was too harsh to consider seriously after recently celebrating our fifteenth anniversary and the release of our catalogue!
I look forward to continuing to serve CILP's long-standing supporters and new local post collectors in the coming years. If you have contacted the CILP regarding stamps or related matter during our relocation period, you query will be answered in the next week or so.
A Sour Note - International Orders Suspended
Unfortunately, we must introduce a sour note about international shipping from our agent Alpha Thematics. Following the withdrawal of 'de minimis' limits and imposition of punitive import duties on virtually any item sent from the UK to Europe (3 Euros for items under 45 Euros value in the EU), and to the USA (a base 10% duty surcharge on the value of any item from February 2026), Alpha Thematics have been forced to suspend all international orders.
The withdrawal of 'de minimis' limits, which enabled individual philatelists and small part-time dealers to buy and sell their stamps worldwide to build collections, have been indirectly punished. Although small individual stamp exchanges between collectors are unaffected, international micro-scale or hobby trading is practically impossible with the current duty situation for the present time. We can only hope sanity prevails and 'de minimis' limits return.
However, members of the Local Post Collectors Society can still obtain CILP items direct from CILP by contacting me at canveypost@gmail.com quoting their membership number.
Ebid orders from within the UK are unaffected.
Thank you for your patience and support.
Postmaster
