prepayment

postal systems

• 
  In postal system

  Prepayment is ordinarily made by means of postage stamps, franking machine impression, or printed indication of postage paid; payment is not usually required of the addressee.

  Read More
• 
  In postal system: Rowland Hill’s reforms

  …postage, regardless of distance, and prepayment of postage by means of adhesive stamps sold by the post office. Hill proposed a basic rate of one penny for each half ounce, calculating the “natural cost of distribution” to be slightly less than this. The cheapest current rate of postage was fourpence,…

  Read More
• 
  In postal system: France

  …thereby introducing the principle of prepayment as well as simplifying the rate structure. The scope and range of the postal administration’s activities widened in the 19th century to include postal money orders (1817), registered letters (1829), parcel post (1881), the savings bank (1881), and postal checks (giro; 1918). During these…

  Read More