Domestic Postage Due Mail : 1925 - 1946

 

This article shows examples of letters, post cards, and printed matter mail, that were charged postage due during the 1925 to 1946 period. Covers shown illustrate the following points:

• insufficiently prepaid domestic mail was charged double the rate that should have been paid, less any amounts paid.

• postal clerks wrote the amounts due by hand; handstamps to mark the amounts due were not provided.

•  insufficiently prepaid postcards were delivered in an ambulance envelope to prevent the recipient from reading the message and then refusing to pay the amount due.

• postage due stamps were affixed to charged items and cancelled before the amount due was collected from the addressee; should the recipient refuse to pay the postage due or if the letter was undeliverable, the postage due stamps were marked void. 

• if an addressee refused to pay the amount due (not an uncommon occurrence) or if the mail was undeliverable, the mail was returned to the sender who was charged the amount due.

• local mail redirected to another town was charged the difference between the intercity and local rates ; this amount was not doubled.

• postage due stamps were used to pay for extra express fees when the distance from the delivery office and the recipient's address was greater than 2 1/2 km.

Contents

The postage due mail shown in this article is organized according to the type of mail:

1. Letters

a) Single rate period (to 1928)

10c Uniform letter rate period (1921- 1927)

2nd weight step letter

The 2nd weight step letter rate during this period was 15c. The letter below was shortpaid 5c.

Groningen to Nunspeet, July 25, 1925

2nd weight step letter

 10c postage due stamp cancelled July 28, 1925

7 1/2c Uniform letter rate period (1927-1928)

Not shown

b)  Intercity and local letter rate period  (1928 - 1946)

i) Intercity Letters

6c Intercity letter rate period (1929 - 1937)

Double weight step letter

The 2nd weight step letter rate during this period was 12c. The letter below was shortpaid 6c.

 s'Gravenhage to Utrecht, April 30, 1935

2nd weight step letter

 12c postage due stamp cancelled May 1, 1935

Triple weight step letter

 The 3rd weight step letter rate during this period was 15c. The letter below was shortpaid 3c.

 Amsterdam to Utrecht, November 6, 1935

3rd weight step letter

 6c  postage due stamp cancelled November 7, 1935

 Refused Letters

Postage due stamps were affixed to taxed items and cancelled before the amount due was collected. If the addressee paid to pay the postage due, the due stamp was marked as void. The letter was then returned to the sender for payment of the amount due.

1st weight step letter, s'Gravenhage to Wassenaar,December 23, 1938

Shortpaid 3c and taxed 6c (double the deficiency)

Addressee refused to pay the amount due and the letter was returned to the sender

The letter below was mailed without postage from Amsterdam to Schiedam on February 13, 1934. Redirected to Rotterdam, the letter was taxed 12c. The addressee refused to pay the postage due and the letter was returned to the sender who was charged the 12c due.

5c Intercity letter rate period ( 1937 - 1940)

Printed Matter charged at the letter rate

Sealed printed matter mail was treated as letter mail and charged accordingly. The printed matter cover below was charged at the letter rate.

Haarlem to Amsterdam, May 24, 1939

Printed matter treated as a letter

Shortpaid 3 1/2 c and taxed 7c (double the deficiency)

Addressee refused to pay the amount due and the letter was returned to the sender

7 1/2c Intercity letter rate period (1940 - 1946)

Deventer to Hilversum, October 16, 1941
7 1/2c intercity letter rate shortpaid 5c
10c due stamp cancelled Hilversum, October 18, 1941

Unpaid intercity letter

Unpaid letter, Arnhem Station to Rotterdam, May 2, 1941
7 1/2 c intercity letter rate
15c due (double deficiency)

Double weight intercity letter

The 2nd weight step intercity letter rate was 10c.

Doorn to Nijmegen, June 15, 1943

2nd step intercity letter rate 10c

Shortpaid 2 1/2 c and taxed 5c

Undeliverable Shortpaid Intercity letter

Tilburg to Zwolle, April 10, 1942

Shortpaid 2 1/2c and taxed 5c

Undeliverable and returned to sender in Oirschot

Refused unpaid intercity letter

Hilversum to s'Gravenhage, August 13, 1943

7 1/2c intercity rate unpaid

15c due refused

Printed Matter charged at the letter rate

Invalid Stamps

The validity of the Germanic symbol definitive stamps issued in 1943 ended on May 31, 1946.

Amsterdam to Haarlem, June 15, 1946
7 1/2 c intercity letter rate
Stamps no longer valid affixed; postage due 15c

 A box was drawn around the invalid stamps

 

ii) Local Letters

5c local letter rate period (1929 - 1932)

Shortpaid

Rotterdam local letter, April 8, 1932

5 cents local letter rate

Shortpaid 2 cents and taxed 4 cents

5c local letter rate period (1929 - 1936)

Not shown

3c local letter rate period (1936 - 1940)

Not shown

5c local rate period (1940 -1946)

Redirected mail  to a destination with a higher rate

Correctly prepaid letters redirected to a destination with a higher rate were taxed the difference between the final destination rate and the original destination rate.

 

 Local  1st weight letter,Vlaardingen, August 24, 1940

Local letter rate 5c

Redirected to Utrecht

Intercity letter rate 7 1/2c

Postage due 2 1/2 c (single deficiency)

 

Local  2nd weight letter, Amsterdam, July 17, 1941

> 20g, ≤ 40g local rate 7 1/2 c

Redirected to Hilversum
> 20g, ≤ 40g intercity rate 10 c

Postage due 2 1/2 c (single deficiency)
 

Invalid Stamps

The validity of the Germanic symbol definitive stamps issued in 1943 ended on May 31, 1946.

Amsterdam local letter, June 5, 1946

5c local letter rate

Stamp no longer valid; postage due 10c

The "0" (zero) written under the stamp means that the stamp is not valid

Affixed stamps no longer valid

2. Postcards

Insufficiently and unpaid postcards were taxed and inserted into envelopes with a large transparent window showing the address side of the postcard. The "T" marking and amount due was written on the postcard or on the ambulance envelope. This was probably done to prevent the addressee from reading the message before paying the amount due.

Ambulance Envelope and Postage Due Postcard

The address was visible through the window and the taxed post card delivered to the addressee upon payment of the amount due.

The ambulance envelope contained an unpaid postcard sent from Amsterdam to Leewarden on October 27, 1939.

6c due stamp affixed to ambulance envelope

Leeuwarden, October 28, 1939

Ambulance Envelope only

5c postage due cancelled Amsterdam, March_, 1927

3. Printed Matter

Unpaid

s'Gravenhage to Baarn, November 2, 1929

1 1/2c printed matter rate unpaid

3c due

4. Express: Extra Fee

When express mail was to be delivered more than  "a half-hour's walk" (2 1/2 km) from the delivery office, an amount in addition to the Express fee was to be paid. The recipient of the mail was obliged to pay the extra amount if it was not paid by the sender.

 

 This post card was mailed from s' Gravenhage to the Trappist Monastery in Tegelen, near Venlo, April 29, 1941. 15c paid the 5c postcard rate and the standard 10c express fee. An additonal 15c express fee was require for delivery to the monestary. A 15c postage due was affixed and cancelled at Tegelen, April 30, 1941.


The next example  is a letter from Laren, July 27, 1942, to a hotel in Leuvenum which was about 6 km from the delivery  post office at Elspeet.