Australia To England Postage Due Question

Hi,

The Australian cover has three auxiliary markings:



One indicates the postage due: T 17/50, the second: POSTAGE INSUFFICIENT / FOR AIR MAIL / SENT BY SURFACE / SYDNEY No 2, and the third: the three lines crossing out "Air Mail".

The "50" appears to pay the surface rate to England in 1986, in which case the "17" makes sense, but there are no markings to show whether the postage due was ever noted, much less collected by the British Royal Mail post office.

Any thoughts as to a possible reason why appreciated.

Best wishes,
AndrewG

I'd say the people in London were too lazy to do the calculation and simply let it go to destination. As you said, the fraction 17/50 is correct so it should have been multiplied by the UK minimum foreign letter rate to find total postage due then a fixed rate handling fee added.

The prepayment of postage of $0.33 is less than the $0.90 required for airmail to the UK.

The T/50 mark looks to be 'T for Tax' ref x347.

'T for Tax' has the relevant postal regulations section 56.7.4, viz:

Overseas Delivery where Sender's details do not appear

1. Where less than 50% of the correct postage is paid, cross out airmail markings with two thick horizontal lines
2. Mark item "insufficiently Prepaid for Airmail" and forward by surface mail. (If necessary, treat item as outlined for surface mail).

Is there a sender's address on the back?

The Australian end seems to have done their job properly but the London end is non-existant.... except it looks like the letter has possibly been through a UK MLO (Mechanised Letter Office) which applied the coloured code marks typical of a MSASM (Multi-Sectional Automatic Sorting Machine).

Hi scotzm and 64idgaf,

Thank you for your comments.

Unfortunately, there are no markings or a return address on the back.

Would a fixed handling fee been added in 1986?

Best wishes,
AndrewG

Yes... from 1976 onwards a fixed fee was permitted on top of the deficiency. Not double the deficiency as previously... just single deficiency plus the fixed handling fee.

Thanks,scotzm.

This 21 AUG 1981 Australia to England cover, franked with a 24c stamp also has the "POSTAGE INSUFFICIENT..." marking or cachet. However there was a miscalculation made: "T 6/40" rather than "T 16/40".

In this case the Royal Mail post office clerk caught the mistake and the postage due by adding: "21 OCT 1981 22P TO PAY". Apparently no handling fee added?



Best wishes,
AndrewG

The regulations here in Oz state that no follow up to collect any short payment was necessary.

That cover shown was not processed due to regulations. 'Airmail' was to be crossed out with two thick horizontal lines and three diagonal ones were used!

Hi,

No questions about this 1966 Australia cover to England, but an observation:



At first a "50/25" marking was applied and then obliterated. Then the boxed "INSUFFICIENT POSTAGE FOR AIR MAIL" and "T 8/4" were added and the "BY AIRMAIL" was crossed out. When the cover arrived in Manchester, a Royal Mail 8p postage due marking was added along with two 4d postage due stamps. Note that "MORE" was crossed out.

A bit of work for 8p, even if it was pre-decimal!

Best wishes,
AndrewG

That 1966 cover to Manchester does seem to have a lot going on
Just a small correction to your posting... the double deficiency is actually 8d (old money) and not 8p but your explanation is sound.

Hi scotzm,

Thank you for the correction!

Best wishes,
AndrewG

Your "22p TO PAY" cover actually includes the handling fee. At that date it would be 15p above the single deficiency postage due. The calculation, as you already mentioned, should have been 16/40 multiplied by the UK rate which I believe was 18p. That gives a postage due of 7.2 P (rounded down to 7p). Added to the 15p handling fee gives the correct total indicated of 22p.

Hi scotzm,

I appreciate your letting me know about Royal Mail's handling fee. The math is quite interesting.

Best wishes,
AndrewG

"Rely on indifference to make a difference."

When I was a USPS letter carrier (ages ago), registered mail from out of the country would often appear in the regular mail stream, unregistered, and could/would be delivered as regular mail.

I don't recall ever seeing any ROTW (Rest of the World) postage-due-but-sent-on-anyway, but it was, as I say, ages ago ... and we likely would have thought "come and get it" and "if they could not bother, why should we" and delivered it as is.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Hi,

The surface rate in 1981 between Australia and the UK was $.40 for a letter that weighed up to 20g and $.30 for a greeting card that weighed up to 50g, if my understanding is correct. Note that the cover was postmarked 26 OCT 1981 and the postage die labels were cancelled 31 DEC 1981.

This is another cover with a "6 / 40" marking. Perhaps the staff member who wrote "6 / 40" was undecided? Perhaps there was no cachet for "-- / 30"?



15p was the handling fee and 7p was for the postage due. One 20p and two 1p postage due labels added.

Best wishes,
AndrewG

I had not anticipated making a material contribution to this thread, but look what the cat dragged in!

Rather than the usual EKU, I think we should be looking for the LKU (Last Known Use).

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey




Check-out that pretty cancel that got blasted by the tax stamp:






And, just in case you're wondering what the 'Yugoslav Riviera' looks like: