1879 - 1907
Insufficiently prepaid international mail was charged double the rate that should have been paid, less any amounts paid. The following procedures were followed by sending and receiving offices:
- The office of origin marked the article with a "T" for taxe and marked the amount of the deficiency in francs and centimes (see below).
- The office of the country of destination calculated the amount due by doubling the marked deficiency (and converting this amount to local currency)
The letter was mailed from Brampton, Ontario to Leipzig, Germany on March 23, 1894. At that time the Canadian U.P.U. letter rate was 5 cents for each 1/2 ounce.
The letter was taxed by the Canadian office because it was insufficiently prepaid. Based on the markings, the proper rate was the 2nd weight step, or 10 cents for up to 1 ounce. The letter was shortpaid 5 cents.
Canadian Office
The office of origin marked the article with a "T" for taxe and marked the amount of the deficiency in francs and centimes.
Canadian T 25 handstamp
The U.P.U. had adopted the franc of
the Latin Monetary Union (LMU) as its operating currency. France,
Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland were the founding members of the LMU.
Since the LMU franc was based on a gold standard, countries such as
Canada that were not in the LMU could convert their currencies to LMU
francs.
The 5 cent deficiency was converted to centimes:
The 5 cent deficiency was converted to centimes:
German Office
The office of the country of destination calculated the amount due by doubling the marked deficiency.
The German office doubled the deficiency:
then converted the 50 centimes to pfennig.
The amount due was written in blue :
40 (pfennig due)
Germany did not use postage due stamps.
A few more examples from the pre-1907 period:
Canada to Belgium
Quebec to Namur, Belgium, September 1, 1900
The international post card rate was 2 cents. Since the letter was
shortpaid 1 cent the amount of deficiency was 5 centimes.
Canadian Office
The Canadian office stamped T/5 to indicate 5 centimes single deficiency
Belgian Office
The deficiency was doubled:
0.10 centimes Belgian due
10 centimes Belgian postage due stamp
The post card was folded and sealed with the postage due stamp. In order for the addressee to see the message, the amount due had to be paid.
Canada to France
Quebec to Paris, September 20, 1904
The international post card rate was 2 cents. Since the letter was shortpaid 1 cent the amount of deficiency was 5 centimes ( 1 cent = 5 centimes).
Canadian T/5 handstamp
Rome Convention 1907
The Rome Convention changes came into effect on October 1, 1907. The significant change was that it was now the sending country that doubled the deficiency in centimes. However, this change in procedure did not affect the amount charged by the receiving country.
Niagara Falls to Cholet, France
Since the international post card rate was 2 cents, the card was shortpaid 1 cent.
Canadian Office
The Canadian office doubled the deficiency and converted this amount to centimes.
T/10 double the deficiency in centimes
French Office
The receiving office no longer doubled the amount of the deficiency. The taxe amount was converted to the local currency. Since the French centime was equal to the LCM centime, the amount due in this case was 10 French centimes.
10 centimes French postage due stamp
1925 : Gold Franc
In 1925, the Stockholm Convention replaced the Latin Monetary Union franc with a notional UPU currency, the "gold franc". The gold franc was not based on the currency of any country but defined by a specific weight of gold. The value of currencies in gold francs was then based on their equivalence to gold.
1925- 1966
The taxation procedure outlined above remained in place until 1966 when the Vienna Convention fractional tax system was introduced. Articles dealing with the Vienna Convention taxation system can be found HERE.
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