Introduction
In this article, we will be interested in the services offered by La Poste for which stamps are used:
Poste Restante
Post office serves as mailbox, for a tax paid either by the addressee or by the sender of the letter.
Financial services
Values to be recovered
Values to be recovered service authorized the collection by the service of post offices of receipts, invoices, promissory notes, bank drafts and, more generally, all trade values payable without charge in France. Tax rates considerably varied through time. From 1.12.1966, fees are collected before sending with postage stamps or postage meter impression. The tax consists of a fee for each sending, a tax for each value and a delivery charge for the mailing. Payment can be made at home by money order or on a C.C.P. In this last case, the rate is lower.
Cash on delivery mailing
Cash on delivery is a system of payment where collection is made upon delivery of the goods. The amount due is then sent by bank transfer or by check to the sender.
Balance notification
The holder of a current account at La Poste can require notification of the balance of his or her account on a given date, for a notification fee. On the rate of 4.1.1971, this fee was 2,50F.
Accelerated bank transfers
It was the possibility of making an accelerated postal check cashing between two C.C.P. in the centre of Paris. In fact, by making this request, the beneficiary of the check can obtain that the value date is that very day instead of J+2.
Complaints, sending of official police reports
Stamps-fines exist since 1967 and allow to acquit the collection of a fine. These stamps-fines are made of two parts: one is sent to the authority which established the official report, the other one is stuck on the stamp-fine stub to be retained. In principle, the document sent by mail must be destroyed by the authority addressee, but some of these documents escape destruction. Here are two such examples.
The research centre of Libourne
The research centre of Libourne is specialized in searching for lost letters and parcels (because of illegible, absent or incomplete wording or of non-existent addressee) which finish in wasters. It is the only centre in France authorized to open unclaimed parcels and letters, to look for the sender or the addressee.
