Postage Due - First Stamps

First Stamps

The problem was solved by France in 1859, with the issuance of official postage due stamps, affixed at the delivery office before being taken out to the recipients. Many other countries followed suit. (Occasionally, regular postage stamps have been used to fulfill a postage due function.)

Postage due stamps (or "labels", to clarify that they have no value of their own) are not always affixed to individual letters; in the case of business mail, the total due might be summed, and the appropriate stamps added to the top letter in a bundle, or to a bundle's wrapper. The labels have also been used to collect money for other purposes, such as magazine subscriptions.

Since postage due stamps are almost always used only within a single country, they are usually quite simple in design, mostly consisting of a large numeral, and an inscription saying "postage due", "porto", etc.; often there is no country name. As with definitive stamps, a variety of values are needed to make up specific amounts.