Port betaald

Postage Paid. The franking machine made sending mail for bulk mailers more convenient, but you still had to weigh each individual letter and select the right postage rate, at least for mixed mail (as opposed to mailings where every letter is the same weight). The post office had to check whether the correct postage was applied. To make things more convenient franking mail with a postage paid impression became available for bulk mailers. You had to pay two rates: one for the number of items and one for the total weight.

The postage paid impression could also be applied without the need of buying a franking machine. It could be printed on the envelop or applied with simple hand stamps.

Before liberisation of the postal services, the Dutch postage paid impression consisted of “port betaald” and the name of the town where the mail was delivered to the post office. For letters sent abroad, you had to include “port payé” and later also “Pays-Bas”, French for postage paid and the Netherlands. After liberisation, the name of the town was no longer necessary, but the name of the postal carrier was included. The design of the postage paid impression also was standardised.