Editing Mail (section)

=== Payment {{anchor |postage}}===

Before about the mid-nineteenth century, in regions where postal systems existed, the payment models varied, but most mail was sent unpaid requiring the recipient to pay the postage fee. In some regions a partial payment was made by the sender. Today, worldwide, the most common method of prepaying postage is by buying an adhesive [[postage stamp]] to be applied to the envelope before mailing; a much less common method is to use a postage-prepaid [[envelope]]. [[Franking]] is a method of creating postage-prepaid envelopes under licence using a special machine. They are used by companies with large mail programs, such as [[bank]]s and [[direct mail]] companies.

In 1998, the [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Postal Service]] authorised the first tests of a secure system of sending digital franks via the [[Internet]] to be printed out on a PC printer, obviating the necessity to license a dedicated franking machine and allowing companies with smaller mail programs to make use of the option; this was later expanded to test the use of personalized postage. The service provided by the U.S. Postal Service in 2003 allows the franks to be printed out on special adhesive-backed labels.

In 2004 the [[Royal Mail]] in the United Kingdom introduced its ''SmartStamp'' Internet-based system, allowing printing on ordinary adhesive labels or envelopes. Similar systems are being considered by postal administrations around the world.

When the pre-paid envelope or package is accepted into the mail by an agent of the postal service, the agent usually indicates by means of a [[Cancellation (mail)|cancellation]] that it is no longer valid for pre-payment of postage. The exceptions are when the agent forgets or neglects to cancel the mailpiece, for stamps that are pre-cancelled and thus do not require cancellation and for, in most cases, metered mail. (The "personalized stamps" authorized by the USPS and manufactured by Zazzle and other companies are in fact a form of meter label and thus do not need to be cancelled.)