Franking privileges

[snopes]

Comment: I was told a story by a co-worker about a women who won a law
suit involving the death of her husband by a postal truck; that she didn't
ask for any money settlement, but did ask for free postage for anyone by
printing the word "Frank" (her deceased husband's name) in the spot where
a stamp would go.

[Nick Theodorakis]

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

Frank:

...Verbal sense of "to free a letter for carriage or an article for publication" (1708) is from Fr. affranchir, from the same source.

Now, about the "Norm," "Hi" and "Max" settings on car air conditioners, ...

Nick

[lord_feldon]

Surely that would have been a bad deal to make, anyways. Even if she only would have received $10,000, that would pay for nearly 24,000 stamps.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by lord_feldon

Surely that would have been a bad deal to make, anyways. Even if she only would have received $10,000, that would pay for nearly 24,000 stamps.

But the deal was for free postage for anyone, not just for herself.

[lord_feldon]

Well, then it's a bad deal all around.

[kia]

If it makes her feel better, we used to call our franking machine Frank.

[snopes]

Comment: I work in a county jail so you believe none of what you hear and
only half of what you see. This is the rumor going around and they swear
it's true:

A man named Frank donated a huge amount of money to USPS so if you can't
afford postage simply write the word "Frank" where the stamp goes and your
letter will be sent for free.

[Eddylizard]

I suppose there's one simple way to find out - send yourself a letter and write "Frank" on it with no stamp, and see if it arrives.

I don't know about the US, or even if it's still the custom here, but it used to be that if someone sent you a letter without a stamp or with insufficent postage, the post person would knock on your door, point out the senders error and ask for the normal postage fee plus a small penalty. You were of course within your rights to refuse the letter and not pay the fees.

I've worked in businesses that sometimes used a franking machine, but for sensitive mail put a postage stamp on instead. Maybe the rumour stems from a practice somewhere where the non-sensitive mail had 'Frank' written on it, so the postroom would know to frank it rather than use a stamp.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

TUH! Everyone knows that the word 'frank' to refer to mail comes from the fact that Benjamin Franklin was the first postmaster general. Just as the vacuum for a while was called 'Hoover' and sewing machines were all called Singers, all mailing became to 'Franklin' it. Of course, that easily became confused with 'franking' it as people forgot the origin of the phrase, and then the gerund led to the verb 'to frank.'

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

I don't know about the US, or even if it's still the custom here, but it used to be that if someone sent you a letter without a stamp or with insufficent postage, the post person would knock on your door, point out the senders error and ask for the normal postage fee plus a small penalty. You were of course within your rights to refuse the letter and not pay the fees.

The current fee is £1 plus the deficit in postage (as in applies not only for unpaid postage, but also underpaid, when the letter is heavier (or larger) than paid for)

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

I've worked in businesses that sometimes used a franking machine, but for sensitive mail put a postage stamp on instead. Maybe the rumour stems from a practice somewhere where the non-sensitive mail had 'Frank' written on it, so the postroom would know to frank it rather than use a stamp.

Not to hijack, but why would sensitive mail need a stamp, but non-sensitive mail could go through the postage machine?

-RB

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Roadsterboy

Not to hijack, but why would sensitive mail need a stamp, but non-sensitive mail could go through the postage machine?

-RB

Okay we were a Bank.

The postage machine/frank stamps "XYZ Bank" on the frank. Pretty bleeding obvious.

A lotta customers had accounts that by the laws of their own countries, they were not permitted to have - no outside interests allowed. Anything with a frank would be intercepted.

So to keep them safe, we posted all their mail to look like personal mail - person to person mail, like I'm sending you a birthday card - geddit?

Oh yeah, you know what? Someone NFBSK'd up once, put some guys mail through the franker, and yeah well the authorities shot him. No big deal for us, we had plenty more customers . We never made that mistake again.

ETA Having intercepted the guy's mail, the authorities in his country shot him, our bank did not shoot him.

[Avril]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

I don't know about the US, or even if it's still the custom here, but it used to be that if someone sent you a letter without a stamp or with insufficent postage, the post person would knock on your door, point out the senders error and ask for the normal postage fee plus a small penalty. You were of course within your rights to refuse the letter and not pay the fees.

It hasn't happened to me in ages, but I used to get a little envelope in the mailbox attached somehow to the letter with the amount due written on it. You were supposed to put the amount due in the little envelope and stick it back in the mailbox. There was no additional fee. Looking back, it seems like kind of a bad system, as it relied entirely on trust, but it never occurred to me to take the letter without leaving postage. I have also gotten letters sent back to me due to "insufficient postage" and once one sent back because I was supposedly reusing a stamp (I wasn't, but it wouldn't stick and I had to tape it on there).

Avril

[Dactyl]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

The current fee is £1 plus the deficit in postage (as in applies not only for unpaid postage, but also underpaid, when the letter is heavier (or larger) than paid for)

My secondary school once sent out a pointless letter to parents with no postage on it. It didn't make them very popular but made a grand for the Royal Mail!

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

ETA Having intercepted the guy's mail, the authorities in his country shot him, our bank did not shoot him.

I can't quite work out if you're joking or not.