The last time I showed a Horizon label with code FP was, I think, ten years ago here. And in 2010 I explained that these should normally have been A but through selecting the wrong on-screen options the branch can produce an FP label, normally only used when an international item has been returned to sender for additional postage to be added.
This one appeared on the Stampboard forum. Posted on 1 September and arrived in Australia on 22nd. So perhaps one of our Horizon experts can explain how this would be created in 2021?
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| GB to Australia 1.9.2021 to Australia with £1.70 postage paid by FP Horizon label. |
UPDATE, in response to comments
Some of the above are known to have been produced at ordinary sub-post offices, including this cover from my collection which I posted in Pembrokeshire to a friend in the USA. (Label shown above.)
Although underpaid mail usually results in a charge to the addressee, international mail is often retuned to sender (if shown on the outside of the envelope) with this label. Adding the FP label to an item which bears stamps already cancelled shows that the balance of the postage was paid in cash.
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| Peelable Royal Mail label OE1064 stuck over destination address on item returned to sender for additional postage. |
I had one of those labels added to a letter I sent. The SSK jammed after payment was initiated and would not print the label, the manager didn’t have a clue on how to fix it, so he printed out an FP coded horizon label.
ReplyDelete178205 is the code for Courthouse Green Post Office, CV6 7GP
As far as I know nothing has changed and I still see the same number of FP labels now as 10 years ago. It’s still a bit odd FP is used for a complete shortfall of postage - surely you’d stick the right postage on and re-post it rather than bother going to the post office! Maybe it’s a way of showing an item has been delayed (before the 3 additional weeks!) - or some accounting thing to show a double-handling? If of interest I have a number of covers, using FP partially paid or ‘made up’ with A.
ReplyDeleteNot sure comment ‘took’ earlier today - I had an interesting chat at local post office who said: ‘haven’t seen FP at all, ever, have worked for PO for years - the procedure is that a card is sent to addressee from sorting office, for additional postage - who then pays and item sent on’. So, not sure it should actually be addresser rather than addressee, but maybe having a look at Branch Numbers might indicate current FPs are definitely from sorting offices?
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