Especially since Royal Mail have suffered from an influx of forgeries and pre-used stamps, they have made efforts to recover the lost revenue by raising surcharges. This has brought even more publicity since the charge for unpaid inland letters, and those bearing counterfeit stamps, has risen to £5.
But what happens with mail addressed to overseas destinations? Traditionally, within Universal Postal Union regulations/agreements letters were flagged as underpaid and a charge raised (or not) by the postal authority in the destination country.
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| 1958 cover from England to Belgium, T-marked as Postage Due, and surcharged in Brussels. |
As long ago as 2006 mail which was (in his case allegedly and mistakenly) underpaid was returned for the missing postage to be added, and the letter reposted over a post office counter.
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| Allegedly underpaid mail labelled and returned to sender, for additional postage to be added. |
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| Royal Mail red 'Underpaid" label OE1064, enlarged. |
Diversion
Where appropriate underpaid letters would be diverted from airmail to surface. This wouldn't apply to mail to Europe, where there is no surface letter service, nor where the postage was insufficient for surface mail. (The letter above was addressed to Italy.) One to Australia in 2019 had this label attached.
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| Royal Mail blue 'Diversion from Airmail' label OE1065, enlarged. |
What happens now?
I asked Royal Mail this question, and was told that the item would be returned to the sender - something fraught with difficulty given many UK letter writers' (and eBay sellers') reluctance to put a return address on their mail pieces, and in some cases even inside!
No evidence
I haven't seen any recent letters with evidence of what happens now, nor has any been mentioned on the Stampboards forum. On the contrary, as shown here last week, underpaid mail may be overlooked.
I would be very interested in copies of covers sent to addresses outside the UK in the last 5 years, bearing insufficient postage which has been returned for additional postage to be added, or which has been delivered without any surcharge.
I would be especially interested in any on which an underpayment has been flagged by Royal Mail, and whether or not that surcharge was collected in the detination country.
What have you got? !
