day of the stamp - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1982 - 6 Shilling

The stamp motif of this special postage stamp shows a mailbox of the system "Mainz - Weber", which was used around 1870. Thus, this brand is an important element of modern postal system in the center. In Austria, until 1817, the letter postage for domestic mail in general, in accordance with the principle of the so-called "half franking", had to be paid in cash by both the sender and the recipient in the same amount. Therefore, until then, mailboxes only made sense for a privileged group of people who did not have to pay a transport fee. The inhibiting taxi regulations fell on 1 June 1817 and were replaced by a completely new postage payment system. With the exception of exceptions, the basic rule was that the transport fee for each domestic letter had to be borne by the recipient. The establishment of mailboxes thus became a useful facility for the general public. Thus, the date mentioned above can be seen as an official introduction of mailboxes in Austria. Another improvement brought the fee payment by means of stamps, which was valid from 1 July 1850 in Austria.