Forces aerogramme surcharged 1984 - why?

[Michael Dobbs]

I have received the following enquiry:

[color=purple]I have a British Forces aerogramme form posted unpaid from FPO 720 (13 AU 84) to Plymouth. The sender manually endorsed "HM Forces N. I." within the stamp box, but this was not accepted and stroke out. The item attracted a taxation of 22p postage due. I would be very greatful if a member of FPHS could explain the amount postage due. [/color]
And this was my response:

[color=maroon][b]Postal rate[/b]
The Supplement to the Post Office Gazette of 16 March 1983 set out the revised postal rates with effect from 5 April 1983 in full. 

The postal rate for Forces aerogrammes was 12½p each which equated to the Inland 2nd Class rate for letters not over 60g in weight; except for those locations to which Forces aerogrammes were free - that is in respect of the following:

BFPOs in the South Atlantic: Forces Aerogrammes sent to and by British Forces in the South Atlantic were free of postage provided they bore the inscription "HM Forces South Atlantic".

Northern Ireland: Inland rates of postage applied to Northern Ireland.  Forces Aerogrammes sent to and by British troops in Northern Ireland at these BFPO numbers free of postage provided they bore the inscription "HM Forces Northern Ireland".

This rate of 12½p for Forces aerogrammes and Inland 2nd Class rate for letters not over 60g in weight had not changed from the previous postal rate increase on 1 February 1982.

[b]Surcharge fee[/b]
The surcharge fee was added to the deficiency (based on prevailing second-class rates) with any ½p being rounded down:

On 5 April 1983 the surcharge fee became 10p in addition to the postage deficiency.

[b]Taxe - Postal Deficiency Forces Aerogramme[/b]
Thus the Forces aerogramme being charged 22p deficiency was made up of 12p (12½p rounded down to 12p) for deficient postage and 10p surcharge fee = 22p.

The use of FIELD POST OFFICE 770 has been recorded at Forces Post Office S.303 at Armagh (BFPO 803) from 10 Oct 1972 – 2 Jan 2002.

[b]Summary[/b]
However, why was a Forces Aerogramme from Northern Ireland addressed to the UK charged deficient postage when such aerogrammes were postage free?

Subject to further research the only explanation I can give is that the addressee is not an individual and that free postage was only allowed for personal correspondence and not "business" matters.[/color]

Is this explanation plausable or is there another explanation ?

[Nick Colley]

'mng, Mike,

Does the wording of the Supplement to the Post Office Gazette of 16 March 1983 explicitly exclude business mail? Or state explicitly that the concession is only for personal mail? If so then I guess your suggestion is good.

I wonder if the postal official who handled the item decided that the endorsement 'HM Forces N.I.' did not meet the stated requirement of 'HM Forces Northern Ireland' ? It seems unlikely, surely, that anyone can be so tiresomely pedantic  :( Perhaps he was simply ignorant of the existence of the concession?

chrs
N

[Peter Harvey]

I would say the postage due was incorrectly applied and free postage service should have been available. As with all concessionary mail there has never been a restriction on none private use, many members of the armed forces would write to business addresses, especially in this period and the NI concession was widely used.