OSHKOSH COURIER
April 4, 1855
POSTAGE AND ITS PREPAYMENT. – The public should bear in mind that the new postage act requiring all letters destined for offices within the United States to be prepaid, goes into effect on the first of April next, and that no letter deposited in the post office, and destined as above stated, will be mailed on or after that day, unless the postage is fully paid thereon at the time of depositing it. Care must be taken by those using postage stamps and stamped envelopes, to attach a sufficient number of stamps to their letters to prepay the full postage; and for the purpose of determining how many tamps are required, business men will find it convenient to procure one of the letter balances used in post offices, which can be purchased in Boston; Mass.
A letter which weighs less than half an ounce can be sent any distance within the United States not exceeding three thousand miles, for three cents; if it weighs more than half an ounce and less than 1 ounce, the postage will be six cents; if more than one ounce and less than one ounce and a half, nine cents, and so on – an additional three cents for each additional half ounce or a fraction thereof, being required to prepay it. The same remarks in reference to the rates of postage apply to letters to be sent to a distance exceeding three thousand miles. The single rate of prepayment will be ten cents; and for a double letter, or one weighing more than half an ounce and less than one ounce, twenty cents, &c. The regulations respecting letters to the Canadas and all other foreign countries, remain unchanged. All unpaid letters mailed before the first of April will be forwarded and delivered upon the payment of postage by the person addressed, though arriving at the destination after that day.
We understand that postage stamps and stamped envelopes of the denomination of ten cents will soon be issued by the Post Office Department, and that special instructions in regard to the registration of valuable letters are also being prepaid.