Mass printed matter
From 1 April 1925 address loose unsealed were bulk mail (junk mail) attached to any kinds of receivers such. B. all households, open business, certain professional classes, are to be handed over, under certain conditions experimentally approved for distribution by the post office.
After the Second World War, the term mass printed matter was redefined. Since July 1, 1954, normal mail items have been allowed to be sent as bulk printed matter. The basic idea behind this innovation was that the senders of larger quantities of printed matter should do certain preparatory work (filing, bundling, etc.) and receive a fee reduction for this. The content of the mass printed matter must consist of the same printed pieces. Samples, samples or small promotional items can be enclosed with them. Registered mail , cash on delivery , express delivery and pneumatic post transport are not permitted. After the GDR and East Berlin as well as in traffic with the Saarland (until July 15, 1955) they were not permitted. Otherwise the regulations for printed matter apply. A minimum number of items is required for the total posting and per post office. “Mass printed matter” is included in the postal regulations as Section 8a .
An administrative instruction states: Bulk printed matter can only be posted at post offices (including branch post offices). A certificate of the fee paid for bulk printed matter will be issued on request free of charge. The sender has to submit a duplicate of the posting list in which the fee amount is specified. The double is provided with the day stamp below the indication of the fee amount . For items that do not comply with the provisions of Section 8a of the Postal Regulations, one and a half times the shortfall will be charged by the sender as a postage fee.
From 1954 - initially on a trial basis - it was permitted that bulk printed matter could be printed with the sender franking machine, whereby the note “Fee paid” had to appear next to the fee stamp field (only in the zero position). From October 1, 1969 on, the franking imprint to designate the type of mail item mass printed matter had to bear the addition “Fee paid” to the left of the fee stamp.
The new postal order of 1 March 1964 in the individual weight classes no longer between shipments by guide portions (Leiträume, Leitgebiete) or same postal codes (destinations) are ordered, distinguished. The standard mass print up to 20 g is new. In 1974 the conditions were changed again.
In order to increase the attractiveness of mass printed matter, it was allowed from January 11, 1979 onwards, to free mass printed matter with postage stamps and to stamp it by the sender. Such mass printed matter must be stamped with the sender 's stamp machine, whereby the postage stamps are to be canceled with a stamp imprint in black according to the adjacent sample. The stamp imprints of the machines of some manufacturers differed slightly in size from the above sample for technical reasons.
On July 1, 1982, another change came into effect. In the case of standard bulk printed matter and bulk printed matter up to 500 g, the sender now had the opportunity to obtain lower fee rates by assuming more extensive pre-distribution. The provisions on pre-distribution have been adjusted for items over 500 g.
On April 1, 1989, things got even more complicated. After all, bulk printed matter weighing over 30 to 500 g could, if they were suitable, be posted without wrapping or wrapper. The standard mass print in the form of a simple postcard was added.
Since April 1, 1989 (Universal Postal Congress in Tokyo), bulk printed matter has been permitted for foreign trade. This led to the amendment of the regulation on the fees in the postal and telecommunications system with the Deutsche Post of the GDR.
From April 26, 1990, the mailing of bulk printed matter to recipients in the area of the Deutsche Post of the GDR was permitted. The fees for the Deutsche Bundespost were valid.
After the border was opened on November 9, 1989 (GDR towards the Federal Republic) and December 22, 1989 (Federal Republic towards the GDR), on July 1, 1990, monetary union between the Federal Republic and the GDR came about. At the same time, the post of the GDR was merged with the Bundespost. On October 2, 1990, mass printed matter was introduced in the GDR.
In the General Terms and Conditions of the Deutsche Bundespost POSTDIENST for the domestic letter service as of July 1, 1991, the following can be read under Scope: These general terms and conditions for the letter service (domestic) apply to the contractual legal relationships between the Deutsche Bundespost POSTDIENST and its customers in the letter service (domestic ). They therefore apply to the traffic area west (old federal states) and the traffic area east (new federal states). In traffic with the Eastern traffic area and within the Eastern traffic area, special regulations are required due to the temporarily restricted performance in some areas, which are specifically pointed out in the relevant sections in italics. These are: 1) Bulk printed matter in the West traffic area and bulk printed matter in the East traffic area cannot be combined into one posting for the time being. The o. A. Minimum quantities are to be determined separately for each traffic area. From January 9, 1992, it is permissible to combine bulk printed matter in the traffic area West (VGW) and VG-East into one posting. The address procedure is currently not possible for bulk printed matter to recipients in the East traffic area.
Since September 1, 1993, bulk printed matter has no longer been offered by the Deutsche Bundespost. It was replaced by the Infopost consignment . Posters of this type of mail are regularly invited to receive training by Swiss Post specialists. There they learn how to calculate postage using a mathematical formula and how to obtain discounts. Bulk mailings over 4 kg will be referred to as "Infopost-Schwer" in future. The formula for calculating postage for a shipment over 4 kg was at the time of the Deutsche Mark : (weight in whole grams - 4,000) × 0.035 + 450 Pfg. = Fee to be paid .