Most French (and Monaco) cover collectors have seen or own covers wherein payment for a fee in excess of ordinary postage has been made, in conjunction with the phrase "poste restante" within the address. This practice began on 1 May 1920 though, for well over a hundred years prior to that date, there was no charge levied for the simple task of picking up one's mail at the post office.
The charge, originally 20 centimes per item, could be prepaid by the sender, usually with postage stamps, or paid by the recipient, usually with postage-due stamps affixed by the post office at destination (Figure 1). Travelling salesmen (and other commercial travelers) could also purchase a yearly permit for 10 francs. This consisted of a postal administration formule, generally buff colored, to which 10F in postage stamps were affixed. The permit also served as an identity card for picking up one's mail (without further charges), and had to be surrendered in order to purchase the following year's permit. Because of this, and because of a year's wear and tear while in one's pocket, such cards very seldom appear on the market.
The next improvement on the system came with the domestic Tariff of 14 July 1922. One's newspapers could be picked up at the poste restante window for a mere 5c. And ordinary people could also purchase annual permits, albeit for twice (20F) the cost to commercial travelers.
The system has changed but little since 1922, other than that its rates paralleled, with inflation, other postal rates (Figures 2 and 3). Newspapers remain receivable at about half the cost of other mail. Annual permits, which until July 1957 were twice as expensive for the general public, have since climbed to about three times (give or take) more than for commercial travelers. The Tariff of 5 July 1993 states that poste restante charges for newspapers are 1,40F each and, for other items, 2,80F each, with no mention of annual permits. There's no mention of poste restante at all in La Poste's current (Tariff of 18 March 1996) listing of principal charges, but I expect the service still exists, probably for somewhat more than during July 1993 - March 1996.
I thank Jack Blanc for having reminded me, in his brief article (replete with numerous illustrations of formules with affixed stamps!)¹ on the subject of cartes d'abonnement à la poste restante, that this might be of interest to our readers. I also thank Derek Richardson² for making it so very easy to check, from year to year, on individual and annual-permit charges.
Endnotes
1. Jack Blanc, "Poste Restante: les cartes d'abonnement," pp. 47-49 in Le Monde des Philatélistes, Nº549, March 2000.
2. Derek Richardson, Tables of French Postal Rates 1849 to date; F&CPS of Great Britain Brochure Nº7 (1992), p.15.