4 ms·

I had a friend who was a farmer in a rural part of Britain and you could send him a letter by just writing First Name, Last Name, County and he would get the le

by willyt 4y ago

I had a friend who was a farmer in a rural part of Britain and you could send him a letter by just writing First Name, Last Name, County and he would get the letter as his family had been farming that land for hundreds of years and the postal service could figure it out somehow. I also remember an art project where they put the address in the form of various different kinds of puzzles and had letters successfully delivered. I think there's some kind of ancient law that the postal service has to try everything possible to find out how to deliver a letter. I suspect that there is a legal aspect to this as well because I was told once that if you send someone a legal notice in Britain by Royal Mail, saying, e.g. 'You have 28 days to comply blah blah' the key date is the date it was posted, not the date it was received, unless the recipient can prove they received it late, not sure if that is still true since the post office was privatised.

BrandoElFollito 4y ago
This is the case in France, the official date is the one on the stamp, not the one of the reception day. This is called "cachet de la Poste faisant foi"
bombcar 4y ago
Many people don't realize that the mail/postal service existed for way longer than Zip Codes™ and such things, and addresses were much closer to "bob jones, last farm after the river, slopshire" than anything defined and regulated.
tomatocracy 4y ago
> ... because I was told once that if you send someone a legal notice in Britain by Royal Mail, saying, e.g. 'You have 28 days to comply blah blah' the key date is the date it was posted, not the date it was received, unless the recipient can prove they received it late, not sure if that is still true since the post office was privatised. It is. The Interpretation Act 1978 section 7 is where this bit of law currently resides but the principle is older than that: Where an Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post (whether the expression “serve” or the expression “give” or “send” or any other expression is used) then, unless the contrary intention appears, the service is deemed to be effected by properly addressing, pre-paying and posting a letter containing the document and, unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.

by willyt 4y ago

BrandoElFollito 4y ago

This is the case in France, the official date is the one on the stamp, not the one of the reception day. This is called "cachet de la Poste faisant foi"

bombcar 4y ago

Many people don't realize that the mail/postal service existed for way longer than Zip Codes™ and such things, and addresses were much closer to "bob jones, last farm after the river, slopshire" than anything defined and regulated.

tomatocracy 4y ago

> ... because I was told once that if you send someone a legal notice in Britain by Royal Mail, saying, e.g. 'You have 28 days to comply blah blah' the key date is the date it was posted, not the date it was received, unless the recipient can prove they received it late, not sure if that is still true since the post office was privatised. It is. The Interpretation Act 1978 section 7 is where this bit of law currently resides but the principle is older than that: Where an Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post (whether the expression “serve” or the expression “give” or “send” or any other expression is used) then, unless the contrary intention appears, the service is deemed to be effected by properly addressing, pre-paying and posting a letter containing the document and, unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.