HC Deb 13 July 1967 vol 750 c987
16. Mr. Gwilym Roberts

asked the Postmaster-General if he will take steps to publicise the availability at post offices of envelopes franked with fourpenny stamps, at the same time reducing the charge per franked envelope to 4d., in order to reduce the time spent on buying and sticking on stamps.

Mr. Edward Short

I shall be considering more publicity for the stamped envelopes sold at Post Offices when they are changed to our preferred sizes at the end of this year. I certainly cannot reduce the charge to 4d. since this would amount to giving the envelopes away free.

Mr. Roberts

Is the Postmaster-General aware that one of the principal difficulties in introducing electronic letter-sorting equipment is the varying sizes of envelopes, hence the Post Office preferred campaign? If the Post Office produced their own standard envelopes at 4d., would not this difficulty be overcome?

Mr. Short

My hon. Friend has answered the question himself. The reason why we are introducing P.O.P. envelopes is to facilitate sorting.