Free Post
“Free Post” is an innovative product introduced by India Post to offer special numerical codes to persons/organizations who may like to receive responses/orders without having to supply reply cards, labels or envelopes to their prospective customers. The prospective customers would be able to send their responses/orders (a) without a reply card/label/envelope having been supplied to them, (b) without having to pay any postage, and (c) by writing just the Free Post code, without any address. This, however, does not preclude the persons/ organisations availing of Free Post facility, to supply reply card/label/envelope to its prospective clients. They may write their address or Free Post code or both on such reply cards/labels/envelopes. In case they write the Free Post code or both, i.e., address plus Free Post code, the article will be treated as a Free Post article.
Registration/Renewal/Security Deposit for Free Post
The persons/organisations desirous of availing of Free Post facility should apply to the Manager of the concerned Mail Business Centre (MBC), on a plain paper or their official stationery in the form given at Annexure I with a non-refundable application fee of INR 1000, credited in Unclassified Receipt.
Since the number of free PIN codes for Free Post is limited, the Free Post codes would be allocated to individuals/organisations that receive substantially large number of articles.
Registration for Free Post would be done for an initial period of one year. However, this may be reviewed earlier in order to check whether conditions of eligibility for Free Post are being fulfilled by the user. Failure to meet these conditions would lead to withdrawal of the facility.
The registration for Free Post shall remain in force up to 31st March of the financial year during which it is issued but may be renewed during the month of March every year for a period of one year beginning on the 1st of April, of that year on payment of INR 200 as renewal fee in respect of each renewal. The registration shall be cancelled if there is default in the payment of the postage due on such cards and envelopes. When renewal of the registration is desired, the holder must submit his application in good time before the expiry of the period of currency, failing which his articles will be treated as ordinary unpaid articles of the letter mail after the date of expiry of the registration and until the issue of a new fresh registration. No period of grace will in any case be allowed for renewal of registration.
The persons/organisations desirous of availing of Free Post facility shall deposit Earnest Money of INR 10000 (Ten thousand) only in the form of a security deposit account/ bank guarantee at the time of registration. The earnest money would be refunded after intimation is given to the concerned MBC indicating that Free Post facility is not required anymore and the Registration is cancelled by the circle. The earnest money would be refunded after completion of three months from the date of cancellation of Registration after deducting dues, if any, on account of mail received after cancellation of the registration.
In addition to the earnest money, the applicant would deposit INR 10000 as advance deposit with the MBC through which he is to receive his articles. The postage and other charges in respect of Free Post articles received by the applicant would be deducted from this amount on a regular basis. The applicant will have to deposit the additional amount as soon as the balance reaches INR 2000.
The applicant may deposit a higher amount than INR 10000 as advance deposit at his discretion.
The Free Post addressee shall accept all the Free Post articles addressed to him during the period of registration and till 3 months after expiry/cancellation of registration. He shall be liable to pay the postage and their charges like handling charge, even if he refuses to accept delivery of the article during the period.
Conditions of Posting
The postage on Free Post articles shall be chargeable at the rate as applicable, from time to time, to letter post articles. For example, for a Free Post article weighing up to 20 grams the postage to be charged at present rates would be INR 5. In addition to the postage, a handling charge of INR 1/- per article would be chargeable.
Postage on Free Post articles and the handling charge shall be paid by the addressee.
In case an article, on which postage has been prepaid, is received for delivery as a Free Post article, postage will not be charged. However, handling charges would still be recovered. In case, the postage on the article is inadequate, the article will be treated as a ‘bearing’ letter and charges would be recovered accordingly.
Articles posted under Free Post should be super scribed with the caption “Free Post Service” on the top centre of the article. Customers should inform their clients accordingly.
Application for Registration
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