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Stamps











          The special pneumatic mail system reduced rate,


        known as “de l'orage” (the storm rate) (1927)



                                                           By Hervé Barbelin of the Academy of Philately

        The conference used press clippings along with sample correspondence to tell the story
        of a special rate in response to a weather event.



                            The conference used press clippings along   subscribers  in the  Invalides, Segur and
                            with sample correspondence to tell the sto-  Vaugirard telephone sectors,  which nor-
                            ry of a special rate in response to a weather   mally  depended  on  the Segur exchange,
                            event.                                      had their telephone service cut off. The offi-
                            A storm burst the sewer system and floo-    cial repair time was expected to be several
                            ded the basements of the “Segur” telephone   weeks.
                            exchange to a height of two metres on the   The postal minister, Maurice Bokanowski,
                            afternoon of 11 July 1927. It followed on   initially took two usual steps in these ins-
                            an earlier storm which had caused flooding   tances: he  suspended collection  of the
                            rising  to 50  centimetres on  6 July  and a   subscription  fees  and  provided  users  ac-
                            fire caused by a short-circuit on 25 June,   cess to public telephone booths at the same
                            which had led to damage that was about to   rate as if they were using their subscriber
                            be repaired.  The exchange accumulators     telephone. Faced with  protests  by  users
                            and distributors were flooded and 12,000    due  to the  perceived  poor compensation
                                                                        for a disruption due to last several weeks,
                                                                        the minister then decided that subscribers
                                                                        could, as of 18 July 1927, and for the pe-
                                                                        riod during  which their  telephone service
                                                                        would be disrupted, send and receive mail
                                                                        via  the  pneumatic system  at  the  cancel-
                                                                        lation rate of 0.30 francs (that is, the unit
                                                                        price of a call) instead of 1.50 francs (the
                                                                        rate of the first pneumatic mail service le-
                                                                        vel, 01/05/1926). The rate was even lower
                                                                        than for a single letter at the domestic rate
                                                                        (0.50 francs).
                                                                        The mail of the type sent by the subscribers
                                                                        had to be deposited at the counter of one
                                                                        of the offices of the 7th, 14th or 15th arron-
                                                                        dissements or at the counter of the subur-
                                                                        ban municipality for suburban subscribers


        First day of the measure, 18 July 1927; benefits from the measure allowed with
        the telephone number of the sender (Segur). The signature of the PARIS 102
        counter (boulevard Pasteur, in the 15th arrondissement) proves the validity of the
        cancellation. The telephone number of the recipient was not required.





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