It has been customary to point to the postage rates of 1660 as lower than any before the nineteenth century. This is true in a general way, but one limitation to the statement is generally overlooked. Before 1696 all posts ran to or from London, and it was not until well on in the eighteenth century that the system of cross posts was introduced. Bristol and Exeter are less than eighty miles apart, but a letter from Bristol to Exeter went to London first and from there to Exeter, travelling about 300 miles to reach a town eighty miles distant. Now by the act of 1660, the rate for distances above 80 miles was 3d. Thus the letter paid 3d. from Bristol to London and 3d. more from London to Exeter, 6d. in all. If there had been a direct post from Bristol to Exeter, and there was not until 1698, the postage would have been 2d. only. The possibility of such an anomaly as this must be kept in mind in considering the low rates of the seventeenth century.
In James the Second's reign, a Post Office had been established in Jamaica, and rates of postage had been settled not only in the island itself but between it and the mother country. This was a new departure, since at that time there were no packet boats to the West Indies. The rate between England and Jamaica was 6d. for a single letter, 1s. for a double letter, and 2s. an ounce. As the Crown was not at the expense of maintaining means of transport, this was a pure tax.[577] In 1704, the postage on a single letter from the West Indies was raised to 7½d., for a double letter 15d., but Dummer's packets were then in operation.[578]
In 1698, a system of posts had been established in the American colonies between the largest towns on the Atlantic coast. All that is known about the rates is that the charge for the conveyance of a letter between Boston and New York was 1s. and the post went weekly between those places.[579] Hamilton, the deputy manager, proposed that letters from England should be sent in sealed bags entrusted to the masters of ships. The bags were to be handed over to the postmaster of the port where the ship first touched and the captain was to receive a penny for each letter. He advised that the following rates should be adopted:—
| Not exceeding 80 miles from | New York | 6d. |
| From 80 to 150 miles from | New York | 9 |
| To and from Boston and New | York, 300 miles | 12 |
| Jersey, 370 miles | 18 | |
| Philadelphia, 390 miles | 20 | |
| Annapolis, 550 miles | 36 | |
| Jamestown, 680 miles | 42 | |
| New York and | Annapolis, 250 miles | 24 |
| Jamestown, 380 miles | ||
| (with many dangerous places to cross by ferry) | 30 |
These rates were said to be too high and were not adopted, "it being found that cheap postage greatly encourages letter writing, as is shown by the reduction in England from 6d. to 3d."[580]
The preamble to the act of 1711 offered as an explanation of an increase in rates the necessity for money for the war and the prevention of private competition in carrying letters. It is plain that higher rates will, up to a certain point, increase proceeds, though not proportionately, but how increased rates can decrease competition is more difficult to explain. Witherings had found that the cheaper he made postage, the less fear was there from interlopers. It is possible that the framers of the bill had intended to use part of the increase in revenue for the support of searchers, but no such provision is contained in the act itself.[581] On the ground that a large revenue was necessary, no fault can be found with the increase. It is probably true that in course of time lower rates would have increased the product more than higher, but war and its demands wait for no man. The people who could write and who needed to write were in a small minority then, and their number could not for a long time be influenced by lower rates. What was needed at once was money and the only way to raise it by means of the Post Office was the one adopted.
The rates for single letters within England and between England and Edinburgh were increased by a penny for a single letter; for double letters and parcels in proportion. To Dublin the charge remained the same, and the rates within Ireland were not changed. In the act of 1660, the postage on letters delivered in Scotland had been reckoned from Berwick. Edinburgh was now made the centre and the rates were as follows:—
| For a single letter | Per ounce | |
| From Edinburgh within Scotland | d. | d. |
| Not exceeding 50 miles | 2 | 8 |
| Above 50 and not exceeding 80 miles | 3 | 12 |
| Above 80 miles | 4 | 16[582] |
The rates within Scotland were lower than those within England and Ireland. Scotland had a 2d. rate for distances not exceeding fifty miles. England had no rate under 3d., except for the Penny Post. Ireland, too, had a 2d. rate for distances not exceeding forty miles, but for distances from forty to eighty miles and over, the rate for Irish letters was 4d., while in England the rate was only 3d. for distances not exceeding eighty miles. The distances which letters travelled within Scotland were shorter than in England and Ireland. As a rule the different rates for the three countries varied with their wealth and consequent ability to pay, the least being required from poverty-stricken Scotland. The new rates as compared with the old were for a single letter:[583]—