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For the town in Upper Austria, see Franking, Austria.

An example of a franked mailing

Franking is the marking of mail by a company or government that offers free or low cost postage privileges, or the convenience of sending bulk mail without using normal postage stamps. The practice dates back to the seventeenth-century British House of Commons.

Franking privilege, typically granted to certain elected officials by a government, is the privilege to send mail for free. A franking privileged person adds his or her signature or a facsimile thereof to the upper right corner of a letter or parcel in lieu of a postage stamp. Common uses of the franking privilege include replies to letters sent by constituents, and brief newsletters intended to keep citizens informed of the privileged member's activities. Elected officials and the postal service are both endowed by the taxpayer. Adding an official's mail to the existing mailstream does not change the total fixed cost of the postal system^{[citation needed]} for the taxpayer, and avoids reciprocal accounting transactions. However, it is argued that due to variable cost the total cost is increased.

In countries where franking is practiced, the privilege has long been considered an important tool for keeping elected officials in touch with their constituents, but its use is also frequently criticized as a way for officials to campaign for reelection and otherwise glorify themselves at the expense of the taxpayer. Officials are usually not given a blanket right to send mail for free, but instead are subject to oversight and regulation and sometimes must comply with budgetary restrictions and disclosure requirements.

In April 2005 the Royal Mail in the United Kingdom introduced discounts to businesses using mail franking, perhaps in recognition of the reduced cost of processing these mailings.^[1]

In the United States, members of the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, as well as certain congressional officials such as the Superintendent of Documents, are allowed to send franked mail to their constituents. The 6-member bipartisan Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, colloquially known as the Franking Commission, is responsible for oversight and regulation in the U.S. House of Representatives. Among other things, it has established a firm "Official Mail Allowance" for each Congressman, based proportionally on the number of constituents they serve. In addition, former Presidents and their spouse or widow have franking privileges as well. Presidents who were convicted in the Senate as a result of impeachment proceedings do not have franking privileges after being forced to leave office. [1]. Sitting Presidents do not have franking privileges.

In Canada, the Governor General, members of the Canadian Senate, members of the House of Commons, the Speaker of the Senate, Clerk of House of Commons, Parliamentary Librarian, Associate Parliamentary Librarian, Ethics Commissioner and Senate Ethics Officer all have franking privilege and mails sent to or from these people are sent free of charge.^[2]

A limited form of franking originated in the British Parliament in 1660, with the passage of an act authorizing the formation of the General Post Office. In the 19th century, as use of the post office increased significantly in Britain, it was expected that anybody with a Parliament connection would get his friends' mail franked.

In the United States, franking predates the establishment of the republic itself, as the Continental Congress bestowed the privilege on its members in 1775, and the First United States Congress enacted a franking law in 1789 during its very first session. Congress members would spend much time "inscribing their names on the upper right-hand corner of official letters and packages" until the 1860s for the purpose of sending out postage free mail. Yet, on January 31, 1873, the Senate abolished "the congressional franking privilege after rejecting a House-passed provision that would have provided special stamps for the free mailing of printed Senate and House documents." Within two years, however, Congress began to make exceptions to this ban, including free mailing of the Congressional Record, seeds, and agricultural reports. Finally, in 1891, noting that its members were the only government officials required to pay postage, Congress restored full franking privileges. Since then, the franking of congressional mail has been subject to ongoing review and regulation.

The phrase franking is derived from the Latin word "francus" meaning free. Another use of that term is speaking "frankly", i.e. "freely".

Because Benjamin Franklin was an early United States Postmaster General, satirist Richard Armour referred to free congressional mailings as the "Franklin privilege".

1. ^ Royal Mail – Postal options and advice. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
2. ^ Canada Post – Paying for a Mailing, Product or Service. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.

• History of Franked Mail from the Senate.gov
• E050 Official Mail (Franked) from the United States Post Office
• infoplease
• US Codes
• Overview of the U.S. congressional frank and its history
• Canadian Parliament contact information
• Description of franked mail in the United Kingdom
• Franking Machine buyer's guide
• UK Franking Machines buyers' guide