Blogbrew538

The posting rule (or mailbox rule in the United States, also known as the 'postal rule' or 'deposited acceptance rule') is an exception to the general rule of contract law in common law countries that acceptance of an offer takes place when communicated. Under the posting rule, that acceptance takes effect when a letter is posted (that is, dropped in a post box or handed to a postal worker).^[1] In plain English, the 'meeting of the minds' necessary to contract formation occurs at the exact moment word of acceptance is sent via post by the person accepting it, rather than when that acceptance is received by the person who offered the contract.

1. Royal Mail Priority Post Box
2. Original Royal Mail Post Box For Sale Ebay

• Royal mail post box for sale Set of x13 Model Royal Mail Post Boxes Diecast Metal c.10cm high (very detailed): 9.5 £ Royal Mail Post Box Door Insert Sign Co #For-sale.co.uk SEARCH.
• The post box - a brief history. The postal service as we know it started in 1840 and the first cast iron post box appeared in 1852. At that time it was up to the top man in each postal district to commission boxes from the local foundry, and, consequently, the design varied considerably in the early days.

The rules of contracts by post (postal rules) include the following:

ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL CLAIMS FORM - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. FOR CLAIMING WHEN ITEMS FAIL TO BE DELIVERED USING INTERNATIONAL POSTING. Royal mail red post box for sale royal mail red post box: 46 £ REG CARTER COMIC LADY POSTMAN POST BOX ROYAL MAIL RED LETTERBOX ANYTHING FOR ME: 4.6 £ roya #For-sale.co.uk. Royal Crown Cola Metal Cooler.

1. An offer made by post/letter is not effective until received by the offeree.
2. Acceptance is effective as soon as it is posted.
3. For revocation to be effective, it must be received by the offeree before they post their letter of acceptance.

One rationale given for the rule is that the offeror nominates the post office as his or her implied agent, and thus receipt of the acceptance by the post office is regarded as receipt by the offeror. The main effect of the posting rule is that the risk of acceptance being delivered late or lost in the post is placed upon the offeror. If the offeror is reluctant to accept this risk, he can always expressly require actual receipt as a condition before being legally bound by his offer.

English case law[edit]

The rule was established by a series of 19th century cases, starting with Adams v Lindsell (1818) B & Ald 681, which was later confirmed and expanded in Dunlop v Higgins (1848) 1 HL Cas 381, Household Fire and Carriage Accident Insurance Co Ltd v Grant (1879) 4 Ex D 216 and Henthorn v Fraser [1892] 2 Ch 27.

The posting rule applies only to acceptance. Other contractual letters (such as one revoking the offer) do not take effect until the letter is delivered, as in Stevenson, Jacques & Co v McLean (1880) 5 QBD 346. The implication of this is that it is possible for a letter of acceptance to be posted after a letter of revocation of the offer has been posted but before it is delivered, and acceptance will be complete at the time that the letter of acceptance was posted—the offeror's revocation would be inoperative.

Example 1:

• Day 1: A makes an offer to B.
• Day 2: A decides to revoke the offer and puts a letter in the mail to B revoking the offer.
• Day 3: B puts a letter accepting the offer in the mail.
• Day 4: B receives A's revocation letter.
  • The letter of revocation can be effective only when received, that is Day 4.
  • However, a contract was formed on Day 3 when the letter of acceptance was posted.
  • It is too late for A to revoke the offer.

Example 2:

• Day 1: A makes an offer to B.
• Day 2: B intends to reject the offer by putting a letter in the mail to A rejecting the offer.
• Day 3: B changes his mind and sends a fax to A accepting the offer.
  • In this situation, whichever communication A receives first will govern.

Example 3:

• Day 1: A makes an offer to sell a parcel of land to B.
• Day 2: B mails her acceptance.
• Day 3: Before A receives B's acceptance, B telephones A and states she wishes to reject the offer.
• Day 4: B's original letter of acceptance arrives, A then records the contract as a sale.
  • B's acceptance of the offer means there is a binding contract – she is obliged to pay for the land or be liable for damages.
  • B is just rejecting the offer, she did not actually revoke her acceptance

Under the posting rule, performance is a means of acceptance. If A orders 1000 blue coathangers and B ships them out, that shipment is considered to be a conveyance of acceptance of A's offer to buy the coathangers. Defective performance is also an acceptance, unless accompanied by an explanation. For example, if A orders 1000 blue coathangers, and B mistakenly ships 1000 red coathangers, this is still an acceptance of the contract. However, if B ships the red coathangers with a note that they sent these because they had run out of blue coathangers, this is not an acceptance, but rather an accommodation, which is a form of counter-offer.

An interesting implication of the operation of the posting rule is that an acceptance is complete once the letter of acceptance is posted; it makes no difference whether the offeror actually receives the letter. This was demonstrated in Byrne v Van Tienhoven (1880) 5 CPD 344. If a letter of acceptance were to be lost, acceptance has still taken place.

Furthermore, the posting rule does not apply to instantaneous forms of communications. For example, in Entores Ltd v Miles Far East Corporation [1955] 2 QB 327, the Court held that the posting rule did not apply to an acceptance by telex as the Court regarded it as an instantaneous form of communication. The general principle that acceptance takes place when communicated applies to instantaneous forms of communication. Courts have similarly held that the posting rule does apply to acceptances by telephone or fax.

The courts are yet to decide whether e-mail should be regarded as an instantaneous form of communication. If the offeree were to convey acceptance by commercially unreasonable means – by cross-country pony express, for example – the acceptance would not be effective until it had actually been received.

A letter is regarded as 'posted' only when it is in the possession of the Post Office; this was established in the case of Re London & Northern Bank [1900] 1 Ch 220. A letter of acceptance is not considered 'posted' if it is handed to an agent to deliver, such as a courier. This is not the case under the Uniform Commercial Code.

The posting rule does not apply to option contracts or irrevocable offers where acceptance is still effective only upon receipt. This is because the offeree no longer needs protection against subsequently mailed revocations of the offer.

Where parties are at distance from one another, and an offer is sent by mail, it is universally held in this country [United States] that the reply accepting the offer may be sent through the same medium, and, if it is so sent, the contract will be complete when the acceptance is mailed, ... and beyond the acceptor's control; the theory being that, when one makes an offer through the mail, he authorizes the acceptance to be made through the same medium his agent to receive his acceptance; that the acceptance, when mailed, is then constructively communicated to the offeror.

American case law[edit]

The Court of Appeals for the Third District of Texas considered the mailbox rule in 1994 in the case of Cantu v Central Education Agency and others. The Texas Business and Commercial Code, following the Uniform Commercial Code, states that 'unless otherwise unambiguously indicated by the language or circumstances, ... (1) an offer to make a contract shall be construed as inviting acceptance in any manner and by any medium reasonable in the circumstances'.^[2] Cantu had hand-delivered a letter resigning from an offered contract of employment to the Central Education Agency's office in San Benito on a Saturday, and it was therefore read by its recipient on the Monday morning. The letter stated that outstanding pay should be forwarded to an address in McAllen, around 50 miles (80 km) from San Benito. A letter was posted back on the Monday evening, accepting the resignation. On the Tuesday morning, Cantu hand-delivered a letter withdrawing her resignation, but the superintendent of schools advised her that her resignation had already been accepted, by virtue of an acceptance letter being posted to the McAllen address. Cantu argued that postal acceptance was not valid because her withdrawal letter had been hand-delivered. The trial court and the appeal court accepted the Agency's opinion that it was reasonable, taking account of all the circumstances, for the Agency to accept the resignation by mail.^[3]

The majority rule in the United States is that the mailbox rule does not apply to option contracts. By default, an option contract is accepted when the offeror receives the acceptance, not when the offeree mails it. However, because the California Civil Code applies the mailbox rule to all contracts, California follows the minority rule, under which the mailbox rule does also apply to option contracts.^[4]

Australian case law[edit]

In Tallerman & Co Pty Ltd v Nathan's Merchandise (1957) 98 CLR 93, 111-112^[5]Dixon CJ and Fullagar J took a more restrictive view. 'The general rule is that a contract is not completed until acceptance of an offer is actually communicated to the offeror, and a finding that a contract is completed by the posting of a letter of acceptance cannot be justified unless it is to be inferred that the offeror contemplated and intended that his offer might be accepted by the doing of that act.' The High Court included the element of intention.

Civil law jurisdictions[edit]

Civil law jurisdictions do not follow the postal rule. The classical civil law position is that acceptance, like any expression of will, can only be effective if it was communicated to the addressee, unless the lack of communication can be attributed to the latter.^[6]The Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods chooses a compromise between the two approaches: According to article 18(2) of the Convention, an acceptance is effective when it reaches the offeror. However, article 16(1) of the Convention provides for the most important consequence of the common law 'posting rule', that is, an offer may not be revoked if the revocation reaches the offeree after it has dispatched an acceptance.^[7]

UNCITRAL model law[edit]

Many countries have enacted legislation based on the UNCITRAL Model Law of Electronic Commerce. Such legislation is often entitled the Electronic Transactions Act. Among other issues, this legislation deals a default rule for the time that email (electronic communications) is sent and when it is received. However it is mistaken to suggest that it deals with a clarification of the postal acceptance rule for electronic communications. There are two schools of thought.

1. Ask if the postal acceptance rule applies to emails (electronic communications). If your answer is yes, then the relevant Electronic Transaction Act (ETA) can help. The postal acceptance rule states that there is a contract when posted – so we should apply the 'sent' rule under the ETA. If the answer is no; then either apply the 'received' rule under the ETA or ignore it and use the contract rule of communication.
2. Instead, treat the Electronic Transactions Act as an intended substitute and statutory replacement of the postal acceptance rule; in which case the 'received' rule should apply. The problem with this second school of thought is that there is nothing in the Model Law of Electronic Commerce, nor the ETAs which suggests that it was intended to replace the postal acceptance rule. We are still waiting for a court to decide.

Royal Mail Priority Post Box

The UNCITRAL rules on time of sending and receiving are:

1. Unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee, the dispatch of a data message occurs when it enters an information system outside the control of the originator or of the person who sent the data message on behalf of the originator.
2. Unless otherwise agreed between the originator and the addressee, the time of receipt of a data message is determined as follows:

(a) if the addressee has designated an information system for the purpose of receiving data messages, receipt occurs:

(i) at the time when the data message enters the designated information system; or

(ii) if the data message is sent to an information system of the addressee that is not the designated information system, at the time when the data message is retrieved by the addressee;

(b) if the addressee has not designated an information system, receipt occurs when the data message enters an information system of the addressee.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^The post office will be the universal service provider, such as the Royal Mail or Australia Post or United States Postal Service
2. ^Texas Business and Commercial Code, section 2.206, accessed 2 February 2021
3. ^Maria Diosel Cantu v. Central Education Agency; Lionel R. Meno, in His Official Capacity Only; and San Benito Consolidated Independent School District--Appeal from 331st District Court of Travis County, filed 28 September 1994, accessed 2 February 2021
4. ^Palo Alto Town & Country Village, Inc. v. BBTC Company, 11 Cal. 3d 494, 113 Cal. Rptr. 705, 521 P.2d 1097 (1974).
5. ^Tallerman & Co Pty Ltd v Nathan's Merchandise (1957) 98 CLR 93
6. ^See e.g. Article 3:37 of the Dutch Civil Code, Article 130 of the German Civil Code
7. ^See Articles 18 and 16(1) of the Vienna Convention

References[edit]

• E Peel, Treitel: The Law of Contract (12 edn Thomson, London 2007) 26-32

Original Royal Mail Post Box For Sale Ebay

External links[edit]

New Zealand Post (Māori: Tukurau Aotearoa) is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand.

History[edit]

The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommunications services in New Zealand until 1987. By the 1980s, however, economic difficulties made the government reconsider how it delivered postal services. For example, in 1987-1988, the postal division lost NZ$50 million.^[1] In 1985, the Labour Partygovernment under Prime MinisterDavid Lange launched a review, led by New Zealand Motor Corporation CEO Roy Mason and KPMG New Zealand Chairman Michael Morris, to find solutions to the Post Office's problems. In its final report, the team recommended transforming the New Zealand Post Office into three state-owned enterprises. The government in 1986 decided to follow the Mason-Morris review's recommendations, and passed through parliament the State-Owned Enterprises Act, which corporatised several government agencies into state-owned enterprises.^[2][3] The Post Office's corporatisation was then completed with the 1987 passage of the Postal Services Act.^[1][4] The two acts broke up the New Zealand Post Office into three corporations: the postal service firm New Zealand Post Limited, the savings bank Post Office Bank Limited, later rebranded as PostBank, and the telecommunications company Telecom New Zealand Limited. Today, only New Zealand Post remains a state-owned enterprise, as PostBank and Telecom were privatised in 1989 and 1990, respectively.^[5]

In its first year of operation, New Zealand Post turned the losses of previous years into a NZ$72 million profit.^[6]

A year after the 1987 Post Office Act, the Lange Government declared its plan to fully privatise the post.^[6] To prepare for privatisation, it decided to gradually reduce NZ Post's monopoly. When it was corporatised in 1987, New Zealand Post had a monopoly for mail up to 500 grams and NZ$1.75 value. This was first reduced to $1.35, then $1, and finally 80 cents. The government also let NZ Post downsize by closing a third of its locations. In 1991-1992, another review came out in support of the government's privatisation plan. However, by the end of 1993 the government abandoned its plan because of public opposition.^[1]

New Zealand Post began its life with 1,244 post offices, later rebranded as PostShops, of which 906 were full post offices and 338 were postal agencies. After government subsidies expired in February 1988, 600 post offices or bank branches were downsized or closed. As of March 1998, there were 297 PostShops and 705 Post Centres. However, there are now more outlets than before corporatisation, with 2,945 other retailers of postage stamps.^{[citation needed]}

There was a reduction in the 'real' price of postage, with a nominal drop of the postage rate from 45 cents to 40 cents in 1996, and restoration of the 45 cent rate in 2004. Since then the cost has risen to 50 cents in 2007, to 60 cents in 2010 and to 70 cents in 2012. On 1 July 2016 postage for standard letters will increase by 20 cents to $1.00 and Fastpost by 40 cents to $1.80.

Regulation[edit]

The Lange government's Postal Services Act 1987 reduced the monopoly of New Zealand Post to a limit of $1.75 and 500 grams. It was gradually reduced to 80 cents in December 1991 until the 1998 legislation took effect.

The Postal Services Act 1998, passed by a National-New Zealand First coalition government, repealed the 1987 Act. The new law provides for any person to become a registered postal operator by applying to the Ministry of Economic Development (now Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment). Registration as a postal operator is compulsory for letters with postage less than 80 cents. Despite the Act, government regulation of the company still requires it to maintain certain minimum service levels, such as frequency of delivery.

New Zealand Post's exclusive right to be the 'sole operator' under the Act for the purposes of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) expired on 1 April 2003. For practical purposes, this meant another postal operator could theoretically issue stamps identified simply as 'New Zealand' with UPU membership. At around the same time, New Zealand Post adopted a fern-shaped identifying mark on its postage stamps, to be used on the majority of its future issues.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1998 New Zealand Post has been legally obliged to deliver six days a week, but in 2013 the company outlined a plan to reduce this to three, in the wake of falling mail volumes.^[7] Prime Minister John Key backed the idea, saying people 'genuinely understand that the world is changing'.^[8]

New Zealand Post is legally obligated to maintain a certain service level under a deed of understanding it signed with the New Zealand government following the post's corporatisation in 1987. According to the agreement, last amended in 2013, New Zealand Post has to operate at least 880 service points where basic postal services are available, and within this network 240 so-called “Personal Assistance Service Points,” where additional postal services, such as priority or parcel services, are available.^[9] As of 30 June 2016, New Zealand Post maintained 987 service points, 511 which were personal assistance service points. In all, the post operated 882 retail locations in mid-2016.The standard of signature/non-signature parcel delivery services, varies with their customers sometimes left a mailbox card instructing them to pick up parcels from the nearest NZ Post Depot or if a small address discrepancy/address damage is discovered, the parcel is invariably returned to the sender, usually with no efforts directed toward telephoning, emailing or looking up the recipient in a directory, whist more effort is prioritised into delivering miss-addressed letters.^[10]

Operations[edit]

In 1989 New Zealand Post established CourierPost, a nationwide courier company designed to protect the company's parcel business from private competition. By 1998 CourierPost had become the number one player in the express courier market.^[11]

In 1999 New Zealand Post launched a 50:50 joint operation with Blue Star. The new brand – Books and More – combined bookshop operations with the more traditional PostShop services. After acquiring 100% of the company in 2004 (by this stage the other 50% had been owned by WH Smith, owner of Whitcoulls bookshops) the entire operation was eventually sold to Paper Plus in 2005 and by 2006 all had been re-branded as Take Note.^[12][13]

In 2002 New Zealand Post, as part of government policy, opened the bank Kiwibank Limited in the majority of its PostShop and Books and More (now Take Note) branches. Kiwibank is wholly owned by New Zealand Post through subsidiaries.^[14]

In 2002 NZ Post bought The ECN Group which is now New Zealand Post's corporate venturing arm. Its purpose is to develop and market technologies and services that may replace or enhance New Zealand Post's traditional services. The ECN Group focuses on B2B messaging, business process management and systems integration, with a presence in New Zealand, Australia and Asia.^[15][16]

In 2004 New Zealand Post announced the formation of Express Couriers Ltd (ECL), a 50:50 joint venture with courier company DHL. In 2008 New Zealand Post and DHL commenced a similar joint venture in Australia called Parcel Direct Group Pty Limited (PDG). In 2012 New Zealand Post purchased DHL's holdings in these two companies.^[17] ECL operates extensive courier and logistics services throughout New Zealand and encompasses the CourierPost, Pace, RoadStar and Contract Logistics brands.

New Zealand Post also owned 35% of IT firm Datacom Group until December 2012.^[18]

New Zealand Post also runs the Electoral Enrolment Centre as a business unit under contract to the Ministry of Justice. Its function is to compile and maintain all electoral rolls for parliamentary and local government elections.

On 6 July 2010, New Zealand Post registered a 100 percent stake in Localist Limited, a local directory and social media site focusing initially on the Auckland region.^[19] This holding was sold in 2014 in a management buyout led by the then CEO, Christine Domecq.^[20][21]

By end of June 2011, New Zealand Post will have 910 postal outlets and 280 PostShop Kiwibank stores after shuts and downgrades more than a dozen branches nationwide. To compensate, the company was also planning to install new self-service kiosks similar to ATMs for handling letters, bill payments and parcels.^[22]

One of the ways New Zealand Post is trying to make up for lost revenue due to fewer people sending letters is partnering with other companies. The Post on 3 April 2017 announced that it will work with fast food restaurant chain KFC to have postal drivers deliver KFC's food to customers. The partnership will be piloted in the northern city of Tauranga, then expanded to more locations across New Zealand.^[23]

Issue of stamps[edit]

New Zealand Post is responsible for deciding on stamp design and stamp production. Only New Zealand Post is allowed to “issue postage stamps that bear the words “New Zealand,” according to New Zealand law.^[24] Each year the Post's stamp business unit sets how many stamps it will issue and what the stamps will depict. The Post considers suggestions from New Zealand citizens and people around the world when deciding the subject of stamps. It also works with organizations to create commemorative stamps. For example, in 2014, the Post collaborated with Air New Zealand to issue a stamp for the airline's 75th anniversary.^[25]

Once a decision on the stamp's subject is made, the Post asks at least two designers to draw a sketch, from which the final design is chosen. There are four things each stamp design must include: the stamp's denomination, the words New Zealand, a fern, one of the country's unofficial symbols, and a description of what the stamp depicts. Finally, the Post uses printers from around the world to print the stamps–it does not print them itself.^[26][27]

New Zealand's first stamp was issued by New Zealand Post's predecessor, the Post Office Department of the New Zealand government, in 1855. The stamp depicted Queen Victoria, then the Queen of New Zealand, and was printed in one penny, two pence and one shilling denominations.^[28]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcCampbell, Robert (13 March 2002). Politics of Postal Transformation: Modernizing Postal Systems in the Electronic and Global World. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN978-0773523685.
2. ^'State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986'. ActNo. 1986 124of18 December 1986. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
3. ^'The 1980s'. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
4. ^'Post Office Act Repeal Act 1987'. ActNo. 1987 115of1 July 1987. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
5. ^'Brief country report: New Zealand'(PDF). Ecorys. 17 February 1998. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
6. ^ ^ab'History of New Zealand Post'. New Zealand Post. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
7. ^'NZ Post to halve weekly deliveries'. 3 News NZ. 29 January 2013. Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
8. ^'NZ leads world in postal cuts'. 3 New NZ. 28 February 2013. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013.
9. ^'Deed of Amendment and Restatement between New Zealand Post and the Crown'(PDF). New Zealand Post Group. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
10. ^'New Zealand Post Group Annual Report 2016'(PDF). New Zealand Post Group. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
11. ^CourierPost Profile. Web.archive.org (17 May 2000). Retrieved on 2013-07-16.
12. ^Media release – 2 February 2004^{[dead link]}
13. ^'Company History: Paper Plus Group'. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009.
14. ^'KIWIBANK LIMITED (1135352) Registered'. Companies Office.
15. ^'NZ Post buys ECN'. NZ Herald. 5 November 2002.
16. ^ECN GroupArchived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
17. ^New Zealand Post Positions for the Future | New Zealand Post. Nzpost.co.nz (25 June 2012). Retrieved on 2013-07-16.
18. ^'Datacom Group Limited'. Companies Office of New Zealand. 20 March 2014.
19. ^View All Details. Business.govt.nz. Retrieved on 16 July 2013.
20. ^'New Zealand Post sells Localist'. 2 April 2014. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014.
21. ^'NZ Post sells Localist'. Stuff. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
22. ^Small, Vernon (13 May 2011). 'Wellington branches among PostShops to close'. The Dominion Post. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
23. ^Eleanor Ainge Roy (4 April 2017). 'Chicken run: New Zealand Post will start delivering KFC to beat mail slump'. Dunedin: The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
24. ^'Postal Services Act 1998'. ActNo. 1998 2of18 March 1998. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
25. ^'New Air NZ stamp ready to fly'. Stuff.co.nz. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
26. ^'The stamp-making process'. New Zealand Post. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
27. ^'Stamp production'. New Zealand Post. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
28. ^'New Zealand's first postage stamps go on sale'. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 5 April 2017.

External links[edit]

• Postal Policy at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment