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1687 - Edinburgh local letter ... pay 12d to Mr Mein for postage'
6

gth November 1687. Local letter, sent within Edinburgh, with the unusual
endorsement

'pay 12d to Mr Mein for postage'

12d Scots equated to 1d English, so this was equivalent to a penny rate.
Very few letters have been recorded with a charge expressed in Scots
currency and no similar endorsement on an Edinburgh local letter has been
recorded to date.
Robert Mein, the Keeper of the Edinburgh Letter Office, managed the city's
postal business from the 1650's until the 1680's. He was a well known
character, frequently in dispute with the Postmasters General of England
and Scotland, Edinburgh's merchants and the Scottish Privy Council.
Previously, Mein had been accused of charging an additional 1 d sterling
(12d Scots) for delivering London letters to Edinburgh addresses and it is
quite plausible that he would also have operated a delivery service for local
letters within Edinburgh at a charge.
However, there is no evidence that Robert Mein had organised a penny post
system similar to that initiated in London by William Dockwra. It is much
more likely that, as an entrepreneur, he had simply taken the opportunity to
earn extra pennies by providing an ad hoe delivery service within the city.