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The French Post office
The main function of the French Post Office (La Poste) is to convey letters (though La Poste also provides banking services, and you can open an account there). Letters for destinations within France usually arrive within 2 days. For international mail, delays can vary from 2 to 5 days. In many post offices, you will find automatic stamp machines, telephone booths, photocopiers and internet stations (Cyberposte service).
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Postal charges
The cost of sending a letter depends on its weight and destination. For France, it costs € 0.54 to send a letter weighing up to 20 grams and for European Union (UE) it costs €0.60 For countries outside the UE, there are different prices for each geographical region. A letter weighing more than 20 grams must be marked Lettre (all post offices have weighing scales and label dispensers).
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Buying stamps
You can buy stamps in any post office. You can also buy the most widespread stamps (0.54 or 0.60) in newspaper and tobacco kiosks.
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Postcodes
An essential part of all addresses in France is the five-digit postcode that identifies the commune. The postcode immediately precedes the name of the town or village, on the last line of the address for all mail within France.The first two digits of the postcode indicate the number of the département; and the last three digits identify the commune (for example, 56470 is the postcode for the town of La Trinité-sur-Mer in département number 56, i.e. Le Morbihan). For large cities with districts (Paris, Lyon and Marseille), the last two digits of the postcode indicate it; for example: 75006 PARIS means "Paris, 6ème arrondissement".
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Sending a parcel through the Post
If you want to send a parcel to your family, friends or whoever in your home country, you can either make your own package or buy a postage paid package at the Post Office (Colissimo Emballage: 3 sizes, for parcels up to 7kg).