In the US, if a letter is undeliverable it is sent back to the sender
marked, "Returen to Sender".  What is the equivalent in Paris?

If I try to send a letter witin Paris, France to an incorrect address,
when the letter is returned to me, what, if anything, is marked on the
envelope?

Do Parisians use the exact translation of, "Return to Sender"?  Is
another phase used?  Is the letter returned without a message? Is a
message stamped or written?

I need to know what would actually appear on such an envelope if this
were to happen today.

Thanks (I am a first time user)

---

Clarification of Question by luckyghost-ga on 18 Dec 2003 17:12 PST

Would the message be different if the letter were returned with
insufficent postage on it?

Hello luckyghost,

The following pages indicate that "Return to Sender" in France is
"Retour à l'envoyeur".

"English/French Dictionary - P"
La Poste
http://laposte2.cvf.fr/courrierinternational/anglais/kiosque/dico.asp?ver=fr&le=pqr

"Feature Country: France" (Networking News Review, Volume 9 - Issue 2,
September 2002) [under heading "Returned Mail"]
EuroLAN Research
http://www.eurolanresearch.com/news0902.htm#FRANCE

[In Canada, the preferred phrase is "Renvoi à l'expéditeur".  You can
compare the relative use of these phrases in France and Canada by
searching for each phrase in conjunction with either the term site:fr
or the term site:ca.]

I have not seen any indication that there is a special phrase meaning
"insufficient postage".  I searched long enough to conclude that there
is no general translation of that phrase.  However, it is always
difficult to prove a negative proposition.  So, if some commenter has
different information, I'm sure that you and I would both welcome it.

- justaskscott


Search terms used on Google, in various combinations:

"return to sender"
site:fr
site:ca
retour
renvoi
"retour à l'envoyeur"
"retour a l'envoyeur"
"renvoi à l'expéditeur"
"renvoi a l'expediteur"
"insufficient postage"
insuffisante
insuffisant

I'd like to add a bit to Scott's excellent answer.

As a former philatelist, I recall that French mail which was returned
to the sender was stamped "REBUTS." This is borne out by these
references:

http://www.jhinc.com/reference/ref_translate.asp 

http://www.wdsmail.com/info/GlossaryForeignTerms.asp 

"Rebuts: 1: postal marking instruction to return the piece of mail. 2:
(Fr.) (service des) undeliverable or refused international mail being
returned to sender."

http://www.askphil.org/b25r.htm 

Your question asks specifically about sending mail within Paris; my
only experience with returned French mail was international mail, and
'REBUTS' seemed to be the standard usage in the days when I was
collecting stamps and envelopes. This was in the late 1950s and early
1960s.