Affranchissement

Please can someone explain exactly the meaning of "Affranchissement" when it is applied within the CAD?

On internal French mail the word "affranchissement" means that payment has been paid on the letter in question. I do not know what period you are referring to specifically. During the Type Sage period (1876-1900) a very small number of provincial offices incorporated the word into the date stamp together with the name of the town. From my experience these stamps are generally seen on registered mail or certainly mail that has been dealt with over the counter rather than mail simply posted in a mail box. This would include financial products such as mandats, recouvrements etc.
Again, in the Sage period I have seen them used from Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Clermont Ferrand (possible), Lyon, Le Havre. If you have these date stamps for other toewns I would be interested to see a scan. They can be seen on ordinary letters where these are handed in at the same time as another transaction is taking place or also at year end when any date stamp that came to hand could be used given the volume of mail.

eharris wrote: Please can someone explain exactly the meaning of "Affranchissement" when it is applied within the CAD?

Thanks very much for a comprehensive answer. I should, of course, have explained my area of interest, which is, in the main, early France.
I have attached an example of a Parisian CAD and a CAD which I can't identify, but you may.
I don't think I have ever come across a word with so many meanings (one I found was "to free a slave") .

These are both applied in Paris by the Recette Principale.
Cuny and Delwaulle (Feuilles Marcophiles supplement 292 (1998) explain these cancellations as having been applied by post office employees in the "affranchissement" counter dealing with registered and insured mail or, as I explained bfore, merely left other items for posting with them. 15c would have covered the letter rate and 5c the printed matter rate or otherwise used in a combination.
The 5c cancellation is J PARIS J / Affranchissements. The letters used ran from A to L. (Delwaulle)

Thank you once again and (as my ignorance knows no bounds) may I ask more? I'm putting up five more examples, only one of which appears to carry more than the word "affrancheissements" (the red CAD on the P&C) but can you say whether more is to be read by other than my eye?

As for the red CAD, I can't make head nor tail of it, but bought it as a further example.

The word "recette" has long eluded me. Can you help me there as well?

In descending order.
1 Affranchissements Lyon
2 incomplete
3. Affranchissements Paris
4 Incomplete
5. Incomplete

Recette = A full service post office. Recette principale = head post office.

If you are interested in French postmarks and French postal history in general you might be interested in my book on the postal history of the Type Sage period (1876-1900) that explains and illustrates the postmarks of the period and details the different postal services, rates etc. The cost is £40 with 10% going to the Society.