Did people have to pay postage when they received letters in the early 19th century?

In the early nineteenth century, people did not use stamps. They had to pay postage when they received letters. The postage rate was high at that time, because the post offices had to send many people to collect the postage.
    Rowland Hill, a schoolmaster in England, was the first to put forward a proposal to use stamps. He thought it would be much easier for people to use stamps to cover postage. They could go to the nearby post office to buy stamps and put them on envelopes before they sent the letters. The post office could simply put seals on the stamps so that people could not use the stamps again. In this way, the post office did not need to send postmen to collect postage. It only needed to send fewer postmen to deliver letters. That was a good idea and the government finally accepted it.
    On May 6, 1840, post offices throughout England began to sell stamps-"One Penny" black stamps and "Two Pence" blue stamps.