The traditional periods of Austrian letter-mail inflation are defined by philatelists as:
| Period | Began on | Period | Began on | |
| 1 | 12.11.1918 | 8 | 21.8.1922 | |
| 2 | 15.1.1920 | 9 | 18.9.1922 | |
| 3 | 15.4.1920 | 10 | 1.11.1922 | |
| 4 | 1.2.1921 | 11 | 1.8.1923 | |
| 5 | 1.8.1921 | 12 | 1.12.1923 | |
| 6 | 1.12.1921 | 13 | 1.12.1924 | |
| 7 | 1.5.1922 | MF | 1.6.1925 |
The start date for Period 1 is chosen because it is the date the Republic of Deutschösterreich was proclaimed; the rates didn't change. "MF" means mixed-franking. From period 2 onwards, the dates are those of postal rate changes, driven by the general inflation. New higher face values were steadily introduced, and old smaller or unusable values withdrawn, sometimes with a brief period when they could be exchanged. After February 1921 all Fahrpost (parcels etc) charges had to be paid in cash, not by applying adhesives: the opportunities for genuine use of high-value stamps were greatly diminished!
| Date | LL | IL | FL | IPC | FPC | IRg | FRg | LL, IL, FL = local, inland, foreign letter, at lowest weight step (ignoring any reduced-rate e.g. for Hungary); IPC, FPC = inland, foreign postcard (ditto); and IRg, FRg = inland, foreign registration fee. |
| 1 December 1921 | 7½ | 10 | 25 | 5 | 15 | 10 | 25 | |
| 1 May 1922 | 20 | 25 | 75 | 12½ | 45 | 40 | 75 | |
| 21 Aug 1922 | 80 | 100 | 300 | 50 | 180 | 160 | 300 | |
| 18 September 1922 | 160 | 200 | 600 | 100 | 360 | 320 | 600 | |
| 1 November 1922 | 320 | 400 | 1500 | 200 | 900 | 640 | 1500 | |
| 1 August 1922 | --- | 600 | 2000 | 300 | 1200 | 1000 | 2000 | |
| 1 December 1923 | --- | 1000 | 3000 | 500 | 1800 | 2000 | 3000 | |
| 1 December 1924 | --- | 1500 | 4000 | 700 | 2400 | 3000 | 4000 |
Inflation hit the newspaper post just as for everything else. However, the changes made to cope with it were at different dates from the 'ordinary post' changes, and were often notified in different decrees. Karasek, Kroiss and others refer to Inflation Period 1 etc BUT these are quite different from the letter mail inflation periods and there are only 5 of them - because from 1 March 1922, publishers had to pay in cash for posting their newspapers.
The newspaper period start dates are: 1st: 12 Nov 1918; 2nd: 1 July 1920; 3rd: 1 April 1921; 4th: 1 Oct 1921; 5th: 1 Jan 1922.
© The Austrian Philatelic Society. Last updated 20 November 2025