This paper explores a new reading of imperial orders about payment systems at Ottoman post stations. Although these imperial orders (ḥükm) are well known to Ottoman historians studying the postal system and have been regularly cited, this paper re-examines these sources and offers a new interpretation. It makes several new points: it identifies the different actors who made cost decisions in the Immediate (Cash) payment system (peşīn), and in the Deferred Payment system. In the former, bookkeepers based in the imperial capital with imprecise knowledge of routes, distances, and travel conditions made cost projections based on certain assumptions; in the latter, autonomous couriers who decided their itineraries and changed them according to circumstance incurred costs through a fee waiver scheme. Ultimately, due to coin shortages, the Immediate Cash Payment system led to a liquidity crunch that prompted bureaucrats to recommend a return to the Deferred Payment system. This paper takes a step back to reflect on how political economy can function as a hermeneutical tool to help historians to reach new understandings of old archival sources.