diff --git a/doc/faq/howto_faq.rst b/doc/faq/howto_faq.rst
index 87be81e33fc9..4ac4c0a89f47 100644
--- a/doc/faq/howto_faq.rst
+++ b/doc/faq/howto_faq.rst
@@ -39,6 +39,17 @@ You can also filter on class instances::
         o.set_fontstyle('italic')
 
 
+.. _howto-supress_offset:
+How to prevent ticklabels from having an offset
+-----------------------------------------------
+The default formatter will use an offset to reduce
+the length of the ticklabels.  To turn this feature
+off::
+   ax.get_xaxis().get_major_formatter().set_useOffset(False)
+
+or use a different formatter.  See :mod:`~matplotlib.ticker`
+for details.
+
 .. _howto-transparent:
 
 Save transparent figures
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py b/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py
index a33e9eae4bb2..0ed70abc2775 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/ticker.py
@@ -9,6 +9,25 @@
 as well as domain specific custom ones..
 
 
+Default Formatter
+-----------------
+
+The default formatter identifies when the x-data being
+plotted is a small range on top of a large off set.  To
+reduce the chances that the ticklabels overlap the ticks
+are labeled as deltas from a fixed offset.  For example::
+
+   ax.plot(np.arange(2000, 2010), range(10))
+
+will have tick of 0-9 with an offset of +2e3.  If this
+is not desired turn off the use of the offset on the default
+formatter::
+
+
+   ax.get_xaxis().get_major_formatter().set_useOffset(False)
+
+or set a different formatter.
+
 Tick locating
 -------------