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Everything About Franking Machines

By: Richard Brown Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Franking machines are also referred to as postage meters, though this is more of a Pitney Bowes brand name as they are the original makers of the franking machine. Like we refer to vacuum cleaners as Hoovers (the original manufacturer).
Now days franking machines are manufactured in many shapes and sizes, and are designed for the small business doing small volumes of of mail per day, up to the largest of companies and professional mailing services. The modern day franker has come a long way from the original Pitney Bowes Postage Meter, the metal brick I had to wrestle to the post office with, to refill with postage credits in my younger days.
Today even the smallest of franking machines appears like a slick piece of computerised modern office equipment, and gone are the days of having to take the thing to the post office, as you can now refill the units electronically. Though I did exploit the opportunity to skive out the office, always maintaining the queues at the post office went on forever, even when they did not!
Progress and automation are now compelling the Royal Mail to incentivise us with better discounts in return for moving to franked mail over stamped mail.
To quote the Royal Mail website Franking is the quick and easy way to manage your mail that can save you time and money while projecting a more professional image of your company. It is cost effective and easy to use, with a flexible range of products and services and because you can pay for credit as and when you need it, you are in complete control of your postage.
What Mail can the franking machine handle?
Franking machines can be used for most Royal Mail services including:
* First Class
* Second Class
* Recorded Delivery
* Special Delivery
* Cleanmail
* Mailsort
* ParcelForce Worldwide Services
* International / Airmail

But how much money does a franking machine save my business over stamps?
Calculated over a typical small company mix of mail, mostly letters with the odd parcel thrown in about 15%!
Considering you will also gain productivity savings from not having to send someone out to buy stamps and apply them, add some nice marketing benefits (your franked mail can include your lovely colour company logo), and the humble franking machine looks very attractive indeed.
Apart from the cost of buying a franking machine (most companies lease a franker as it is the most tax efficient policy) there are a few other considerations to using a franking machine or postage meter:
* Royal Mail licensing is mandatory to using a franking machine.
* Royal Mail can withdraw permission to use a franking machine for any contravention of the terms and conditions of use or if for any other reason we believe that the machine has been misused.
* Franking machines must be checked and inspected once a year.
* You must tell Royal Mail and your machine manufacturer or supplier if any of your company details change.
* The franked impressions produced by your machine must be clear and legible, must include the date of posting and the correct postage rate for the item size, weight and destination.
* You must present your mail in accordance with the terms and conditions of your franking machine licence, segregating it by class and service, in bundles facing and oriented the same way.
* You may only use red ink when using a franking machine and this must be purchased from the supplier of the machine.
This does not cause any hassle in practice, as your supplier will deal with all the Royal Mail requirements for you.
So the Royal Mail wants us to use franking machines because it is cheaper for them to handle franked mail over stamped mail, and the bribe they give us is a very healthy discount over the cost of stamps.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

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