The Beginner’s Guide to using a franking machine for mass mailings
Many organisations from large companies to sole traders, government agencies and the public sector send thousands of items of post daily. Imagine the hassle and cost of mass mailing if you had to go back and forth to the Post Office to send your letters every day and the time wasted in the queue waiting for your bulky envelopes to be weighed and stamped. With a franking machine, you won’t have that problem and it’s the perfect way to manage mass mailings too.
What is a franking machine?
A franking machine is a device programmed to assign postage to letters speedily with minimal effort. Instead of sticking stamps on the envelopes, the franking machine quickly marks the envelopes with a postal mark that identifies the cost based on its weight and destination. The use of the machine is recommended to all businesses especially those with a high volume of mail to be sent every day.
How can a franking machine help me to save time?
Depending on the size and capability of your machine, it will weigh your mail and determine the correct level of postage for each item. Indeed, you may have experienced the inconvenience of receiving mail that has been under-stamped by the sender. You have to visit the local Post Office to collect the post and pay a surcharge, what impression did you have of the sender? And if you over-stamp your mail because you are not sure of your parcel’s weight, you ended up paying more than the correct amount. With a franking machine, you can avoid that scenario, it has a built-in scale with just a press of a button. No more overpaying, instead, you’ll get a discount.
Some franking machines have advanced functionality such as automatically opening, inserting and sealing the envelopes for you together with envelope stacking to complete and shorten the process. Without a franking machine, this would have been a labour-intensive task that required an operator to feed, stuff and weigh the envelopes manually.
You can save money too
In fact, the Royal Mail encourages companies to frank their letters. They even offer discounts to customers who use franking machines to send their mail because it helps the Royal Mail to reduce their mailroom expenses. Every franking machine should be linked electronically to the Royal Mail and you can save as much as 21% to 34% on sending 1st and 2nd class post. Other types of mail that can be franked are special delivery, recorded delivery, international or airmail, cleanmail, mailsort and parcel worldwide services.
Aside from the basic information that franking marks contain, it also gives your company free publicity. You can put personalised items such as your company logo and promotional text so that your clients can instantly recognise your company and the services you offer.
Convenient to use and operates 24/7
You don’t have to visit the Post Office to pay for your postage. Everything is prepaid, that means you just have to pay for the postage in advance via online and every time you frank a piece of mail, the credit will be deducted from your account, as long as you retain the maintaining balance, you can transact anytime, even when the Post Office is closed.
The Royal Mail will provide you with pouches or mail bags for free. You can choose to either deliver your franked mail at a local Post Office or have someone from Royal Mail collect it for you for a fee.
Manage your expenses
Another key feature of a franking machine is its ability to keep records paired with PIN capability for record safekeeping. It has a log of all your outgoing mail transactions which can help you to keep tab on your postal expenditure and make sure you are within your budget.
Tips for acquiring a franking machine
When choosing a franking machine, look for a machine that can perform all the tasks that your business needs at a reasonable price. If you purchase a cheaper machine that’s capable of only processing a small volume of mail but overuse it, you’ll end up facing machine issues and spend more in machine repairs.