In today’s technology driven society, written communication happens mostly online, but nothing beats opening an envelope reading a letter and keeping it for future reference. When sending said communication, franked post has proven more beneficial than standard post over the years, especially with regards to costs, security, convenience, time-saving, and delivery speed.

Franked post is made using a postage meter, commonly referred to as the franking machine. With a franking machine, businesses and entrepreneurs get to prepay for their postage costs, insert a date, and affix a customized business image before having the post collected or dropped off at a local post or sorting office. There are, however, many different types of postage meters that you can choose from based upon your business needs, postage volumes as well as making sure the franking machine is using the latest Royal Mail technology, MailMark. This means that, to get the best postage meter for your business, it pays to learn more about franking machines, including how to use them, their features, pricing, and what various types can do. With this knowledge, you stand to gain the maximum benefits provided by these essential business pieces of equipment.

Here are some important features of a franking machine and how it can be highly beneficial to your business.

THE FEATURES

Automatic Envelope Feeder

Most modern-day franking machines feature what is known as “automatic envelope feeding”. Unlike in earlier machines that required you to manually feed envelope for processing, today’s versions allow you to place a stack of envelopes at the feeder tray and they get processed automatically. Most versions also come with settings for manual or semi-automatic mode.

Envelope auto-seal

Aside from the franking process, most franking machines come equipped with a feature that allows the automatic sealing of envelopes after franking and flap-opening before the process. This saves time and maximizes efficiency and productivity in your workplace. For those franking machines which do not have an automatic sealing method for envelopes there is a dedicated folding machine that gets used before the envelopes goes through the franking machine.

Automatic envelope stacking

An envelope-stacking feature to complement automatic feeding and stacking of envelopes is also a possibility. This feature in the Frama franking machines range is called stack weighing.

Automatic postage rate meter

This is one of the most important features for a frank machine to have. Modern machines are designed to automatically download and update the latest postage rate information from Royal Mail. This allows the machine to accurately calculate your postage costs based upon the weight, size, and thickness of your mail. This feature almost eliminates the chances of overpaying or underpaying for postage costs and thus avoiding costly surcharges.

Cost accounts

Every transaction made with your franking machine can always be tracked and traced. This provides your business with the convenience of monitoring postage costs at the touch of a button. It enables companies to stay within their postage budgets or make adjustments where necessary. This feature also makes it easy to get a break down of what services and prices have been used.

User account protection

Accountability is crucial to the growth and sustainability of any business. Pin protection allows you control over who has access to the machine and what they do with it. Processing outgoing mail becomes more streamlined while ensuring a tight grip on financials.

Professional looking communication

A franking machine also provides your business with the opportunity to promote the brand image by including your company’s slogan or logo on your outgoing letters and parcels. This allows franked mail to become an amazing promotional tool.

Improved convenience

Forget about queuing to purchase postage stamps and weigh your mail at the post office. It saves you a huge chunk of time and stress. Also, metering services are always functional around the clock, meaning that you’re most urgent of mail can be processed without much stress regardless of the time of the day, night, weekends or holidays.

Your post, delivered faster

Post sent via a franking machine is given more priority compared to standard letters or parcels. This is because much of the processing has already been handled by the time it gets to the post office. For your business, this only means faster delivery and quicker delivery times.

Cost saving

Franked post is cheaper than standard mail, a lot cheaper! This discount is achieved as most of the costs associated with the processing of items are lower. Frequent users of franking services get higher discounts, especially when they send their mail in larger quantities, this feature is called business mail and only requires a minimum of 250 letters to be sent in one transaction to qualify for the additional discount.

In summary

Franking machines provide many benefits for business owners. If you deal with a significant volume of post on a regular basis, you have more reason than most to create a mailroom in your office and owning a franking machine is the best way to go!