Postage Meters
When you send a letter or package by mail, you need to pay postage to get it to its destination. Postage meters for your company offer a convenient option for paying those costs.
Postage meters are devices for printing postage straight onto an envelope or package as evidence that the postage has been paid. A postage machine is able to calculate the exact amount of postage owing for each item and to print that amount onto the package or envelope. The postage meter machine also records the total amount of postage paid by the user.
For any business that sends out even a small amount of mail, but sends it out regularly, a postage stamp machine of this type is an advantage. Once postage meters are up and running, business people tend to wonder how they ever functioned without them. Mail processed by postage meters has a professional appearance, helping to enhance the reputation of your organization. A postage machine is also quick and convenient, allowing your staff to process the mail in the office, rather than having to spend time going to the post office every day.
A postage meter machine cannot be purchased. Postage stamp machine manufacturers approved by a country’s postal authorities lease postage meters and are responsible for their repair, maintenance, meter control, and replacement. If you are planning to lease a postage machine, you may find you can negotiate a deal that includes some free months in your agreement. For information on suppliers of postage meters, check the Internet or the Yellow Pages.
When you are using items such as postage meters, it is to your advantage to understand how they operate. If you are familiar with their workings, you will know how to keep them working efficiently, and you will also be aware of any signs that various parts need repair or maintenance. The three parts of postage meters are the meter itself, the base, and the scale.
A postage machine needs a base that, unlike postage meters, can be bought outright rather than leased. While the base used for a postage machine is quite expensive, starting at several hundred dollars, you may find it more cost-effective over a period to buy it outright rather than paying an ongoing rental price for the base as well as the postage meter. To understand the difference between the bases and the postage meters, think of the base as an envelope handler. It is needed to take the mail through the meter. The meter records the postage price and prints the indicia, or the mark that takes the place of a stamp, on the envelope. For packages, self-adhesive postage meter labels can also be run through postage meters, so the indicia can be printed on them before they are attached to the packages. The indicia can be customized to include company advertisements or logos.
An important part of your mailing setup, the base has a number of parts of its own. Among them is the feeder, the part of your postage stamp machine that sends the envelopes through the meter, so the postage can be printed on them. The speed of feeders varies considerably. Some will feed items through as slowly as 15 per minute, while others can send them racing through at about 270 items per minute.
You can obtain a low-end postage meter machine that will work without a feeder, but there is little point in this, if you have a substantial amount of regular mail to be processed. Without a feeder, your mail will have to be fed by hand through the postage machine, something that makes little sense when you have bought your postage meter machine to save time and labor. When looking at postage meters, check the types of feeders they have and discuss the advantages and disadvantages with the dealer who is advising you.
A semi-automatic feeder saves time by allowing you to feed a bundle of envelopes into your postage machine simultaneously. A fully automatic feeder on a postage stamp machine saves even more time, because it requires no manual feeding at all. Automatic feeders are more expensive, but have the advantage of speeding up your postage procedure, something to consider seriously if you have a lot of mail to send out regularly.
As well as the feeder, the base of postage meters includes a number of other important parts that are essential for its performance. Among them is the sealer, a device that is responsible for moistening the flaps of the envelopes that are fed through the postage machine. On the more expensive type of postage stamp machine, the sealer closes the flap of the envelope as well as moistening it.
Also part of the base of postage meters is the stacker. The type of stacker and its function varies according to its sophistication. A low-end stacker is just a catch tray, located at the end of the postage meter machine, with the purpose of holding the items of mail after they have gone through the postage marking process. A more advanced type of stacker, known as a power stacker, uses a conveyor mechanism to stack the envelopes used in postage meters, a task it can do more quickly than the less complex types of stackers.
The base of postage meters also has a tape dispenser to cater for situations when the indicia cannot be printed onto such postage items as large packages. In such cases, strips of adhesive tape can be fed through the meter of the postage stamp machine and, like the envelopes, stamped with the price of the postage. After it has been through the postage machine, the tape can then be fixed to the package.
Postage scales are essential parts of postage meters. Your mail must be weighed before the postage cost can be ascertained. There are various types of scales, such as digital scales connected to the postage machine, and manual or spring scales that can be bought or rented separately.
Digital scales are more expensive than spring scales, but they save time and money when used with a postage stamp machine. Unlike spring scales, they determine the correct postage cost while weighing the item. The spring scales provide only the item’s weight, which has to be read by the user of the postage meter machine. The person using the postage machine then has to look up the relevant prices to determine the postage cost of the item. As well as taking more time, this also allows room for error in contrast to the exact weight and price provided by the digital scales. While the spring scales take a little longer and do not have the pinpoint accuracy of the digital scales, you may decide that your postage needs are not sufficient to justify using digital scales with your postage machine.
If you do use digital scales in conjunction with a postage stamp machine, they will need to be adjusted whenever postal rates change. This can be done by replacing a chip in older scales or by using the internet to download new price information to newer scales.
If a number of people will be using the postage scales you buy or rent for your postage meter machine, make sure they understand how to use them. While scales are usually fairly straightforward to use with postage meters, some features of digital scales may need explaining. When investigating scales for your postage machine, check these features and consider your options before making a final decision.
The keypad on the scales you choose for your postage stamp machine should be clear and easy to read. Ask for a demonstration of the prompts to ensure they are also clear and concise, so people using the postage stamp machine will be able to carry out their task without a problem. If your postage meter machine will be handling a quantity of oversized packages, you should also check that the scales will be able to cope with their weights.
You may like to consider the option for postage comparison shopping that is included in some postal scales. Using this postage machine scale option, you can check various classes of mail to find out the most economically favorable rate for your needs. As well as giving you the postal service’s rates for standard class and first class postage, some scales will also offer information about other pricing, such as that available from various package carriers.
Postage meters have certain features in common such as meter, base, and scales. As well as these general features, however, the various types of postage machine can differ in relation to the options available to purchasers. If, for example, you want to ensure that your postage stamp machine is not likely to be used by unauthorized persons, you can easily protect it from such usage by obtaining one that has password-protected access.
Account codes on some postage meters make it possible to assign postage costs. In the low-end type of postage machine, this feature provides account tracking for only a department number. The newer postage stamp machine models are able to designate departments or clients’ names, so billing can be made more specific.
Automatic postage reset is another postage machine feature designed to make life easier for users. This prevents the accidental printing of large denominations, either by the postage meter machine automatically resetting itself each time it is used or by requiring the user to press a special key when entering anything larger than a basic amount such as $1. Online postage is also a useful feature for a postage machine. This makes it possible to download official postage from the Internet, and then print it onto labels and envelopes.
Knowing some of the terminology associated with postage meters will help you understand the information that providers give you when you make inquiries about them. As well as the basic essentials of meter, base, and scales, there are other terms you will hear when discussing a postage machine. “Postage capacity,” for example, refers to the limit or maximum capacity to which you can have your postage stamp machine filled at the post office. For most postage meters, the limit is usually $9,999, although some have a higher capacity. “Phone-based refill” is the refilling of postage machines over the phone.
The “rate chip” is a replaceable chip used in digital scales with your postage meter machine. The chip stores information about the postage rates for various classes of mail. As well as carrying the postal authority’s rates, the postage stamp machine chip can also hold postage information for other mail carriers. In order for your postage meter machine to work correctly, this chip has to be replaced when any of these rates change. If your postage machine handles a lot of bulk mailings that usually require postage to three decimal points, this type of meter can print postage in fractional amounts.
Your service arrangements with postage meters will differ from service arrangements you probably have in regard to other pieces of business equipment. Because you are not the owner of the leased postage machine, the owner/manufacturer has the responsibility for any repairs to be carried out on postage meters. You will need to know the arrangements that will be made, if you do need to have repairs carried out on your postage stamp machine. Ask if there are local technicians who can service the postage machine at your office, or whether you will have to send it somewhere for attention.
The base level systems vary little between providers because of the industry’s high regulation, but price can be a factor for consideration. Sometimes, you may be able to buy postage in advance from your provider and can also sometimes receive the additional benefit of extra postage as a bonus by pre-paying. You should find out the level of service you can expect from the provider of your postage meter machine, asking if they will communicate by phone or in person. The average response time to attend to any problems with your postage machine should also be ascertained.