The most impressive franking machines on the market

With only four franking machine manufacturers to choose from [Frama, Francotyp Postalia, Neopost and Pitney Bowes], you’d think it would be easy to select a device that meets your business needs both now and in the future. You can discover more about the advantages of franking over stamped mail and how to select your franking machine supplier but in this blog we are going to talk about the machines themselves.

If you are satisfied that a franking machine will enable you to send your mail more cheaply and efficiently, welcome to the world of “advanced features”.

Automatic envelope feeding processes your mail without physical input from a member of staff. The automation can still be overridden to provide greater control.

Automatic envelope sealing opens the flap and seals your envelopes, another tool that will improve efficiency and relieve staff of routine tasks.

Automatic envelope stacking piles your envelopes according to size ready for delivery to or collection by the Royal Mail.

Postal rate and reset meter, linked digitally to your franking machine supplier, will automatically identify the correct postage rate for the size and weight of your mail.

Automatic accounting enables your finance department to monitor outgoing mail expenditure on a daily | weekly | monthly basis by user | department and effectively budget for the future.

PIN protection provides in-built security against unauthorised use, the assurance that outgoing mail is being processed accurately and postage costs are assigned to the correct department.

Colour print technology prints high quality logos and marketing messages onto your mail to make your mail stand out and support your brand awareness and marketing initiatives.

Dimensions-on-the-Way and Weigh-on-the-Way technology gages the size and weight of packets and franks them with the correct level of postage as they pass through the franking machine. Integrated scales or weighing platforms can weigh up to 35kg.

IntelliLink™ improves mailroom efficiency because it is established within your own network and does not require an analogue phone line to access a suite of services that include recrediting your franking machine at the touch of a button, advertising on your envelope, advanced accounting options and instant postal rate and software updates.

Smart technology can calculate both national and international postal rates, but can also work out the VAT element of Royal Mail VATable services for easier accounting.

How can a franking machine be sexy?

Just look at the curves on Pitney Bowes’ Connect Plus 2000!

The Connect Plus 2000 can process over 500 items of post a day and boasts high quality colour print (1200 dpi) for professional-looking logos and marketing communication that can be printed across the whole envelope [a franking machine first]. Simply upload your artwork and it’ll be ready to print in minutes giving your mail 2.5 times more chance of being opened than plain envelopes.

The machine’s power stacker will stack 7,000 envelopes an hour and keep them in their pre-sorted order.
The budgeting module enables you to monitor your cost centres by postage, weight and marketing messages and it’s possible to pick up on trends that’ll help drive down costs in the future.
Greater capacity means you can frank letters up to 16mm thick and a touch screen, colour display makes it accessible and easy to use.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have the dinky compact FP PostBase mini which is perfect for businesses that only post a few letters a day. It too benefits from internal scales, quality print resolution for your marketing messages and a touch screen display. But what really sets this machine apart is that you get to choose the colour of the built-in scales so that they match your office’s colour scheme – genius!

And then there’s the Frama offering, you start getting a bit excited when you learn their equipment is “Made in Switzerland” and they offer exceptional customer service along with innovative features such as a weight class optimiser that gives you a graphical indication of how your item of mail fits into a weight class or a handy pedestal to store mailroom accessories, but look at it! It’s not going to win the heart of many Facilities Managers is it.

Whatever your business, franking offers a mail solution that will save you time, lower postal costs and enhance your brand awareness and marketing communications.