These days more and more businesses are switching to franking machines as an effective mailing solution. Franking machines were first manufactured to help companies overcome the commonly faced difficulties of sending mail as well as the huge cost involved in postage stamps and mailing fees. For companies that send a lot of mail, a franking machine is an absolutely vital piece of office equipment. To help all companies understand the advantages that a franking machine can bring to their business, this article is a guide to the benefits of switching from stamped to franked mails.
1. Save Money on Postage Stamps and Mailing Fees
The first benefit that franking your business’s own mail provides is that it can save the business a huge amount of money in the cost of postage stamps and mailing fees. There are online resources that can keep you up to date on postage stamps prices and mailing fees and this resource from FP Mailing informs franking machine users of their relative rates after Royal Mail increases. There are often big changes in stamping costs but franking machine users are protected by many of these price increases by stamping their own mail. With a franking machine, businesses are able to print postage stamps of different values that are applicable in a particular country.
This means that they are able to send mail domestically but also internationally, by printing stamps that are applicable abroad. Using these cheaper self-franked postage stamps can save businesses up to 40% on the costs of sending mail.
2. Save Time
Another benefit of switching to a franking machine to send mail is that you can save a lot of time not having to visit the post office every time you need to send something. Especially for companies with a high volume of outgoing mail, sending it through the post office can take a huge amount of time because each piece of mail will need to be weight-checked, appropriately stamped, and perhaps insured before it can be sent. The post office is always very busy and so this process can take a substantial amount of time and will also tie up yourself or one of your employees who could be using that time more productively elsewhere.
3. Franking Machines are Multi-Functional
Earlier franking machines were used only for printing stamps but now smart franking machines have been introduced that are used for many other tasks such as printing advertising messages or the company’s logo and promoting business products and services in the mail. This can really impress clients and customers when they receive mail from your business. Users of smart franking machines can even stack their mail using inserters and then the stamps will be printed automatically in digital format in just a few seconds.
There is a range of multi-functional franking machines that have fully integrated printers, scanners, copiers, and franking machines all in one. As every business needs all of these pieces of office equipment, investing in one of these machines can save money and space in the office. In terms of mailing solutions, these all-in-one machines enable you to print, fold and frank your own mail.
4. There are Different Sized Models to Suit Different Needs
Franking machines come in a range of sizes with a wide variety of functions and so there is the perfect model to suit every company’s needs. Franking machines that are larger in size can be quite expensive and they are only made by top of the line electronics companies which only increases their price. There are smaller models with fewer functions however, that are available at a cheaper price and these will still fulfill all of the franking needs of a small to midsize company.
These days, as the popularity of franking machines has started to increase, it has even become possible to rent out a franking machine for your business or for your own personal use, and this is a cheaper, convenient option that many people are choosing. There is a range of different models available to rent through online suppliers and which are ideal for small scale businesses, large companies, and even individuals who have a large amount of mail to send. Big corporations and multinationals will usually tend to have multiple large franking machines of their own due to the huge volume of mail that they have to send but for most small businesses, one machine will usually be enough.
5. Franking Machines are Very Easy to Use
As well as the time saved by not having to go to the post office to send your mail, franking machines print and frank your mail at such an incredible rate that you will save a huge amount of time just preparing the mail to send. Using a franking machine, a company or individual can quickly and easily print 1,000 postage stamps which are automatically placed on their daily mail. There are big companies that use a single franking machine to prepare and send more than 10,000 pieces of mail per week. Franking machines have automatically updated time and date features so that your mail is always stamped and dated accurately which is legally very important when you are sending mail.
Franking machine ink is very inexpensive and so even printing a large volume of mail does not cost a business or individual a huge amount of money. Additionally, franking machines are very simple to re-credit and a machine owner or renter can instantly re-credit the machine’s account online or with a quick phone call.
Franking machines are a fantastic option for any business or individual who needs to send a large amount of mail. Whilst email and other electronic forms of communication have become increasingly popular in both the personal world and for our personal communication, there is a significant amount of correspondence where these options are not suitable. These days, businesses are always looking for ways to save time and money, and lengthy, costly trips to the post office to prepare and send vast amounts of mail is one area which seriously affects productivity as well as costing a lot of money.
A franking machine solves this issue and enables businesses to do all of their mail in-house. With such a wide range of franking machines available on the market, with some thorough research, every business and individual will be able to find a franking machine to suit their mail needs.
