Franking services

[Nick C]

FP have just called, they've found some working second hand parts for our machine, which is decent of them. However, I think I'll still get more info on PPI.

Thank you all for your prompt replies.

[chris ashdown]

Try Packet post by RM

Just stamp them first, second etc with the impression stamp , put them into post office bags fill in a form total weight and numbers, and get them picked up at specified time

Price is quite a lot cheaper than standard royal mail prices

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Try Packet post by RM

Just stamp them first, second etc with the impression stamp , put them into post office bags fill in a form total weight and numbers, and get them picked up at specified time

Price is quite a lot cheaper than standard royal mail prices

I would agree with Chris, Packetpost is cheaper than standard PPI which is cheaper than standard RM prices but you need to be sending 5,000 parcels per year to qualify, where as a standard PPI account only requires a £5000 annual spend.

[guccij]

I looked into other contracts last year, and found the hidden costs for bloated ink prices etc. really drove the annual cost of running a new franking machine sky high

We buy our ink on eBay, genuine ones, not compatibles. We rarely pay more than £12 for a new cartridge.

[Mike Hughes]

Another vote for PPI / packetpost.

Just bulk print the lables on 21/sheet paper, stick them on the parcels and shove in bag. Then work out the average weight and complete the form online, attach to the bag and hand in or get collected.

Prices are very good as it's based on the average weight. So if most are within one weight band but a few heavier, then the average (and thus the price for all the parcels) will often still based on the lower price band.

I'm not sure RM are that fussed about the volume limits. They called me up and offered an OBA / packetpost account despite not meeting the necessary volume.

Mike

[markburley]

Tried Smart Stamp - excellent but have to weigh each item and put correct stamp on correct parcel. Also pay monthly/yearly fee.

Tried Franking Machine - Expensive and pay up front.

Tried PPI - not looked back, reduced postage costs as same rate as franked mail, easy to use as Jan's Integrated Labels have the PPI logo on them - simply split the post into packages and Large Letters and weigh each bag. Also around six weeks credit on account. Nice lady helped us over the phone for several weeks when we set it up (they call it the nursery!). You do need internet access and also it is a minimum of £5.00 per posting.

Mark Burley
http://www.modelrailwaysdirect.co.uk

[kathynewman]

Another vote here for PPI - especially with Mole End integrated labels. Makes life much easier and the savings are good as well if you are sending enough with them.

[Dorian]

Hi,

Currently we go down the post office in our local village but over the Christmas period this becomes pretty inconvenient. Our postal spend goes from £300 pcm to about £1,200. The problem is that this isn't for the whole year (only mid Nov to mid Jan) and previous research into Franking and Royal Mail business accounts show that we don't spend enough on average over the year to make it worth while.

From what I can gather from this thread (very useful - thanks) and the RM website - is this a fair summary of the available options:

1) Online Postage - you can print off whatever stamps you need
2) Franking - from £12 pcm but full of dodgy companies and unreliable machines (bar a few success stories)
3) Smart Stamp - no minimum usage of spend required but more time consuming (though can have customised logos)
4) PPI - cheaper but requires £5K pa spend. Most popular if you can afford the minimum annual expenditure
5) Packetpost - 5,000 parcels per year (so more than PPI), but better?

The last time we spoke with a RM representative they wanted us to spend £15,000 pa before talking bulk options (that was 2 yeas ago) and Franking companies wanted 12 month contracts (not worth it for us). I can make it to our local depot to drop off my packages at the end of the day as RM want £500 pa (£1,300 pa for an afternoon exact slot) to pick up from us.

So what would anyone suggest for our size of operation? 95% of our post is packages (boxes and jiffy bags) weighing 250-750 grammes and a mixture of 1st and 2nd class. We do need proof of postage though as a) RM loose a lot and b) Amazon customers get pretty cross if they don't get their item exactly when expected.

Dorian.

[TraceyHand]

Can I just challenge number 3?
Smartstamps is no more time consuming than any other form of printed postage. If anything, it's quicker than some (such as your No1. Online postage)

However, the BIG downside with printing your own stamps comes if you don't have a RM collection.
Big plus that your local depot don't mind you dropping the parcels off but they won't, IME, give you ANY sort of proof of posting and, unfortunately, only an 'official' RM collection or a Post Office can.
Many Post Offices won't let you just dropped pre-paid mail off and stamp a POP. They want to weigh it and process it, even though you've already paid for it and, if you're doing this, you might as well pay them too!

There's no perfect answer, if you need proof of posting, unfortunately.

[Jan]

Do you have to do a manifest for smart stamp Tracey?

[TraceyHand]

no, although there is an option to print out a "certificate of posting" which you then list everyones details on and the post office will stamp it for you.
However, that still means queuing and, given that they still have to do an individual transaction and receipt for every parcel, even pre-paid, it doesn't save any time or money!

I guess, if you were getting it collected, the driver could sign it.

[Mark H]

I don't agree with "time consuming" in relation to SmartStamp either. We can print "stamps" as fast as our laser printer will allow, which is 30 pages a minute, 16 stamps a page = 480 stamps a minute. SmartStamp is considerably faster than franking in our experience, and the franking experience is becoming a distant memory, thank goodness.

It sounds as if you have a usefully limited range of stamp values required, so you set up "favourite" stamps within SmartStamp. We get RM "signed for" stickers from the Post Office, stick them on the package, peel off one of the tracking number stickers and attach it to our copy of the order. Take the RM mail sacks (provided by the Post Office) into the Post Office, leave on counter, smile, walk out.

A lot depends on your relationship with the local Post Office. My understanding is that SmartStamp packages still go through their books as turnover even thought they haven't sold the postage - they might not realise this.

[TraceyHand]

A lot depends on your relationship with the local Post Office. My understanding is that SmartStamp packages still go through their books as turnover even thought they haven't sold the postage - they might not realise this.

I think this is a major factor, tbh
Our local PO (which is the main town PO now that ALL the others have now closed ) won't let us just leave them.
If we want any sort of proof of posting, they have to put them through their system (any that fit in the letterbox, we put in there but then we get no POP)
They won't even take the bigger ones even if we DON'T want POP, they say they have to account for all the 'weight' in their post sacks and, if they just take ours over the counter/through the hatch (sounds rude!), then the weights don't match with their computers.

Sounds like bull to me but hey, I'm hardly in a position to argue.
We hardly smartstamp any of ours now that our local(ish) PO has closed. It's not worth the hassle except for smaller, cheaper, post-box-able stuff where we're not bothered about having POP

[NicolaUK]

What's all this about using PPI with integrated labels?

[Mark H]

I think the PO we use put all the packages through their system when they haven't got a queue and we are long gone - they would rather do this than keep a load of people with one postcard waiting. They advise us of any problems next day (although this is very, very rare) and give us receipts for Special Deliveries the next day. So the RM "signed for" and SD tracking systems works online and therefore we don't need POP. Probably best to pick the smallest PO you can find and give them a pressy every Christmas