Your Guide to Using a Franking Machine

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Your Guide to Using a Franking Machine

Oct 09, 2020

One worry when considering getting a franking machine is training employees on how to use it. We are here to quash those concerns. Each franking machine will obviously come with a manual but in the interest of trying before you buy (or even rent) then here is our handy guide to using a franking machine.

One of the best things about a franking machine is that all the equipment is in one place. This makes the mailing process much easier than it would normally be. Before you start using your franking machine, however, it is worth organising and sorting your mail to make the process easier.

This is especially important if you have various different sizes or services you require, in particular international versus domestic mail. Having different piles means you can focus on one service at a time and let muscle memory do a little bit of the work instead of switching constantly - which neuroscientists have shown is less effective, even if the user thinks they are managing to do it rapidly.

1. Measuring weight

Place the item onto the franking machine’s inbuilt scale in order to get the accurate postage for your package.

If you purchase or rent a cheaper franking machine then it may not come with an inbuilt weighing scale. That’s why it is worth purchasing a higher end franking machine for the ease of having everything in one place rather than scattered around a room. It is a particularly good idea to have the inbuilt scale if you have fewer employees involved in the mailing process and you can't delegate someone just to do the weighing.

2. Size and service

Select the size (width x height x depth) of your parcel and the service (1st class, 2nd class etc.) that you would like to send your parcel with. Make sure that you have separate piles for international and domestic mail, so you don't get them mixed up.

3. Postage costs

No need to calculate these yourself, the franking machine will calculate the exact price of postage for your parcel. The machine will also take into account the discounted rates available to franking machine users from the Royal Mail.

Tip: You can get the lowest postage rates possible from the Royal Mail if you use a Mailmark franking machine.

The Royal Mail changes its postage charges for all levels of postage yearly, including Mailmark and standard franking machines. These changes generally happen sometime around March

4. Print

Put your envelope or label into the franking machine’s printer slot. The envelope or label will then be franked with the exact postage and date along with your company logo and message plus a unique code.

There are additional features available depending on the franking machine you choose to buy or rent. For example, you can add a date and time stamp or a user-defined text message. It is also possible to track postage costs by department, especially useful if you are buying a franking machine for a large company and want to see how much money you are saving across the board. Alternatively, you can restrict access to the franking machine by creating a password.

How to choose a franking machine

The biggest difference between franking machines still remains the choice between a standard franking machine and Mailmark franking machine. Mailmark was achieved through a £70 million Royal Mail investment in an attempt to “make your mail smarter”. In short, Mailmark is the Royal Mail’s state of the art barcode, which provides information on where the mail is and when it is going out for delivery, an accurate prediction of when mail will land plus online, custom reporting so you can stay up to date with the status of your mail.

To send a 1st class letter within the UK costs 64p with a standard franking machine and 61p with a Mailmark franking machine. There are similar discounts to be had for UK signed delivery as well.

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