Postage meters reduce the risk of fraudulent charges by eliminating petty cash and checks for postage.
Reports can show you which departments are spending the most on postage. There are companies that do not use a postage meter in their business and instead rely on one of these alternatives. While stamps are an easy alternative, they usually involve trips to the post office. Purchasing postage online and printing directly from your computer is a viable alternative to purchasing a postage meter. You can also purchase shipping labels online.
While online postage saves a trip to the post office, unless you have an accurate scale to weigh mail, you will apply more postage than necessary. This is a service where you send documents and addresses electronically to a vendor. Then the vendor takes care of the printing, folding, sealing, mailing, and tracking of your mail.
For some businesses, a postage meter may not be necessary and you may find an alternative is more suitable. Monitor your expenses and determine if the savings would be worth the effort. Be sure to include the time spent, since it can be a considerable hidden expense.
Small business postage meters typically have a processing speed of 20 to 40 PPM pieces per minute. The scale on these units can usually only handle up to 10 lbs. They are suitable for a business who sends out enough mail to need a postage meter, but not enough to warrant a high volume meter. Commercial postage meters are at least partially automated.
They can handle various sizes and shapes of mail, making it easier for a larger business to handle demand and ship packages. The processing speed is usually between and PPM. Most models offer custom postage graphics. These have the most functions and automation. The scale on corporate postage meters can have a capacity up to lbs. Just like the smaller machines, these machines offer custom graphics.
Corporate postage meters typically have a processing speed between and PPM, making them appropriate for large businesses with high volumes of mail going out every day. Understanding your current and anticipated mail volume will help you choose the right postage meter. Pitney Bowes is the most well-known name in postage meters and mailroom equipment. They received a 9. Pitney Bowes has an excellent rating and serves so many customers for a reason.
Their customer service is exceptional. They are there for their customers to answer any and all questions and take care of any issues. Their reputation precedes them as one of the best in the industry. They hold true to that reputation in many ways, including how they treat their clients and customers. They received a score of 9. Quadient offers many customer support systems directly on their website. They are easy to contact and readily available, and they offer a number of online resources to help with support and maintenance of all of their products and services.
With an overall rating of 9. Offering many products and services, many businesses could benefit from leasing a postage meter from this company. For this reason, USPS will only allow businesses to rent postage meters and in fact their purchase is expressly forbidden by federal law. An IBI postage meter is one which prints in this specific format, rather than an online meter or a manual mechanical meter. Digital postage meters print postage through an inkjet cartridge which uses specific ink.
IBI is used by the most advanced systems, as it uses a 2-dimensional data matrix, or barcode, combined with additional characters and symbols which can be identified visually. Information such as the amount of postage, mail class, the origin zip code, destination, weight and tracking numbers are all contained within the barcode, as well as a cryptographic signature.
The rental price of a postage meter is largely determined by its processing capacity and the length of rental contract you enter into. Of course, if your business opts to include any additional features including letter folders and inserters this will further increase the price. Postage meters show in your accounts as lease expenditure, so they will be a tax deductible expense as opposed to investment in an asset which would be liable for federal taxes.
Also, if you connect via wireless and switch offices, your meter can move with you. These inevitably require preparation and attention. Without a meter, businesses must remember to accurately factor in the cost of the new rates into their postage.
With an analog meter, time is spent establishing a connection first before information can be transferred, then there is the additional need to wait for the downloading and installation of new rates for a rate change, for example. A digital system is always connected, so rates can be updated anytime. They allow you to track how much your business spends on postage down to the product level.
You can also measure what time of the year your spending goes up or down. If an analog line disconnects while trying to credit your meter before a mailing, it can cost you time and productivity. The copper analog network can also be costly to maintain and vulnerable to service outages. In the future, service providers are likely to become less willing to provide and support analog connections.
Digital meters help alleviate this concern. When it comes to running a small business, even the little expenses can make a big difference.
In these situations, most entrepreneurs would rather focus their efforts on growing their businesses rather than worrying about reducing time and money expenditures. The following are a few more benefits you can expect to see after incorporating one of these mail machines into your operations.
Simply using a postage meter gives you an automatic 1-cent discount for first-class letters. This discount information has changed with the January 26th, rate change. One of the most appealing benefits of using a postage meter is that you will never have to take a trip to the post office again to send a package. With these time savings, your employees will be free to do other important work for the business.
Using a postal meter, you will be able to easily view and track all of your mailing and shipping expenses, making accounting and budgeting a breeze. In addition, postage meter customers receive the same business mailing discounts that can be found at the post office, including savings on Express Mail and Priority Mail.
Bulk mailings, including direct mail postcards, can be an effective way to gain visibility — especially for a new business.
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