New to franking machines, any advice?

WestonDave

Worth trying some of the resellers rather than necessarily the big manufacturer suppliers (e.g. Pitney Bowes, Neopost, FP etc) as you can often get the same machine for less. Just make sure you and your staff are clear who is maintaining the machines as certainly Neopost are devils for trying to get work "maintaining" machines which were made by them but aren't on contract to them.

If you get one be warned - you will almost certainly get some low life phone your receptionist and ask how the stocks of franking labels etc are, and should they send the usual amount to top up the stocks. Its a well known scam (along with high capacity laser printer cartridges and long life light tubes!) but always worth repeating the warnings. Just make sure all staff know who you do get your supplies from and that no-one should agree to anything else!

paddyrg

Have you considered PDQit for printed letters, etc? You install it just like a printer, but your document gets printed and posted remotely, automatically, and is competitively priced (ie it includes paper, ink, envelope and postage). I pay 40p for a single side mono letter to the doormat (43p for colour), plus 2p per extra side (mono, 6p colour).

Savvy_Sue

paddyrg wrote: »

Have you considered PDQit for printed letters, etc? You install it just like a printer, but your document gets printed and posted remotely, automatically, and is competitively priced (ie it includes paper, ink, envelope and postage). I pay 40p for a single side mono letter to the doormat (43p for colour), plus 2p per extra side (mono, 6p colour).

While that might be good for some, the OP says they are running a shop, so not sure this will be much use!

One thing to factor in is time. You may think that running letters through a franking machine is faster than sticking stamps on, and when it all goes well I'm sure it is. Especially as you can include your return address within the 'frank'.

However, when the machine jams / does not run smoothly / runs out of credit or labels or ink at a crucial time - THEN you will wish you'd stuck to stamps (and for that reason I'd always keep a day's worth of stamps in the office!!!)

paddyrg

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

While that might be good for some, the OP says they are running a shop, so not sure this will be much use!

Absolutely! It was more of a justincaseithelps to be honest!

Pdqit is ideal for mailmerges/circulars/sending bills and invoices if those made/make up any of the volume of post, for instance.

ian1984_2

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

While that might be good for some, the OP says they are running a shop, so not sure this will be much use!

One thing to factor in is time. You may think that running letters through a franking machine is faster than sticking stamps on, and when it all goes well I'm sure it is. Especially as you can include your return address within the 'frank'.

As Savvy_sue says it's mainly packets we are sending between 500g and 2kg, but PDQit does sound like a really good service for mail especially with the new rates. Do you happen to know if these are set to rise in line with RM new prices?

paddyrg

ian1984 wrote: »

As Savvy_sue says it's mainly packets we are sending between 500g and 2kg, but PDQit does sound like a really good service for mail especially with the new rates. Do you happen to know if these are set to rise in line with RM new prices?

I don't know - but they would be mad not to take advantage of the competition hiking the prices and hike their own! I don't know how much of the postage increase is a passed-on final mile delivery network cost, how much is backhaul and how much retail.

guidarufino

DO NOT GO WITH PITNEY BOWES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

They are quite simply the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. They lie, cheat, con, overcharge, have terrible customer service, irritating hold music and are an absolute bunch of charlatans.

I cannot emphasise enough that you should not use these people. Beelzebub himself would be a better supplier. I'm happy to give you all the details as to why they're so awful if you want. In the meantime, good "pitney bowes complaints" and you should get a flavour of what I'm talking about.

I'm so mad I'm going to make an official complaint but don't know who to. Ofcom? I guess not. Who do you complain to about companies who have terrible customer service and actually act dishonestly also?