SmartStamp ending - Looking for alternatives without getting ripped off!

trulys

We've been using Royal Mail's SmartStamp at work for a few years now and have been very happy with the service. Unfortunately, this service is closing down on 31st December.

Am not keen to revert to stamps as its a nuisance and unprofessional looking to stick random stamps on envelopes trying to make up the correct postage. Royal Mail's online postage isn't too enticing either - printing onto either half or quarter page labels is no good, and envelopes just crease up in the printer.

Having made enquiries of various franking machine companies it seems to be that there are many hidden costs on top of the £13-£22 average monthly rental fee (charges for top-ups, rate change increases, etc.). Doesn't seem like any of these companies can be trusted to simply allow you to pay for their machine and print postage without ripping you off. I'm beginning to think stamps are perhaps a better option than finding we get stumped with unforeseen charges in a year's time or perhaps sooner.

Does anybody have a good experience of printing postage for business purposes can share their thoughts?

paddyrg

Franking machines are very expensive, and if you don't want to print labels or envelopes or use stamps, your options are limited...

However, couple of things come to mind - pdqit is online mail, you install it like a printer driver and print to it, and some warehouse somewhere prints your letter and posts it for you. Looks professional but pretty generic.

Or ask at the post office if they still do pre-stamped envelopes. They used to cost more than a stamp, but be nice, classy-looking envelopes you would just fill and do in the box.

AndyPix

We have a machine at work that just sucks all the post through and puts a frank on it.
Im not sure how good it is etc as its used by the accounts team ..

Its called a Neopost and has a sticker on it with their website www.neopost.co.uk

Hope that helps

dunstonh

I am sad to see smart stamp going. It was so easy. We used a dymo labelwriter printer for the stamps. If we wanted 8 stamps that day, we would just select 8 and print and the stamp labels would be printed and easily stuck on.

Neither of the two royal mail options are suitable as they are far too slow to use and dont support label printers. They also require you to input the address with each one. We use window envelopes and dont need the address.

Franking machines have a lower postage cost but come with hiring cost. You need a volume of postage to make it viable. Plus, you cant put franked post in a post box. You have to take it to the post office.

I have yet to find an alternative label option.

Dalesrover

I've been happily using SmartStamp for about eight years, with hardly a problem.
I just had a guy from Royal Mail phone me, to say SmartStamp was ending but couldn't tell me when.
He said the best option was for me to buy a thermal printer for £150.00 + VAT, so I could use their new system, DMO , Dispatch Manager Online. Another option was their 24/48 service but this has no compensation for lost items. There were a few other options which didn't seem appealing to me, either.
I send about 50 to 60 small parcels out per week (below 1 kilo), with at least least 12 of them Special Delivery. Does anyone know a viable alternative (not Parcel Monkey) to Royal Mail, as I'd like to jump ship?

RumRat

Dalesrover wrote: »

I've been happily using SmartStamp for about eight years, with hardly a problem.
I just had a guy from Royal Mail phone me, to say SmartStamp was ending but couldn't tell me when.
He said the best option was for me to buy a thermal printer for £150.00 + VAT, so I could use their new system, DMO , Dispatch Manager Online. Another option was their 24/48 service but this has no compensation for lost items. There were a few other options which didn't seem appealing to me, either.
I send about 50 to 60 small parcels out per week (below 1 kilo), with at least least 12 of them Special Delivery. Does anyone know a viable alternative (not Parcel Monkey) to Royal Mail, as I'd like to jump ship?

You don't need to spend £150 on a printer. You can buy 4" Thermal label printers for anything from £30ish upward if you look around the web.

malc901

I also have been using SmartStamp for several years and have found it very useful as I work from home and live in a very rural area where the nearest post office is over 5 miles away. SmartStamp has allowed me to print the exact postage I need and to include my business logo which makes it look professional. I don't send enough letters to justify a franking machine so SmartStamp was a good alternative and saved me having to keep a supply of stamps to make up the increasingly complicated postage values needed. I've had a look at the alternatives suggested by Royal Mail but these are aimed more at parcels and they don't allow printing labels suitable for window envelopes. I've contacted Royal Mail but just got a fairly standard reply saying they were sorry for any inconvenience and they hoped to introduce some extra features to their online postage system in the future. I think I'm going to have to buy a selection of stamps and start using those.

dunstonh

malc901 wrote: »

I also have been using SmartStamp for several years and have found it very useful as I work from home and live in a very rural area where the nearest post office is over 5 miles away. SmartStamp has allowed me to print the exact postage I need and to include my business logo which makes it look professional. I don't send enough letters to justify a franking machine so SmartStamp was a good alternative and saved me having to keep a supply of stamps to make up the increasingly complicated postage values needed. I've had a look at the alternatives suggested by Royal Mail but these are aimed more at parcels and they don't allow printing labels suitable for window envelopes. I've contacted Royal Mail but just got a fairly standard reply saying they were sorry for any inconvenience and they hoped to introduce some extra features to their online postage system in the future. I think I'm going to have to buy a selection of stamps and start using those.

Very similar scenario (no local post office). As it stands, the solution that seems to be best fit at present is to use stamps for C5 and DL envelopes but use the online royal mail option for C4 envelopes. Although that will mean getting some avery labels and will make my dymo labelprinter redundant as well as being a slower solution. Although the bulk I do is C5.