Franking Stamp

[john10001]

How much do those franking stamps cost that you can get from Royal Mail? Is it something that would be on their business site? I also wondered how many letters you'd need to send a year to break even.

It is too much of a hassle to use their retail site to print out stamps. Their formats don't align with my print and the envelopes or address labels I have. And those new stamps with barcodes are a joke.

[Steveam]

Why do you find the new stamps with bar codes to be a joke?

Best wishes,

Steve

[SteelCamel]

Royal Mail don't supply franking machines - other companies do, and re-sell the postage charges. Pitney Bowes and Neopost are the two I know of. You need to buy the machine, and I think there's usually a service charge. On the flip side, the postage is slightly cheaper than retail rates. The machines come in different sizes, but even the smallest ones are unlikely to be economical unless you send a lot of post.

[brightncheerful]

I used to have a franking machine. What they don't tell you is that, apart from the hiring cost, the mail has to be put in special envelopes in nominated pillar boxes, adhesive labels to point the postage have to be bought, ink supplies, etc. If you make a mistake on the postage cost, then you can claim it back, but again, that's a hassle. The cost saving on postage only enables a profit if the cost of the consumables and so on is lower.