Franking Machine

The evolution of franking machines from simple, manual postage scales to high end postage meters that take care of mailing and accounting requirements is quite conspicuous. Among the common features and components that most modern franking machines are equipped with, include:

Accounting

Postage meters can track costs and assign them to appropriate departments or clients with the use of the right account codes (also known as account tracking). Low-end machines may show only the department or client code while high end models can display the corresponding name or department.

Postage Reset

This enables the postage meter to reset the rate of the postage after each use to a basic first class rate or by requiring users to push a safety button for amount exceeding a certain sum. As a result, higher denominations are not printed accidentally.

Feeder

The feeder is a part of the base of a franking machine which helps route the mail through the meter. Feeders are essentially of three types: manual, semi-automatic and automatic. Automatic feeders take the envelope and process it without any manual interruption.

Sealer

Automatically seal envelopes after they are run through the postage meter. Besides, a sealer can seal other utility envelopes that require no postage. Some sealers can also open the flap of the envelopes before sealing.

Nesting or Flapping

This feature allows the envelopes to be processed with flap open such that they can be sealed later through the sealer.

Password Protection

Security and prevention of abuse or misuse of a franking machine is of paramount importance. Password protection restricts the usage of the machine to authorized staff, thus reducing the probability of misuse of tampering by unauthorized users.

Rate Chip

Rate chip stores information pertaining to postage rates in a replaceable chip. These chips automatically indicate the charges for multiple carriers or multiple classes of mail. They may also help indicate charges for registered or certified mails. To update the chip with prevailing postage rates the chip has to be changed when the postage rate changes.

Stacker

This feature helps organize metered mail. A simple catch tray can just hold the mails as they are metered while a power stacker can clear metered mail away from the postage meter.