Mail and post room solutions for offices and businesses aid in the streamlining of mailing tasks. Even though billions of emails are sent each day in the world, conventional post has actually increased. The process of mailings letters is a time consuming job even once printed out, the letter must be folded, inserted into the envelope, weighed, franked or stamped and then posted.

Luckily there are mailing solutions available to help save time which in turn, equates to saving money. The mailing solutions below offer a cost effective way of gaining efficiency in the post room. Another important factor is size. Most businesses unfortunately do not have endless space for machinery but these modern machines are compact. There are also different models available for the different levels of usage. For example, the usage of a home based business would be far less than a solicitor’s office of 30 people.

And time saving isn’t just the only gain when using specialized mailing equipment. Folding machines give a perfect fold every time making the letter look professional. A franking machine’s imprint also adds to the professional look of a letter and enables the company logo to be included.

Folding and Inserting Machines
As we all know in this current economic climate we have to work that little bit harder (and smarter) to get new business or build on relationships with existing customers. So, every opportunity we have to present ourselves or get in front of customers must be taken. Below are a couple of tips which are quite simple, yet effective by using a folding inserting machine in an office or mailing room. Don’t worry if you don’t mail in large volumes, you can get a folding and inserting machine that’s cost effective for just a few 100 items per week.

1) A folder and inserter is an integral part of any mailing room, you’ll save time and money just by having one
2) You can include a mail piece with existing mail such as invoices or statements advertising your other services/goods. This is made really easy with ones of these machines.
3) Once you have your machine it can be used for sending out mail shots, newsletters or periodicals.
4) Combine it with a franking machine and the savings on your post will also add up

What does a folding and inserting machine do?
Its simple, it takes a pile of letters or mailers, folds them up in the required format and then inserts them into the envelope for you. Easy! The type of machine you will need will mainly depend on the volume of your mail.

Folding Machines
These can greatly reduce the number of hours spent folding letters, brochures, flyers, invoices or any number of other documents.
Quick and easy to use, a paper folding machine can produce a variety of different folds to accommodate multiple needs. Whether you need the occasional batch of letters folded or have mass mailings to send out. Selecting the appropriate piece of equipment depends on many factors, including the volume and frequency of use, the type of fold and type of paper you need.

Letter openers
Moving incoming mail faster to the people who are waiting to deal with it means benefits to both your business and your customers:
•    Incoming payments can be processed and banked quicker; improving cash flow
•    Customer orders can be processed faster
Any queries or complaints can be dealt with sooner – so your business relationships aren’t damaged by unnecessary delays.

You simply can’t afford to miss this if you want to get the most out of mail and postal optimisation.

What is MailSave+?
In today’s deregulated postal market all dispatch and facilities managers must look for the most cost-effective way to send out business critical documents. MailSave+ is a new and unique service that gives you the choice of postal provider and discounts when you send your mail.

Who’s it for?
Small to medium sized businesses and public sector bodies whose mail volumes do not meet the traditional pre-sorted or Cleanmail volume criteria.
Postrooms who want a cost effective service for non time critical traditional second class mail.

What are the benefits to you – the customer?
•    Reduced cost per item on every item
•    Lower volume thresholds attract discount on every item
•    Volumes can be averaged to meet collection minimums
•    Collections times that are convenient for you
•    A cost-effective and flexible way of achieving daily mail discounts

The Mailing Room is a leading supplier of mailroom equipment and consumables including franking machine supplies, postal scales, folding and inserting machines and letter openers. The Mailing Room is brought to you by an alliance of FP Mailing (North West) Limited, FP Mailing (South) Limited and FP Executive Agency Limited.

For more information on MailSave+ from The Mailing Room, visit http://www.themailingroom.com

Environmental protection is actively sought by franking machine suppliers by the following methods:

• Checking that all machines manufactured since June 1st 2006 are RoHs compliant
• Reducing pollution by recycling and minimising landfill
• Using recyclable packaging wherever possible
• Using incoming delivery boxes to ship goods out wherever possible
• Remanufacturing machines and parts to very high standards, reducing the amount sent to landfill
• Encouraging staff to be energy efficient

To further reuse and recycle, old machines can be sent back to the factory where they were manufactured to constituent parts and the ink cartridges can be re-cycled too.

Have you looked at your franking costs recently?

During these turbulent times many businesses are looking to tighten belts and ensure that expenditure is reduced whenever and wherever possible. Don’t forget to look at franking costs, it’s all too easy to forget to look for competitive rates and simply sign that contract again with large suppliers that have always been used. You’ll be surprised at how much you could save in this area of your business by looking into different suppliers and providers.

Being tied into contracts is sometimes what puts businesses off with using franking machines along with size of model should an office be small and any difficulties with operation. If a business shops around for franking machine contracts the following services can be found:

• No hidden charges for resetting or rate change chips
• No expectations of customers to enter in to unreasonable or extortionate contracts
• Stylish and practical franking machines to suit any business large or small
• Customer support team dedicated to dealing with customers questions
• Highly skilled teams of engineers ready to assist customers with breakdowns and service calls.
Credit Crunch, Recession, Economic Downturn

These are the words that none of us wants to hear, but when we do hear them we all think of tightening our belts and ensuring that business expenditure is kept under control and reduced whenever possible. Franking machines can save on average at least 2p on a first class, 3p on a second class and 6p on large letters and at the same time, giving mail a professional image. A professional image on an envelope could give you the edge when tendering for new business for example with personalisation of the franking imprint.

A franking machine saves instantly on postage costs but also labour costs compared with the process of weighing and sticking individual stamps on. That coupled with the more professional look mean franking machines are the way forward for today’s businesses.