Postage Meter Machine Blog

The postage meters save you a trip to the post office and they are actually regulated by the United States Postal Service (USPS). They are very simple to use. There are digital meters that most small businesses use today. The digital postage meter will actually help a small business reduce their postage bill. Postage meters are great for small business because as we just mentioned they will save you money, but also saves time. A postage meter will also weigh the piece of mail and actually charge the business exactly for the amount of what the postage is.

For example, let's say you have an 8 x 11 manila envelope and you have about 6 pieces of paper in it. The size alone will cost you more than one stamp, but less then two. When you go to the post office with 2 stamps on it, you pay double the postage, when by a postage meters readings it will only cost you slightly more than one stamp. With digital postage it is much more accurate to pinpoint the amount of postage and you don't have to walk into a post office and have them weigh and add the postage. For a company who relies heavily on mail, a postage meter will save you money directly with postage and indirectly by the time needed to visit the post office.

Using a postage meter is easy, you simply pay a certain amount of money to the Post Office and then that is the amount of money that is programmed into the meter for you to spend. In the long run, you can set whatever amount you wish to have for a specific amount of time and the meter will overall save you money. If you are still unsure, then what you should do is buy an amount of postage that you normally would for a month and then get a postage meter for a trial period and do the same amount of mailing and see which comes out to be cheaper. Some companies even offer some free postage to use during a free trial period. When the free trial is over there is a monthly fee that you must pay to use the meter, but you will find it is very small given the savings you can realize. Even if you have to pay for the postage you use, a free trial costs nothing and let to make sure that a digital postage meter is the best option for you.

Chris Nielsen is an Internet consultant who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been involved with computers since 1981. Nielsen is the owner and founder of NielsenTech.com, Consultant-Directory.com, EbayAuctionAds.com, Big-Zoo.us, and many other popular sites. For more on the direct mail industry and postage meters, visit http://www.postagemeterprices.com

Labels: postage, postage meters, stamps

// posted by (hris @ 1:29 AM 0 Comments

Regulus Among First to Meet New Digital Postal Metering Standards

Largest Independent Provider of Bill Presentment and Payment Processing Solutions Partners With Pitney Bowes to Improve Mail Management

NAPA, CA -- Regulus, the nation's largest independent provider of paper and electronic-based bill presentment and processing solutions, announced today its successful compliance with Phase III of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) Plan for Secure Postage Meter Technology. The new standards improve postage accounting capabilities for increased accuracy while strengthening postal security.

Regulus, which worked closely with Pitney Bowes on the digital postal metering project, is among the first outsource print vendors to meet the December 31, 2006 compliance deadline. The difficulty of meeting the more stringent compliance standard led the USPS to allow temporary exceptions for vendors unable to meet the established deadline.

"Regulus is proud to team with another industry leader in demonstrating its commitment to the highest levels of postal accounting and regulatory compliance," said Jason Gaskey, Regulus print operations director. "We have undertaken a major initiative to meet USPS standards on schedule and will continue to prioritize the crucial task of making our mail management systems more efficient and effective."

Regulus integrated Pitney Bowes' industry-proven DM Infinity Series Digital Mailing System and its DFWorks Postage Accounting Solution into its nationwide network of document processing facilities. Pitney Bowes' secure IBI-compliant technology is the most widely adopted digital metering standard in the industry.

"Accuracy and compliance have never been more critical than today," said Patrick Brand, President of Document Factory Solutions, a division of Pitney Bowes. "We share Regulus' commitment to protecting the integrity of its postal systems. Our solutions automate manual processes to increase productivity while increasing management capabilities and control."

The USPS' overhaul of its metering standards began in 1995 and will last through at least 2008. Phase I retired all mechanical meters, Phase II retired all manually reset meters and Phase III migrates letterpress meters to the enhanced security of digitally printing meters. Compliance with Phase III is the result of a recently completed multimillion-dollar initiative in which Regulus bolstered its existing advanced mail monitoring technologies to meet ever-increasing security and compliance requirements.

As part of the Phase III initiative, Regulus replaced more than 60 manually-adjusted meters across its nationwide network of facilities with Pitney Bowes' state-of-the-art digital meters that can be remotely monitored and reset via the Internet. Additionally, Regulus installed network feeds to all of its meters and reintegrated the upgraded system with the company's accounting system. These improvements allow Regulus to closely track metered and manifest mail in order to ensure the most accurate mail and postage tracking possible.

ABOUT REGULUS

Headquartered in Napa, California, Regulus (www.regulusgroup.com) is the leading U.S. outsourcer and integrated provider of bill presentment and payment processing; servicing nearly 2 billion paper and electronic items annually for Fortune 500 customers. Regulus provides an end-to-end solution covering every aspect of a transaction from the point when a corporation releases a billing file for invoicing to the posting of the associated paper or electronic payment, and thereafter in the support of customer care and collections. By exploiting the data from the total transaction, Regulus offers unique, value added services that provide measurable results with a positive impact across the payment cycle.

// posted by (hris @ 11:03 PM 0 Comments

Pitney Bowes Launches Web Site Focused On Intelligent Mail(R) Barcode Implementation

STAMFORD, Conn., January 08, 2008 - Recent years have seen profound changes sweeping through the mailing industry: postal reform, shape-based pricing, and a host of other initiatives that have forced mailers to rethink every aspect of their strategies and operations.

This pace of change will not let up in 2008 as the industry prepares for the next major shift: widespread deployment of the Intelligent Mail® barcode requirement, a change that will be largely invisible to consumers but that has vast implications for mailers of all sizes.

To help these organizations learn more about the Intelligent Mail® barcode and other initiatives, Pitney Bowes maintains a web site dedicated to providing information on such major initiatives and has now added the latest information about the Intelligent Mail® barcode. The site (www.pbpostalinfo.com) contains a basic overview of the subject, with links to a new Pitney Bowes white paper about the barcode, and to other useful background information and contacts.

"The need for clear, concise facts about the Intelligent Mail® barcode program will only grow over time," said Pitney Bowes President and CEO Murray Martin. "We want our customers, and all mailers, to get timely and actionable information that will help them stay ahead of the curve as the proposed deadlines approach."

The Intelligent Mail® barcode is the tool that the United States Postal Service will use to dramatically enhance its service to mailers. The barcode has the capacity to uniquely identify every piece of mail entering the postal system, a first for the Postal Service. This technology will enable unprecedented visibility into the postal network for mailers and for the Postal Service itself, opening the door to a host of new and valuable opportunities for companies to make their mailings even more efficient and effective. For example, the advanced barcode will enable mailers to track all outbound statements and inbound payments, greatly improving customer communications when there is a question about a bill or payment.

The barcode was first introduced in 2006 and has been largely a voluntary program for mailers. More than one billion pieces of mail have already been processed with the new technology, and in 2009 the Postal Service may make use of the Intelligent Mail® barcode mandatory for mailers who want to receive certain postal discounts. This is a powerful incentive for companies to adopt the new technology, and to upgrade their systems and work processes to support its use.

"This is the first major change in mail barcode technology in more than twenty years, so many companies will be in uncharted territory," Martin said. "The sooner they can get the information they need, the sooner they can begin to make the changes required to meet the Postal Service's requirements. These are important investments to make that will pay outstanding long-term dividends."

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes is a mailstream technology company that helps organizations manage the flow of information, mail, documents and packages. Our 35,000 employees deliver technology, service and innovation to more than two million customers worldwide. The company was founded in 1920 and annual revenues now total $6 billion. More information is available at www.pb.com.

// posted by (hris @ 11:59 PM 0 Comments