The Mailing Room advises how a franking machine is used will be affected in three ways by the recent changes, detailed in summary by;

Use of Red Ink – It is mandatory that all SMART franking machine users change from using red ink, to using blue ink when they run out of red ink.

Processing charges – It is important to pay the correct amount on both domestic and international mail. If a franking machine user does underpay, the Royal Mail commit to processing your mail without delay, however, we will charge processing fees. The fee will be £1 per underpaid mail piece found, plus the total value of the underpaid amount. International charges will also increase to £2 per underpaid mail piece, plus the underpaid amount.

Product Selection – All SMART franking machines will have “product selection” by end March 2013, so users of Smart franking machines will no longer have to refer to pricing tables and pricing wall charts to find relevant price information as they simply select the product, e.g. 1st or 2nd Class, and then the service, e.g. domestic or international, and the machine will print the correct price automatically. The Mailing Room advises all franking machine users to check their machine is SMART and if not to contact them directly for advice.

These changes took effect on 2nd April 2013.

All this information can be viewed on the Royal Website under the “Franking Services” TAB. The link to this page being – www.royalmail.com/node/20284230

Andrew Parmenter, Marketing Manager from The Mailing Room commented;” The Mailing Room is keen to ensure that all franking machine users fully understand the implication of not franking correctly and the cost this could incur. In line with The Royal Mail’s policy, we encourage the use of SMART franking machines to ensure the product selection automatically confirms the correct postage price for every individual item”.

For more information on SMART franking, please contact The Mailing Room on 0800 0192 033 or visit www.themailingroom.com

About the Mailing Room

The Mailing are a leading services provider, with a comprehensive range of products & services such as franking machines, postal services, consumables and asset finance to create cost savings in the business mail process. Delivering a single point of supply to UK businesses to source mailing room supplies, The Mailing Room provides the highest level of service and market leading pricing to reduce our customer’s overall costs. The aim is to become a long term partner with all our customers to help them plan their mailing room requirements and simplify the procurement process.