Even if you only send five letters a day franking machine solutions from www.Neopost.co.uk can offer huge cost savings for our small business. This featured cover story of Business Info Magazine Issue 108 titled 'Neopost "Franking for All"' explains how to save money through mail automation.

1. THE WORKPLACE & TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE FOR SMES WWW.BINFO.CO.UK ISSUE108
Franking for all
How Neopost franking machines
can help you cut mailing costs
See page 10
BROADBAND • PORTABLE SCANNERS • POCKET PROJECTORS • MFPS

2. Cover Story
A mark of
intelligence The more you send, the more you save
The cost-savings and efficiency gains
from franking are even greater for
organisations with larger mail volumes.
Businesses sending between 500 and
Franking is now the most economical and productive option for 25,000 letters per mailing using Royal
businesses sending as few as five letters a day. Mail Business Mail (previously Cleanmail,
Mailsort and Walksort) can enjoy extra
On April 30, Royal Mail increased the To work out the annual savings you discounts of up to 23.5% on the cost of
price of a 1st class stamp by 30%, from can expect by switching from stamps franked mail.
46p to 60p, and the price of a 2nd class to franks, download Neopost’s free In order to qualify for discounts, mail
one by 39%, from 36p to 50p. Costs Postage Saver app for the iPhone. Just must be addressed in a way that can
for franking also rose but, in line with follow the link on www.neopost.co.uk. be read by Royal Mail sorting machines
Royal Mail’s strategy since 2005, at a using approved OCR-readable fonts or
significantly lower rate – 13% for a 1st Free trial barcodes containing the postcode and
class letter (39p to 44p) and 10% for Franking doesn’t just save money: it is delivery point. The level of discount
2nd class post (28p to 31p). also more convenient, secure, accurate depends on factors such as the number
As a result, the gap between the and professional than using stamps (see of letters sent, how the mail is addressed,
cost of a stamp and metered mail has below). Today, even entry-level franking addressing accuracy and whether mail is
widened so much that a first class frank machines come with impressive, time- A first class unsorted or pre-sorted by the customer
costs less than a second class stamp. saving features. frank costs into specific postcode areas.
With savings of 16p on every 1st Neopost’s neat and compact
Class letter and 19p on every 2nd Class Autostamp 2, winner of a Business Info
less than a VAT Reclaims
letter, the break even point at which Editor’s Choice award, has an integrated second class Another recent change in the pricing of
Royal Mail products is the imposition
savings on postage cover the costs of weighing scale and on-screen rate wizard stamp. of VAT on retail mail services, bar those
franking machine rental and consumables to ensure you always apply the correct
has now fallen to just five letters a day. postage, and a LAN connection for 24/7 subject to the Universal Service Obligation
This makes franking an economical postage re-crediting, remote diagnostics i.e. 1st and 2nd class post. Introduced
option for small and micro businesses and automatic postal rate changes. to provide fair competition between
such as garages, dentists, doctor surgeries, all postal service providers, VAT is now
garden centres, plumbers etc. that in the Experience the benefits of franking for applied to Business Mail and many other
past might have considered metered mail yourself with Neopost’s free 30-day services including Special Delivery 9am.
beyond their means. AutoStamp franking machine trial. This is not so much a financial burden
as an administrative one, as VAT-registered
businesses can claim back the tax. The
process is made much easier using the
latest generation of Neopost VAT-
compliant IS smart franking machines.
Neopost IS Smart franking machines
frank at VAT-inclusive prices and
produce VAT invoices to aid reclaiming.
Other benefits
Substantial cost-savings, easier
compliance with the requirements of
Royal Mail discount schemes and simpler
VAT accounting provide a compelling
case for franking, but there are many
other reasons why businesses of all sizes
should invest in a franking machine:
No more queuing. Franking machines
can be re-credited with postage online at
any time of day or night, saving you the
time and trouble of queuing up at the
Post Office counter;
No over-stamping. Automatic tariff
updates and Neopost’s on-screen rate
wizard ensure that you always apply
exactly the right postage. This eliminates
unnecessary costs from over-stamping
10 magazine www.binfo.co.uk

3. Seven Ways to Beat
and the embarrassment and bad PR of Royal Mail Price Hike
under-stamping and passing surcharges
on to your customers; 1. Franked Mail
Faster processing. Neopost franking Save 19p on a 2nd class letter
machines are packed with time-saving and 16p on a 1st class letter and
features, from integrated scales and LAN up to £1.41 on a 2 kg packet by
connectivity on the AutoStamp2, to switching from stamps to franked
mixed mail feeding, dynamic scales and mail.
colour touch-screens on high end models. 2. Utilise 2nd Class Postage
Up-to-date mailing lists. Print your Move from 1st to 2nd class post
business address on envelopes and Royal and save 13p – or an additional 5. VAT Services
Mail will return all undeliverable franked 29% – on every letter sent: 85% If you are regularly using VAT
mail helping you to keep your address of 2nd class letters arrive the next liable postal products, such as
lists up-to-date; day anyway. Special Delivery 9am or Business
Easier accounting. As a Neopost
3. Take Advantage of Pricing in Mail, you could claim back the
customer you will enjoy a free online
Proportion VAT by using a SMART technology
account called myneopost where you can
Make the most of size-based franking machine – saving you an
monitor and analyse postal expenditure
pricing and switch from C4 to C5 additional 20%. Neopost’s range of
by department or mail type; order
or DL envelopes and enjoy a saving IS Smart franking machines are VAT
consumables; and request service support.
of 22p per letter or 41%. Folding compliant.
Free advertising. Improve brand
mail into smaller envelopes is quick 6. Rationalise mailings
awareness and boost revenue by printing
and easy with a Neopost folder Save on postage and material
sales messages next to the frank mark.
inserter. costs by combining multiple
Greater professionalism. Neat and
consistent franking marks can help project 4. Postal Discount Programmes mailings to a single addressee in
a professional, business-like image; Use Royal Mail’s Business Mail one envelope. Neopost output
Improved security. Unlike stamps, a Service to send 500 items in management software makes
Neopost franking machine can be fully one batch and save 16% against rationalisation easy.
locked and PIN protected, so that only standard franked postal tariffs. 7. Address & Database Quality
authorised users have access. Royal Mail also provides volume Royal Mail destroys an average of
The scale of April’s price rises came discounts, beginning at 1,000 25 million undeliverable letters,
as a shock to many and forced Royal letters, with further discounts packets and parcels every year.
Mail to ration stamp sales to prevent of 1.5% to 7.5%. By combining Make sure your mailings reach their
stock-piling. Following Ofcom’s decision Business Mail and volume-related target by keeping your address
to remove restrictions on what Royal discounts, businesses that send databases up-to-date. Use Neopost
www.neopost. between 500 and 25,000 letters
Mail can charge for 1st class post, such address correction software to
co.uk or call per mailing can shave a further
price increases could become a common clean data against Royal Mail PAF
0800 731 1334 16% to 23.5% off the cost of
occurrence further strengthening the case address file.
quoting BINFO franked mail.
for franking. Get yours while stocks last!
Perfect companions departments, Neopost recently launched the DS-35
desktop model with useful colour touch-screen, step-by-
Desktop folder-inserters are the perfect complement step job set-up wizard and programmable job memory
to a Neopost franking machine. Neopost’s range will for regular jobs. Despite its compact size, the DS-35 can
fold and insert documents at speeds of up to 12,000 still fold, insert and seal up to 1,350 items of mail
envelopes an hour, then seal and stack the envelopes per hour and if required can be linked to a Neopost
ready for franking. franking machine in a fully automated mail flow.
With even entry-level machines folding and inserting Another new model, the DS-85 can fold
at least 13 times faster than by hand, folder-inserters up to 10 sheets into a single envelope and
are a productive, cost-saving solution for businesses that accommodate up to six feed stations. It also has
regularly send out invoices, statements and marketing the ability to read barcodes and other optical
campaigns. marks printed anywhere on the page allowing
Neopost calculates that a folder-inserter with a monthly users to specify different inserts for each letter.
rental of £20 could save a company that sends 3,000 items Make maximum use of this capability by
a month as much as £1,920 a year in labour costs, on the installing Neopost’s new OMS-100 Output
basis that it costs 6p per item to fold and insert letters Management Software Solution to manage
manually (100 insertions per hour at £6 per hour). printing (with optical marks), folding and
Even if you only use it to fold A4 pages into DL or C5 insertion of mailings. The software can also
envelopes and so avoid Large Letter rates, a folder-inserter group similar envelopes and postage types
will be a valuable addition to your office. together, saving at least 30-60 seconds of
To meet the needs of smaller businesses and preparation per item.
01732 759725 magazine 11