What's the rough breakeven point where franking beats regular postage?

[Karimbo]

I noticed the huge discounts available for when using a franking machine instead of using stamps.

But you have to buy a franking machine, get the machine inspected annually and purchase special authorised inks to print labels on. All of these obviously add to the cost.

Does anyone here use franking and what is the typical overhead for using a franking machine?

Will a used machine work or is it hard coded to work with a specific business?

 

[adamo]

Not 100% sure on franking machines, but I know you can get a considerable discount with a business account directly with Royal Mail (need to spend £10k+/annum).

 

[Karimbo]

That might be a good medium term solution but the discounts for bulk purchasing stamps aren't as great as franking from what I recall.

Franking prices:


Not sure what sort of discounts you'd get with an OBA. But it's likely to be 5% discount wouldn't it?

 

[Karimbo]

did a bit more research and I have found that franking machines are typically rented rather than owned outright. There is a monopoly on franking machines and they are very expensive to buy outright.

 

[silentjay]

Can't tell you what the breakeven is but when I did some research it seemed there were plenty of scams and tricks where the franking resellers will try to hit you with a dozens of hidden costs once you've signed on the dotted line. Basically don't trust the figures they tell you

 

[Raw Rob]

Pretty sure that the prices you would get with an OBA account are the same as you would get with a franking machine. Meaning that the OBA is a much better option. No idea really why anyone uses franking machines still.

 

[KeithGreen]

We used to do about 1000 mailshots a month, all second class. With the cost machine rental, servicing and audit plus printing supplies etc. I reckon we spent about the same as we would on 2nd class stamps. That was about 4-5 years ago and the difference between stamps and franking costs are greater so the breakeven might be a bit lower nowadays.
As someone has said the add-on costs for franking are considerable so check everything.

 

[Karimbo]

Pretty sure that the prices you would get with an OBA account are the same as you would get with a franking machine. Meaning that the OBA is a much better option. No idea really why anyone uses franking machines still.

Thanks, I have registered to OBA since the original opening post. But still have not had an account opened to date.

 

[Deleted member 127702]

There is a monopoly on franking machines and they are very expensive to buy outright.

It's not a monopoly, but gives every sign of being a cartel. I can't think of any other business where pricing is so opaque. I have never been on the receiving end of such sharp business practices ( i.e. outright lies intended to get you to sign up for very long expensive leases) from anyone else as I have with Franking Machine suppliers.