Cheap Postage Meters – How Affordable are USPS Postage Meter Rental Pricing in 2018?
Postage meters are rented rather than purchased, and can cost as little as $20 a month plus the cost of your postage.
If you only need a very basic USPS postage meter it is possible to find extremely inexpensive options. Certain cheap postage meters are available at the bargain price of only $20 – $35 per month. Of course, if you’re looking for a product that can fulfill more complex functions, or if you need a postage meter to use in a mail-room of a corporation that is mailing thousands of items daily, then one of these basic units isn’t going to get the job done. In those cases, rental fees for postage meters can range up to a less economical $1000 or more.
Because pricing of postage meters is always based on a rental arrangement, getting the most discounted rates always comes back to how well you can negotiate the terms of that contract. Being a new customer is an excellent place to start. When you sign your first agreement with a provider in order to lease a postage meter, there is a good chance you will be able to get an introductory deal. Sometimes companies will even offer a trial period where you can use a machine for 30 to 60 days at no charge as an introduction to a contract.
Finally, long-term contracts can be an excellent way to negotiate discounted pricing on postage meters. Most providers are going to charge a much higher rate on a month-to-month lease agreement than on a year-long contract. In certain cases, you can negotiate terms longer than a year in order to secure even better discounts.
What is a Postage Meter?
A postage meter is a device that applies a postage paid mark to an envelope without needing to actually place a physical stamp on the letter. In the United States, these machines cannot be purchased, but they can be rented on a low-cost basis so that a business can address and post mass mailings without having to go through the tedious process of stamping hundreds or thousands of envelopes individually.
Popular Providers Include:
- FP Mailing Solutions
- Neopost
- Hasler
- Pitney Bowes
Your low-priced postage meter will place a mark on the letters as you pass them through the machine. The mark is called a “frank”, and it holds all the key information about the postage processing for the letter. It will show the post office how much money has been paid for the shipping of the item, and what class of mail the letter is being shipped under.
Postage meters include a scale that is used to weight all of your outgoing mail. This ensures that you are charged exactly the right amount for everything that you address using the machine. The company that you lease your postage meter from will set up a system of billing with you so that you can handle all of your postage payments in a simple and straightforward fashion based on the postage assessed by the scale on the meter. This means that instead of having to buy massive amounts of stamps (and risk over or under paying for postage), or having to go to the post office on a daily basis, you can handle all your postage costs through a single billing portal.
What to Look for in Low Cost Postage Meters?
One of the first things to look for in a bargain postage meter search is a machine that feeds automatically. If you truly want the most affordable machine on the market, you might instead opt for one which has a manual feed. This means that you need to pass each letter through the meter one at a time. An automatic feed machine has the ability to process large stacks of letters at once, running them through the machine and greatly speeding up the entire process. Common considerations when buying a postage meter include:
- Accuracy of Postage Pricing
- Desktop Solutions
- Automatic Envelope Feeders
- Volume and Job Size
- Mixed sise Feeders
Certain postage meters have the ability to be programmed, allowing you to add a small marketing message to your outgoing mail. While this might not be relevant to everyone, if you work with a highly recognizable brand having the opportunity to reinforce who the mailing is from could be a useful tactic for increasing the rate at which people are going to open the letters you send them.
As all postage meters are now digital, the software included with the meter should be something you look at when choosing your provider. The software should be easy to use and understand, especially in regards to billing, helping to prevent any surprises from cropping up at down the road.
If you ever ship anything other than envelopes or need to ship with multiple classes of mail, be sure that your meter can accommodate those needs. Not all machines can process mail of every category, so be sure that the features of the machine align with your shipping needs.
Bargain Postage Meter Companies with Discounted Prices
The relationship of postage meter companies to the USPS helps regulate the consistency and quality of machines in this industry. Any company that provides a postage meter has been approved by the postal service, ensuring a consistent level of service across providers. That said, these two companies are both well-recognized players in the industry that offer a selection of postage meters.
Pitney Bowes: Pitney Bowes is a long-time leader in this industry who has a wide lineup of affordable postage meters. Their machines range from small capacity units designed to process a few letters right from someone’s desktop, up to their DM Infinity system which can process huge amounts of mail in short order. Prices for their most basic units start at $20 per month.
Neopost: Neopost separates their lineup into low, mid and high-volume mailing needs. For the mid-range products, the cost starts at an affordable $150 per month. Their machines are known for being very easy to use with straightforward interfaces on even the high-end models.
When you rent a postage meter, one of the largest benefits is the ability to pay a lower postage rate than the standard rate available through the post office. If your company has any significant amount of outgoing mail, the potential savings of these units more than compensate for the rental fees.