Pitney Bows A warning to small businesses

[Mark Chase]

I finally decided to get a franking machine. Pitney Bowes offered me one at a low user rate of 44.70 a quarter. Not too bad at £15.00 a month. I doubt if I post out more than 30 items a week but I get a free logo on the letters and it looks good so an extra 12p a letter isnt too bad

They charge £10 to down load money on to the machine which is a bugger because you have to have the funds in place so I have a £20 minimum float then i have to BACS over money prior to down loading. Do say £200 and its only another 1p per stamp so I am up to 13p a letter extra.

Still not too bad.

Then the killer

My ink cartridge ran out after 240 letters. A replacement ink cartridge with postage cost £42.00??????? WTF

so thats now an extra 17p per letter in frigging ink.

So all in all its costing me 56p to post a letter

Thats a joke. How the hell they can charge £42 for an ink cartridge that only lasts 240 cycles of printing a frank + a silly little logo I have no idea. i am paying £16 for an already expensive HP inkjet cartridge that prints about 240 A4 pages of text.

OH yes and its a 3 year contract so i am screwed for the next three years.

So be warned people if your offered a Pitney Bowes Franking machine. Don't do it.


ATB

Mark Chase

[ScubaSue]

You should have tried SmartStamp Mark!

(oops - hit submit)

Part of the Royal Mail.

Set up an account, pay a 'value' into postage, print your own labels which are valid stamps.

Have a lookie here

[turbanator]

Not much consolation, but you can turn off the logo and save a bit of ink.

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by turbanator

Not much consolation, but you can turn off the logo and save a bit of ink.

I know but thats the whole point of getting it lost That smart stamp idea looks great.

ATB

Mark Chase

[turbanator]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

I know but thats the whole point of getting it lost

Mark Chase

I suppose so.
Do you print labels or ont envelopes directly, could you set up a template to print your logo onto the envelopes?

[ScubaSue]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

That smart stamp idea looks great.

ATB

Mark Chase

We've been using them for a couple of years now - every so often bung £50 on, and on the 'user' page, there is a tally of how much you have left, and you can top it up when you want/need to. And it saves the hassle of getting to, and queueing in the Post Office.

You can set up an address book, from an Excel spreadsheet, for regular addresses, or can type individual names in (oh, and if you bugger up stamps for any reason, like printing on to paper by accident you can get the ruined ones refunded if you submit them within seven days)

Print and post - easy! You didn't want to hear that did you?

[Pen Simon]

I would second the idea of using Smart Stamp.

We have used it now for over a year.

OK, you pay a monthly fee - I think about £5.00 and use your consumables for making the stamp, but you can add your own logo etc.

We have just moved from managed offices where there was a daily collection by the PO and thought of getting rid of Smart Stamp, but after one trip to the PO and wasting 40 minutes waiting, decided to keep it as you can just go in and leave your parcels/letters on the collection point - no more time wasted!

Time is money!!

[ardhill]

We just buy a bunch of stamps from the post office.

If I want a logo on my envelopes I will just set up a template like Turbanator says and run them through my printer. I couldn't justify either a franking machine or £4.99 a month for SmartStamp.

EDIT: Other have pointed out the time going to the post office, which is a genuine point. But it is one block away from us

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by turbanator

I suppose so.
Do you print labels or ont envelopes directly, could you set up a template to print your logo onto the envelopes?

Yes I could but there are problems. My printer dosent like the adhesive on the self sealing envelopes. It causes a lot of jams. If i used the Smart post idea id use labels. If i have to get labels for the Pitney machine there is even more expense

Basically i know I am screwed for the next three years then i can throw it back at them.

I just want others to avoid making the same mistake as I did. As a rough estimate this error will cost me £1500 over three years

ATB

Mark Chase

[ScubaSue]

Originally Posted by Pen Simon

I would second the idea of using Smart Stamp.

We have used it now for over a year.

OK, you pay a monthly fee - I think about £5.00 and use your consumables for making the stamp, but you can add your own logo etc.

We have just moved from managed offices where there was a daily collection by the PO and thought of getting rid of Smart Stamp, but after one trip to the PO and wasting 40 minutes waiting, decided to keep it as you can just go in and leave your parcels/letters on the collection point - no more time wasted!

Time is money!!

It's £50 per year, and we put our post into the 'Franked Post' Boxes, with the chute, which conveniently happens to be a 5 minute walk away on our estate.