Franking machine

With a postage meter ( franking , often franking machine ) mail pieces are automated with a value stamp , a value print or only machine readable code provided and so for shipping with the necessary Porto cleared .

history

Karl Uchermann designed the world's first franking machine in 1901 and, together with the Norwegian entrepreneur Nils Aall Krag, developed it further until it was ready for production.

function

Hand franking machine from Francotyp-Postalia

The franking device usually consists of a keyboard for entering the postage, three sealed counters, a stamp mechanism and a conveyor belt. The first counter is the so-called default counter. It is topped up with a postage credit by phone , prepaid card (in Germany until 2005), payment at the post office counter (in Germany until June 30, 2016) or via the Internet and shows the amount still available. The second counter is the totalizer. It shows the total amount of postage for the mail items franked with this machine. The third counter registers the number of prints and is used for statistics .

The postage to be paid is entered via the keyboard or, in the case of digital devices (at Deutsche Post AG with the name " Frankit "), the shipping method is selected. If the device has an integrated or cable-connected external scale, the required postage can be automatically determined based on size and weight. The mail pieces are then allowed to pass through a passage restricted to the thickness of the largest permissible mail item fully automatically and the postage is printed on the mail piece. The default counter subtracts the stamped amount from the credit, the total counter continues to count by the same amount, and the print counter counts by one. If the desired postage is no longer "loaded" on the default counter, printing will be refused. Postage is now topped up in digital form by telephone or the Internet.

After it has passed through, the mail item arrives in the collecting basin and is placed in the mail tub with the stamp facing up / forward. For thicker pieces of mail, there are removable franking strips that are inserted into the machine via manual access from the side.

The machine is checked at irregular intervals by the respective postal company without prior notice in order to rule out any manipulation . With Frankit devices this is done via the monthly remote maintenance.

Printing process:

manual machines: pressure roller (printing mechanism from a rotating stamp)
electrical machines: printing roller, inkjet or thermal transfer printing
Frankit : inkjet or thermal transfer printing

Up until the introduction of the euro at Deutsche Post, the franking imprints were red ; today they are blue . Due to the increasing spread of monochrome thermal , inkjet and laser printers , the color black can recently also be used, provided the machine logs every stamping process and this log is handed over to the post office when the letter is posted (exception: Frankit).

From 1939 to 1998 machines were also approved by post that printed the postage on the mail piece as a manual dispenser (which can also be expanded with various electric drives). These had to be recharged at the post office counter in Germany.

Additional functions

Sealing unit : As an additional function, some franking machines have the option of automatically sealing the letters.

Dynamic weighing , i.e. weighing a piece of mail during the franking process while simultaneously determining the correct postage, was brought onto the market by Pitney Bowes .

Cost center function : Postage used can be assigned to individual cost centers on the machine. This offers additional cost transparency using the polluter pays principle.

Differential weighing : Mail items of the same shipping type but different weights are placed on the integrated scale. Each piece of mail is lifted from the stack, the weight is determined from the difference to the remaining stack and the correct postage is printed on.

advantages

With a franking system, large quantities of mail items can be franked automatically in a relatively short time. Large machines reach a capacity of up to 300 shipments per minute. Furthermore, there is no binding to the fixed brand values of the stamps . Every postage value can be printed out. The printing of the sender information is also automated. It has recently become possible to print advertising or seasonal imprints such as Christmas greetings, as well as anonymously franking with address printing switched off. Today's technologies enable the shipment tracking (track and trace) of every letter via special digital prints (e.g. data matrix code ) .