Postage meter Totally Explained

Everything about Postage Meter totally explained

A postage meter is an electro-mechanical device for producing evidence of postage . Postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority; for example, in the United States, the United States Postal Service specifies the rules for the creation, support, and use of postage meters. A postage meter imprints an amount of postage, functioning as a postage stamp, a cancellation mark, and a dated postmark all in one. The meter indicia serves as proof of payment and eliminates the need for adhesive stamps.
The postage meter was introduced in the United States in 1912 by Arthur Pitney, who in 1920 went into business with partner Walter Bowes in order to produce the machines.
Postage meters have evolved from purely mechanical devices to today's Internet-based postage dispensing services. The evolution of the postage meter is covered in the following sections.

History

Since the issuance of adhesive stamps in 1847, postal officials have been concerned about security against stamp theft and how to process mail in a timely fashion. As early as 1884, a Frenchman, Carle Bushe, obtained a British patent for a device that would print a “stamp” on an envelope and record the amount of postage by means of a counting device, or meter. Inventors in Germany, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain pursued similar idea in the late 1800’s, but nothing came to pass.
   Working independently, a young Chicago inventor, Arthur Hill Pitney, obtained his first mailing system patent in 1902. Shortly after, he formed the Pitney Postal Machine Company, which became the American Postage Meter Company in 1912 The first machine consisted of a manual crank, chain action, printing die, counter and lockout device.
   In 1919, Pitney joined forces with Walter H. Bowes, an entrepreneur who had achieved prominence in postal circles through his company, the Universal Stamping Machine Company, which manufactured post office canceling machines. In 1920, the two companies merged to create the Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter Company.
   The Model M Postage Meter was authorized on September 1, 2002 and was put into commercial use in Stamford later that year. (In 1986, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated the Model M as an International ).

Function

The postage meter normally consists of a keyboard for entering the postage, three seals, and a stamping mechanism. Years ago, users needed to bring their meter to a postal office in order to add additional postage (sometimes called a “reset” or “refill”). That changed in 1979 when Pitney Bowes invented remote meter resetting, otherwise known as Postage by Phone®. Today, users can add to their postage balance by telephone, prepaid cards, via the web or through a direct connection over the Internet. The first counter shows the remaining balance. The second counter shows the total postage of the franked consignments. The third one counts the amount of prints and is for statistic purposes only.
If the integrated scales are disabled, the postage has to be entered manually via the keyboard. Otherwise the machine calculates the postage regarding the dimensions and the weight of the consignment. Afterwards the letters are automatically run through an aperture, which is limited to the largest allowed dimensions, and the postage is imprinted. The balance-counter subtracts the imprinted value from the balance, the counter of the total adds the same value, and the printing-counter adds one. If the desired postage is no longer topped up, imprinting is denied. After running through, the consignment arrives at the collect pan orientated "postmark up/front". For thicker consignments there are peelable postage strips, which are manually inserted into the machine via an entry on the side. You can use a postage meter to send First-Class Mail®, Standard Mail®, Priority Mail®, Express Mail®, Package Services, International Mail as well as Presorted Mail.

Types of meters

Mechanical, manual and rotary-print head meters

Mechanical meters are letterpress meters that had to be taken to the post office and physically reset by a postal official. These meters were decertified and taken out of circulation by the USPS in 1999.
Manual Set and Rotary Print Head meters were decertified by the USPS in 2002. While more advanced, including remote meter resetting capabilities, this early technology was deemed susceptible to tampering.

Digital meters

With Digital Print Meters, postage is added through a modem connection. Postage is printed through an inkjet cartridge using special postage ink. The most advanced systems print Information Based Indicia (IBI), a 2-dimensional Data Matrix or bar code combined with visually identifiable characters and symbols. The data matrix contains such information as amount of postage, origin zip code, destination, mail class, weight, and confirmation/tracking numbers.
Leading systems also include IntelliLink technology, which provides access to a complete suite of management information and USPS services such as Delivery Confirmation, Signature Confirmation, Certified Mail and e-Return Receipt. Other preferred features include Weigh-on-the-Weigh and Shape-Based Rating, which automatically calculate the correct postage for mixed-weight and mixed-sized mail.
There are a number of companies offering postage meters, also called franking machines.

Internet- and stamp based meters

While most mailers use mailing systems, new technologies are making metered mail accessible to even the smallest of businesses. eBay and PayPal® users can print labels with postage using eBay's online postage solution and pay using their PayPal account. This technology, powered by Pitney Bowes, provides for a completely browser-based online postage solution.
Other technologies allow you to print postage from your PC or from small stamp printers. In the first consumer application for postage meters, you can also upload digital photos and print customized stamps.

Examples

Image:Freimachung-BE.jpg|Franking in Belgium Image:Freimachung-DE.jpg|Franking in Germany Image:Freimachung-FR.jpg|Franking in France Image:Freimachung-NL.jpg|Franking in the Netherlands Image:Freimachung-IND.jpg|Franking in India Image:Freimachung-AT.jpg|Franking in Austria(new) Image:Freimachung-AT-alt.jpg|Franking in Austria (old) Image:Freimachung-CH.JPG|Franking in Switzerland Image:Freimachung-USA-frankit.jpg|Franking in the USA Image:Custom_postage_example.jpg|Personalized Postage Indicia

Mailing System Components

A postage meter is only one component of a mailing system. Other elements include:

Base (the hardware on which the postage meter sits)
Postage Scale (which weighs postage)
Feeder (sends envelopes through the meter)
Sealer (moistens the flaps of envelopes)
Stacker (stacks envelopes)
Tape Dispenser (when postage can't be printed directly on the mail piece) For high-volume mailers, a postage meter may also be incorporated into an inserting system which prepares mail end-to-end.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Postage Meter'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://postage_meter.totallyexplained.com">Postage meter Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.