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Are you looking to post franked mail? Take a look at what makes this type of mail special from any other you may have sent.
There are a few things you should know when using franking machines, one of these being what to do with the mail once it’s franked. Franked mail cannot be posted into regular post boxes, if you do this mail will end up going to a sorting office and this will lengthen the process and delay your franked mail.
The only time you can use a regular post box is when you are sending less than 30 items a day using a special low volume envelope (you can get this from your franking machine supplier). Don’t panic though, there are several places you can post or drop off franked mail and you can also arrange for your franked mail to be collected.
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Sorting Franked Mail For Posting
Once you have franked your mail it will need to be sorted before it is posted. You should have a selection of bags and pouches (you can order these for free from Royal Mail), these are used for easily separating the franked mail by class and size. You must also make sure international mail is sorted in a different pouch than national delivery and finally, make sure you keep special delivery mail separate too. By sorting the mail before you give it to Royal Mail it saves time because your franked mail will now not need to be checked or weighed by Royal Mail staff.
You will require:
- Red pouches for 1st class.
- Green pouches for 2nd class.
- White pouches for international delivery.
You simply put the bundle up the letters of the same size and class, making sure they are all face up, secure them together with an elastic band and then put them into the correct pouch. If you are sending parcels you will need to separate them by class and put them into the bag, be aware that the weight limit for the bag is 11kg so you should use more than one bag if your parcels amount to more than 11kg.
Once the mail is sorted into the correct pouches and bags it is ready to be posted.
Where To Post Franked Mail In The UK
As previously mentioned, franked mail cannot be posted in a regular post box unless you are sending less than 30 items a day using a special low volume envelope (available from your franking machine supplier). There are business post boxes that you can post franked mail into – they have a more square appearance in comparison to a regular post box and will be marked with “Franked Mail”. As there are a lot less business post boxes than regular post boxes it may be closer and easier for you to take the post to a Royal Mail Delivery office, Mail Centre or Post Office.
Luckily there are a large amount of post offices so you shouldn’t have to go too far to drop the franked mail off. There is usually a separate window for business mail too so it should be quick and easy for an employee to take the mail, drop it off and return to work. The franked mail will have to be dropped off, posted or collected daily as it has the date on and has to be franked on that same day, some franking machines have an advanced date feature where you can frank tomorrow’s date ready for posting the mail tomorrow.
If you are sending a lot of mail or it is inconvenient to take it to a Post Office you may see it as beneficial to arrange for Royal Mail to pick up the franked mail from your business, this service does cost and you will need to sort your mail slightly differently.
Sorting Franked Mail For Collection
You will need to sort the mail similarly to how we have explained previously but if you are sending more than 200 letters you can present it in trays rather than pouches. When sorting into trays you do not need to bundle the letters but you should make sure the large letters are laying flat, face up and the standard letters are upright with the front facing out. Each tray can take up to 80 large letters or 340 standard letters. Also, keep your special delivery mail separate and hand it to the collections driver in order to ensure you get the correct service for your mail.
You can then arrange for Royal Mail to collect the mail, you can do this as a one-off collection or you can pay an annual fee for your franked mail to be collected every day at a prearranged time. The cost of this service is around £750 a year for collection every weekday, however, if you spend more than £15,000 annually the charge is dropped and the service is free. You can learn more about this service on the official Royal Mail website.
Summary of Posting Franked Mail
In summary you have a few option as to where you post franked mail, you can: post it into a business mailbox, drop it off at the most convenient post office or arrange for it to be picked up.
You can choose the option that is most favourable to you and your company, just remember the franked mail has to be posted on the same date as is franked on the envelope.
