Meter machines print postage paid on either your mail piece or an approved label (i.e. meter strip or tape) that you affix to your piece. Meter machines are leased from commercial manufacturers who cooperate with the U.S. Postal Service® to enable you to pay for and download postage straight into the machine and to print it on demand.
Pros: Meters avoid over stamping by enabling you to print exact postage for most mail classes (all but Periodicals) and for Extra Services that are hard to account for by stamp. You can track meter expenditures more easily than stamps and, with some models, account for usage by department and/or code. Meters help you to calculate rates automatically without rate charts. There is no fee to apply for a permit to mail with a postage meter.
Cons: Postage meters are not available for sale; they must be rented. Most rental agreements lock users in for many years even though your needs may change. In order to update rates after a postal rate change, you will need to purchase and install a replacement chip from your meter vendor. You ‘fill’ your postage meter with funds in advance and must replenish it before postage runs out to avoid being caught short. Like stamps and PC Postage®, meter strips are considered ‘live’ postage. You pay the postage for your shipment when you fill your meter machine, and shipment is, therefore, already paid when you affix the meter strip to your package. As a result, mistakes in package preparation can become costly, especially for volume shippers. For example, when changes need to be made to a shipment after postage has already been printed, you must submit your complete, legible, unused meter indicia for refund at a postal retail window within 60 days of the date in the meter stamp.
For additional information, see related articles: “Parcels: Ways to Pay Postage”, “Parcels: Paying with Stamps”, “Parcels: Paying with PC Postage”, and “Parcels: Paying with Permits.”
Window Book’s postal shipping software—Postal Package Partner™—supports shippers using stamps by facilitating package preparation and labeling, postal acceptance, postage management and parcel tracking.