My business is a regular user of mail services and we have explored every way possible to lower my running costs. We have reduced packaging, we operate a ‘just in time system’ to reduce holding stock and we now use a franking machine to handle all our mailing. Our costs have plummeted since we really analysed where we were haemorrhaging money. You would be forgiven for thinking that we run a large company with volume sales, but in reality, we are a family run business that does a little trade through our website and eBay.
Making Money Go Further
Confidence is low and costs are high, so we decided buying a franking machine would be out of the question. Our best option was to lease one so that our initial outlay would be minimal. As we sell many low value items to customers, the cost of postage is a serious hindrance to our ability to compete, especially with cheap products from China all over eBay. By switching to a franking machine, we would save around 25% on our postage costs when we sent items first class and even more for second class.
The Unexpected Benefit of Franking
We now handle all our mailing with our franking machine and this has brought massive savings in time and effort. We have a single trip to the post each day and there is no need to worry about weights or sizes as everything is pre-calculated and paid for in advance. We also get the benefit of improving our image with customers. Our franking machine prints our website address on every envelope and this has converted many eBay sales in to direct sales from our website. This means we are able to save on eBay fees and further increase our margins.
Priority Mailing Improves Delivery Times
All mail printed with a franking machine in the UK is treated as business mail. We didn’t realise the benefits of using a business mail service until items we sent via second class began arriving very quickly. This meant that our feedback was consistently good on eBay and this affects the fees we pay to the site. The better your feedback rating, the lower your seller fees are, which is why many sellers opt to provide free mailing on eBay. As our items are low cost, it is not good business to provide free mail. In this situation, refunds will also include the cost of any mail when customers return items.
If you want to find out how much your business can save by using a franking machine, check out www.europeanpostalsystems.co.uk.