Why Postage Meters Matter to a Small Business

By: Chris Nielsen


One of the most important things a business needs is a way to send out mail. There are a lot of small businesses that rely on mailings in order to get new business. Home based businesses are the businesses that really rely on direct mail. Direct mailings, whether they are letters with envelopes or postcards, need postage that costs money. Postage to a big business is not as much of a concern, it is the small businesses that have little or no budgets. With the cost of postage going up more and more, it takes a lot of money to send out advertisements and information to clients. In the beginning a small business will use stamps, but as the price goes up and they get more business, it is time to look into postage meters.

The postage meters save you a trip to the post office and they are actually regulated by the United States Postal Service (USPS). They are very simple to use. There are digital meters that most small businesses use today. The digital postage meter will actually help a small business reduce their postage bill. Postage meters are great for small business because as we just mentioned they will save you money, but also saves time. A postage meter will also weigh the piece of mail and actually charge the business exactly for the amount of what the postage is.

For example, let’s say you have an 8 x 11 manila envelope and you have about 6 pieces of paper in it. The size alone will cost you more than one stamp, but less then two. When you go to the post office with 2 stamps on it, you pay double the postage, when by a postage meters readings it will only cost you slightly more than one stamp. With digital postage it is much more accurate to pinpoint the amount of postage and you don't have to walk into a post office and have them weigh and add the postage. For a company who relies heavily on mail, a postage meter will save you money directly with postage and indirectly by the time needed to visit the post office.

Using a postage meter is easy, you simply pay a certain amount of money to the Post Office and then that is the amount of money that is programmed into the meter for you to spend. In the long run, you can set whatever amount you wish to have for a specific amount of time and the meter will overall save you money. If you are still unsure, then what you should do is buy an amount of postage that you normally would for a month and then get a postage meter for a trial period and do the same amount of mailing and see which comes out to be cheaper. Some companies even offer some free postage to use during a free trial period. When the free trial is over there is a monthly fee that you must pay to use the meter, but you will find it is very small given the savings you can realize. Even if you have to pay for the postage you use, a free trial costs nothing and let to make sure that a digital postage meter is the best option for you.


Chris Nielsen is an Internet consultant who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been involved with computers since 1981. Nielsen is the owner and founder of NielsenTech.com, Consultant-Directory.com, EbayAuctionAds.com, Big-Zoo.us, and many other popular sites. For more on the direct mail industry and postage meters, visit his blog at www.Postage-Meter-Machine.com