From the end of this year, Royal Mail will only accept and process franked post from franking machine users with Mailmark™ franking machines. Franking machine users with non-Mailmark™ franking machines will no longer be able to frank and send post through their franking machines.
Why is this happening?
Royal Mail launched its Mailmark™ service in 2014. Mailmark™ franks include a 2D barcode that helps Royal Mail to process franked mail significantly more efficiently and accurately than non-barcoded mail. To ensure that all franked mail can be processed in the most accurate and efficient way, Royal Mail are migrating all of their mail processing to use barcode technology. They have set a deadline at the end of 2022 to phase out the processing of all non-barcoded franked mail. Royal Mail are asking all franking machine users who currently use a non-Mailmark™ franking machine to upgrade to a Mailmark™ one in order to continue to send franked mail after the end of this year.
Any franking machine user who still has a non-Mailmark™ franking machine at the end of the year, will no longer be able to send mail through the Royal Mail system.
What will happen?
Towards the end of the year, as the deadline approaches, non-Mailmark™ franking machine users will no longer be able to add credit to their franking machine. This will mean that they will not be able to frank mail through their franking machine from that point.
Who does this affect?
This change only affects franking machine users who do not already have a Mailmark™ franking machine. If you already have a Mailmark™ franking machine, no action is required.
How to identify if you have a standard or Mailmark™ franking machine
Identifying whether you have a standard or a Mailmark™ franking machine is really easy. All you need to do is to frank a piece of mail and take a look at the frank that has printed.
Does your frank look like example A or example B?
Example A is a frank from a Standard (non- Mailmark™) Franking machine.
If you wish to keep on franking mail afer the end of this year, we recommend that you take action to upgrade your franking machine to a Mailmark™ one right away.
Example B is a frank from a Mailmark™ Franking machine
Royal Mail decertification does not affect you. Royal Mail will continue to accept your mail after the decertification deadline.
What to do next if you have a non-Mailmark™ franking machine
If you have a standard (non-Mailmark™) franking machine, you should upgrade your franking machine to a Mailmark™ one as soon as possible.
Don’t worry, the process is very straight-forward and Franking Sense® can help even if you already have a franking machine contract with a different franking machine supplier.
In the vast majority of cases, you will be able to migrate to Mailmark™ without it costing any more than you are currently paying for your machine rental. Plus, you wil get the benefit of postage savings up to 15% on every item of mail you send because Royal Mail have guaranteed that Mailmark™ will always be the cheapest franking tariff.
To upgrade to Mailmark, simply contact us and we will be happy to help you.
For information about franking and our Mailmark™ franking machines, click here.
This article first appeared on https://www.nationwidefrankingsense.co.uk/news/important-information-non-mailmark-franking-machines
