The Mailing Room hails boom in franking due to stamp price increase

April 19, 2012 - PRLog -- The business, founded by George Bevan and his wife Helen in 1999 as FP Mailing, provides businesses with franking machines approved by Royal Mail, TNT and UK Mail. It has recently rebranded as The Mailing Room.
It serves around 10,000 customers, mainly in the north of England where it has an exclusive distribution deal with its supplier FP. It also supplies public sector organisations nationally, including local authorities and the NHS. Customers include Alder Hey Children NHS Foundation and the HMRC.
Franking machines offer discounted postal services, which means sending first and second-class mail is cheaper than buying stamps. On average the savings using a franking machine are over 30% cheaper with a second class letter costing only 31p opposed to the 50p new stamp price.
Mr Bevan said he expects a surge in demand for franking machines especially from SMEs due to the increase in stamp prices at the end of this month.
Prices are set to rise from 46p to 60p for a first-class stamp and 36p to 50p for a second class-stamp from April 30. The cost of posting large letters will increase from 75p to 90p for first class and 58p to 69p for second class.
Mr Bevan said: “As franking machines offer a discounted rate, any organisation, whether it's a law firm or a business being operated by just one person, can save money if they are sending at least seven letters a day.
“The Royal Mail has been deregulating its services for many years and we have been expecting the price increase for over two years. As a result, for the last 18 months we have been increasing staff numbers, including field sales staff, to go out and speak to organisations about the changes in the Royal Mail and what it will mean for their business.
“As a result, we have been getting more orders especially from SMEs and expect this to be our busiest financial year.”
The Mailing Room's workforce has grown from 15 to 35 in the last 18 months. As well as offering franking machines, it advises businesses on their outgoing postal operations. Mr Bevan said: “The needs of all businesses are different. We assess if and where they can save money first.”
Mailing Room Overview
The Mailing Room is a leading services provider, with a comprehensive range of products & services within its areas of excellence; being franking machines, postal services, consumables and asset finance to create cost savings in the business mail process. By delivering a ‘one stop shop’ for UK businesses to single source mailing room supplies, The Mailing Room provides the highest level of service and market leading pricing to reduce our customer’s overall costs. Our aim is to become a long term partner with all our customers to help them plan their mailing room requirements and simplify the procurement process.
The company has grown quickly since its inception in 1999 to servicing over 10,000 customers nationwide, in both the commercial and public sector.  This growth has been fed by working closely with best of breed suppliers, including an exclusive distribution for the north of England and public sector for the FP range of franking machines and a partnership with Pitney Bowes.
Contact for Editors: Andrew Parmenter, Marketing Manager on Andrew.parmenter@themailingroom.com or call 0161 797 7778

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The Mailing Room specialise in reducing the costs of your mailings by lowering the postage costs of your in-house franking machine system. We do this by ensuring that you are using the most cost efficient postage service.