As an office manager, you’ll have a lot of responsibilities – including the budget for the day-to-day running of the office - and juggling them all can be both time consuming and stressful – so we’ve put together this quick checklist for you to help you save money in 2020.

As a leading supplier of franking machines and an approved Royal Mail seller we have the insights to help you save on your mailroom supplies, from franking machines, envelopes, inks, and cartridges to maintenance and upgrades.

When did you last check on the deal you currently have? Providers of inks and mailroom machines change their prices over time, and newer machines can offer better value. Spending less on your inks doesn’t mean lowering the quality either, with compatible inks and envelopes you could make a saving instantly.

Your supplier will likely be happy to offer discounts for regular orders, bundles and additional products. Building a strong relationship with your supplier gives you the opportunity to negotiate lower prices and makes handling your admin a lot simpler.

Modern franking machines are capable of high speeds, reliability and are very user friendly, so if you have an older machine it’s probably worth taking a look at the newest range to see if your business needs can be more easily met with a new machine. A new machine wouldn’t necessarily mean buying one though, and renting or leasing a machine can be a very cost effective way to handle your outgoing mail.

If you have seasonal peaks, renting could be the best option, whereas if you have consistently high volumes of post going out the door, buying your machine could offer better value. You’d have no recurring costs, and complete control over the usage of the machine.

One factor to consider would be the maintenance contract, as with renting you’ll often get the maintenance contract included in the costs, and upgrading to a newer machine is just a simple swap – making life a lot easier for you as you won’t need to commit long term to a machine if your volumes alter over time.

Don’t be tempted to buy the most impressive, fastest machine on the market – research and assess your actual needs, and there will be a machine that fits. When you have a machine that suits your day-to-day use, you can spend the money saved elsewhere. The same is true of choosing a machine that can’t keep up with your demands, as pushing a machine too hard will shorten the lifespan of the machine, and result in more call out to fix problems caused by wear and tear.

It’s all too easy to get into the habit of printing off emails, meeting notes, and miscellaneous documents, but paper and ink costs money, and there is also the environmental cost to consider. Save your printing for the documents that really need printing, and if you really do need to print a large amount you should seek a supplier who can offer discounts on paper and ink over the year.

Most businesses have moved on from using stamps to pay for their post, and with good reason, but if you’re still sticking stamps to yours, now is the time to change.

You’ll make large savings on your post right from the start and have complete control of your postage costs. Your post will be franked individually and priced by size and weight – where you are often going over the cost with stamps to make sure you’re not under paying. Then there is the danger of running out of, or worse, losing a book of stamps. The time it takes to apply stamps to your mail is enough to convince most people, but the benefits really do add up and even the most basic models are many times more efficient than manually sticking stamps.

Machines always seem to break down at the worst possible time, when you have a big job and deadline to meet and everything grinds to a halt. With regular checks, and a maintenance contract to prevent errors before they can happen, you’ll get peace of mind as your machine runs and you can get on with other duties around the office. 

It may be tempting to search out the cheapest inks and cartridges online, and for a while these may well work and save you money. The reality is that these often fail, produce lower quality results, and not last as long. If you use consumables that are not approved, you may find you are not covered by maintenance if they cause issues. Your provider can give you all the options for original parts, and approved compatible inks that don’t compromise on quality, while offering the best value for money.

To find out more about the best franking machines, inks and consumables to help you save money and help to take some of that load off your worklist, speak to the team today.

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At IMS, we’re the franking experts. Want to find out if your business could benefit from a franking machine? Ask us!

Either fill out the form on our contact page, or get in touch via the Live Chat pop up in the bottom right of your screen.

Alternatively, call us on 0118 982 0988 or email info@ims-franking.co.uk.