What is metered mail?
There are generally two ways a letter can be sent through the U.S. Postal Service: stamped mail or metered mail. If you’ve ever seen one of these blue USPS collection boxes in town, you’ve probably seen a slot for both! While many people who are new to mailing and consignment tend to conflate the two, they are very different from each other, and Shipping School is here to clarify.
Metered vs. Stamped Mail: What’s the Difference?
Rather than relying on traditional stamp mail, many businesses use metered mail to process and purchase postage for bulk letters.
Measured mail goes through a postage meter with a weighing scale and effectively “prints” a sufficient amount of postage onto the envelope.Metered mail tends to be more reliable than using regular stamps because metered mail counts precise The amount of postage required for your envelope precise weight. This eliminates the risk of paying the wrong postage amount (for example, underpaying or overpaying).
Metered mail also has a lower rate, so you pay less postage per mail than using regular First-Class Mail stamps. This price difference enables many businesses to save a lot of money — but the exact value of how much businesses save depends on how much mail they send in the first place.
How does my business get a postage meter?
When you want to buy a postage meter for your business, the most common way is to rent a postage meter on a monthly basis. Pitney Bowes is by far the market leader in this field, and you should get your postage meter through this company. In fact, they’ve been in the postage meter business for over a hundred years! Just look at any metered letters you receive in the mail; chances are, you’ll see their name on the stamp printed on the envelope.
If you’re looking for a specific model, we recommend checking out Pitney Bowes’ SendPro+ Postage Meter. It’s a pretty affordable option for sending packages and regular mail, and it lets you process up to 65 mails per minute!
