You can have the convenience of having a postage meter in your office and you never have to traipse down to the Post Office to fill it up. Thanks to technology used by Pitney Bowes, a venerable company based in Albany, New York. Venerable here meaning that they have a long and successful track record helping people with weighing and affixing postage to packages in their own offices. There may be other U.S. companies than Pitney Bowes that make postage meters, but Pitney Bowes is the big player in the market.

How does it work? It comes with a phone cord. Plug it into any old standard telephone line, push the meter’s “refill” button, and it takes less than a minute to refill the meter. Less than a minute compared to the old standing in the post office line routine. Not bad. Then you unplug the meter and get back to building your business. Your credit card will be charged with the amount credited to the meter. What could be easier for a small business person or office manager?

Another thing is you don’t need one of those flimsy little hand scales to weigh your packages and hope and pray that it’s an accurate amount so that your package isn’t returned with a “postage due” stamp on it. There’s no worry about putting too much postage on either. The meter comes with a nifty electronic scale that can determine the exact weight of your parcels. And voila, you have a very professional level mailing operation.

Now, stamps are wonderful. They come in all sorts of beautiful designs. But metered mail looks more official, more professional. The company offers a 60-day trial, so you have nothing to lose by trying it out. Sometimes they offer free bonus coupons that are redeemable for postage after the trial period.

If this piques your interest, you can find more information at www.PBMAIL4.com. Before you jump in, though, it would be a good idea to evaluate the volume and type of mail you send out. Obviously if you mostly just send out a low volume of letters and use a FedEx delivery occasionally, stamps and a FedEx account may be all you need. Bumping up to a meter may not make sense. But if you’ve got some volume and variety in package size and weight, and you want to contribute to your professional presence, check it out.

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