postage machines

At work we switched to a new postage machine company. We had been using Pitney Bowes. But this woman came in and told us how wonderful this machine is, you can add the postage to it through the phone line, blah blah blah. She totally convinced us. And it’s cheaper.

So first of all the machine isn’t that great. The scale gives you different numbers for the same thing twice in a row. The ink ribbon regularly breaks.

Now the Post Office is raising rates, and we are supposed to pay $149.95 to have the computer chip or whatever changed on the scale.

That’s the thing about buying something new. You don’t know what questions to ask. I had no earthly idea they would charge for that. Pitney Bowes didn’t charge for that.

According to the saleslady, she did not inform us about the additional cost at the time of the contract due to the fact that there were no rate changes scheduled.

No rate changes scheduled? It’s the flipping United States Postal Service!! Of course the rates are going to go up, you idiot!

We are stuck with the contract for two years.

Well, I guess I need to still compare all the prices first, because we were paying a higher rate to Pitney Bowes. Maybe it equal out in the end. I should have known it was too good to be true.

Oh Mr. Pitney!! Mr. Bowes!! Please help me!

Off to MPSIMS, COD.

We also have a Pitney Bowes postage meter, and we would like to go with a different company for many, small, sundry reasons. PB is a virtual monopoly, and they sure treat you like it. We have to go digital next year, too - we’ll be shopping around.

Do those small business postage meters still suck down that expensive special ink like crazy? Seemed like every other day it was doing a printhead clean/purge.

We used to have one, and between the rental cost of the device, and the ink and the special labels, we’d have been better off stapling a dollar bill to every envelope and letting the mailman keep the change.

I had a Pitney Bowes Paragon in a mailroom I was running a few years back and it saved me tens of thousands of dollars each year. PB were fantastic with software, updates, service and replacements.

I don’t miss the mailroom but I sure miss that Paragon!

mm