Franking Machine Consumables
The main consumable required for a franking machine is ink. This is usually blue to meet Royal Mail Mailmark requirements, although some of the older franking machines still use red ink.
Different machines require different ink cartridges and most manufacturers provide these with different yields, for example, a 20ml cartridge provides a claimed 1,700 franks whereas a 42ml cartridge provides a claimed 4,000 franks.
Claimed impressions per cartridge can be severely challenged by the number of times you switch the machine on and off and the cartridge heads are automatically cleaned
The franking machine suppliers would obviously prefer you to use the original (OEM) cartridges and unlike in the copier and printer market, use various devices to ensure this is the only possibility, for example electronic chips. Under European competition law, this is at best a grey area and therefore for most machines, compatible cartridges are available
Compatible cartridges usually work well and can save you up to 500% against the cost of an OEM cartridge.
Customers need to check whether the ink is Royal Mail Approved. Royal Mail verifies ink to make sure that the franked impression can be scanned by their sorting machines.
Other franking machine consumables that the suppliers offer include labels and envelopes but most customers find these can be sourced much cheaper in the market.
