Collecting modern British franking machine impressions
Hi. Franking machines, as a method of paying for mail, has been used by mainly mid-sized companies and business for many years. A franking impression is printed or pressed (on older systems) onto a piece of paper, instead of a stamp, but working similar to one. This is presumably recorded and reported to the postal authority to charge the user. They are often at a discount from the regular private postal rates, sometimes depending on the volume of mail sent. Larger organizations or companies often use PPI's or Postage Paid Impressions, which are typically pre-printed onto envelopes and tend to be significantly less interesting. The contemporary British version of such impressions, similarly to "Horizon" labels or some Post & Go kiosk products, have a sort of Service Indicators displayed alongside a barcode, code, value, Royal Mail logo, date, and sometimes return address. I have been saving covers using these for a while, as they are an interesting bu...