Editor: Alastair Nixon, 7 Bramblegate, Edgcumbe Park, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6JA. Tel s2

Editor: Alastair Nixon, 7 Bramblegate, Edgcumbe Park, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6JA. Tel: +44 (0) 1344 775378 Email: [email protected] Web site: http://www.meterfranking.co.uk .

Meter of the Month Your Editor has recently come across this Pitney Bowes demonstration frank, serial number DEM30144, dated 24.03.06. It was actually under a label on a re-used envelope, but there is every indication that is was applied on a live mail item at the time. For one thing, the postage of 29p would have been the correct rate for first class mail. The frank is shown in full below:

Francotyp-Postalia Ultimail Further to page 57-3, Alan Godfrey has found a second example of the FU3 series (after a gap of two and a half years). It has a low item count (00000079) and is likely to be a new machine. Further reports of FU3 series meters would be welcome.

Acknowledgements My thanks this month go to Jim Ashby, David Aspinwall, Patrick Awcock, David Crotty, Bob de Vekey, Alan Godfrey, Richard Goring, Peter Mantell, John McCallum, Paul Reynolds, Robert Rowe, Peter Wood and Ray Woodward-Clarke for their reports and communications.

Meter News Page 87-1 of 8 Jan 2008 Latest Numbers Below is the list of ‘Latest Numbers’ as at 31st January 2008 – with updates shown in red. Please could I have next month’s reports by 25th February, thanks.

Frama (UK) EcoMail FSC 347913 08.11.07 See MN 86 MailMax FSC 907773 13.11.07 See MN 86

Francotyp-Postalia Optimail T 402267 13.11.07 Reported by AN Optimail 30 F04110842 18.12.07 See MN 86 Centormail FC5110151 01.11.07 See MN 86 and p87-4 JetMail FJ0710987 30.10.07 See MN 86 Mymail FM2116972 28.01.08 Reported by AN, see p87-8 Mymail FM2504785 27.04.07 See MN 79 Ultimail? FU3113670 22.01.08 Reported by AG, see p87-1 Ultimail 65 FU8002404 29.09.07 See MN 86 Ultimail 95 FU9001142 17.01.08 Reported by PM

Neopost IJ25 Autostamp N1162561 28.01.08 Reported by RG IJ-40e? N1240203 30.01.08 Reported by AN IJ-50e? N1253005 09.01.08 Reported by PM IJ-90e? N1290014 02.03.07 See MN 81 IJ40 / IJ50 N1316948 02.07.07 See MN 84 IJ-110e? N1359935 18.10.07 See MN 84 IJ-70e? N1371713 15.01.08 Reported by PM IJ-80e? N1382403 19.12.07 See MN 86

Pitney Bowes Paragon PBP84081 21.11.07 See MN 85 DM50, 55 PB019217 04.12.07 Reported by PM DP200? PB130079 27.11.07 See MN 85 DP400? PB143127 04.09.07 See MN 83 Personal Post PB277760 06.11.07 Reported by PA DM 200? PB311519 16.07.07 See MN 85 Personal Post PB483678 02.10.07 Reported by AN DM 550 etc PB523519 21.12.07 Reported by PM DM 400C / 450C PB611298 20.12.07 Reported by PM Post Perfect PB763478 30.10.07 Reported by AN DM100i PB833752 09.01.08 Reported by AN

The report last month of meter N1371487 should have been credited to David Aspinwall – my apologies.

Meter News Page 87-2 of 8 Jan 2008 Statistics – 2007 Further to page 87-1, here is the detailed analysis for sales of new machines in 2007. The estimates, as always, take account of (i.e. exclude) overseas block allocations. New series in 2007 are indicated by an asterisks-mark and the Dec 2006 column has the start number in brackets. Dec 2007 Dec 2006 Difference Estimate (UK) Frama EcoMail FSC 347913 342173 5740 150 MailMax FSC 907863 906676 1187 330

Francotyp-Postalia Optimail T 402267 401628 639 650 Optimail 30 * F04110842 (04110001) 842 850 Centormail * FC5110151 (5110143) 9 10 JetMail FJ0710987 0710887 100 100 MyMail * FM2116586 (2115785) 801 400 MyMail FM2504785 2503758 1027 550 Ultimail 60/65 FU8002404 8001883 521 520 Ultimail 90/95 FU9001133 9000618 515 240 Neopost IJ25 N1162177 1153076 9102 9100 IJ65, 75, 85? N1208228 1208200 28 30 IJ-40e? * N1240173 (1240001) 173 180 IJ-50e?? N1252933 1252004 929 950 IJ-90e? * N1290014 (1290001) 14 15 IJ40, 50 N1316948 1316583 365 370 IJ-110e? N1359935 1358697 1238 1240 IJ-70e? * N1371487 (1370001) 1487 1500 IJ-80e? * N1382403 (1380001) 2403 2405

Pitney Bowes Paragon PBP84081 84022 59 60 DM 50, 55 PB019217 003224 15993 16000 DP 200? * PB130079 (130059) 21 30 DP 400? * PB143127 (143001) 127 130 Personal Post PB277760 273565 4195 4200 DM 200, 250 PB311519 311199 320 320 DM 225, 300 PB380497 380184 313 320 Personal Post PB483678 471339 12339 7750 DM 400 etc. PB523519 521786 1733 1750 DM 400C / 450C * PB611298 (610001) 1298 1300 Post Perfect PB763478 761873 1605 1600 DM100 PB833360 824745 8615 8650

Meter News Page 87-3 of 8 Jan 2008 Statistics – 2007 Continued ‘ Manufacturer Total 2007 Total 2006 %Change %Share 07 %Share 06 Frama 480 1950 -75.4% 0.8% 3.3% Francotyp-Postalia 3320 2700 +23.0% 5.4% 4.5% Neopost 15790 15700 +0.5% 25.6% 26.3% Pitney Bowes 42110 39400 +6.9% 68.2% 65.9% Total new machines: 61700 59750 +3.3%

To summarise, the overall volume of new machines sold during 2007 appears to be up 3% from 2006. The sales of Pitney Bowes machines are up 7% and their overall share of the market is up 2%, which now represents two-thirds of the UK market share. The sales from Neopost are up 0.5% but their overall share has dropped by 0.5%. Francotyp-Postalia has increased sales by 23% and their overall share is up by 1%. Sales of new Frama machines in the UK are down 2.5%, and this now accounts for less than 1% of the overall share of the UK market.

Recent Interesting Items Peter Mantell sends this Advanced Mail item that has been applied in red rather than the normal blue ink. The user is C.J.Elmore and Co. Ltd. Unless the rules have been relaxed, this breaks the Royal Mail regulations given on page 79-6 and is the first one reported.

Your editor has come across a second example of the Centormail machine – this time it is from the Francotyp-Postalia head office in Dartford. As a bonus, the slogan used bears an attractive Christmas thematic!

Meter News Page 87-4 of 8 Jan 2008 Recent Interesting Items Continued

Richard Goring has found an FM series machine with the machine type, i.e. ‘mymail’, appearing in the slogan position:

Peter Mantell records a similar item but with the name of the company (IMP Ltd.) also included:

It is possible that the mymail machines are delivered with the advertising slogan “mymail THE entry-level franking machine”. This slogan was first reported in 2003 on page 29-1but is still seen on some new machines today – see example below:

The first two examples above could be where the user has decided to edit the standard wording but, for some reason, has left in the word ‘mymail’.

Post Office Document – July 1928 Ray Woodward-Clarke has kindly sent a scan of a Post Office document from 1928 entitled “Franking (Postage Meter) Machines”. The document is new to your editor and makes interesting reading. A copy of this file will be distributed to the Meter News community. Ray is struck by the Post Office's obsession with security at that time. They must have been worried when franking machines were introduced because, in effect, they were licensing users to print their own postage stamps. On the other hand they must have been pleased to save the cost of printing millions of postage stamps.

Meter News Page 87-5 of 8 Jan 2008 Manufacturer Web Sites

Richard Goring has taken a recent look at the current models advertised on the meter manufacturer web sites and provides the following summary:

Frama http://www.frama.co.uk/

. EcoMail . OfficeMail . Mailmax I . Mailmax II - 'Comfort' . Mailmax II - 'Speed'

Editor: It is not known what serial prefix is used in conjunction with the OfficeMail machine. It is not thought to be a new machine, though, as the web page is unchanged from September 2007. It is possibly another name for the old Sensonic 2000 (FSC29 series).

Francotyp-Postalia http://www.francotyp.co.uk/

. Mymail . Optimail . Optimail 30 . Ultimail 65 (presumably an upgrade to the former Ultimail 60 model) . Ultimail 95 (presumably an upgrade to the former Ultimail 90 model) . Centormail

Editor: Note that the Jetmail is no longer listed on their web site. Presumably, the Centormail machine has replaced it.

Neopost http://www.neopost.co.uk/

. The old IJ25 is still offered as the Autostamp . IJ25ePro . IJ40e . IJ50e . IJ70e . IJ80e . IJ90e . IJ110e

Editor: I assume that the ‘e’ indicates that the machine has an integrated electronic scale. Is anyone able to confirm that?

Meter News Page 87-6 of 8 Jan 2008 Pitney Bowes http://www.pitneybowes.co.uk/

Low Volume Mid Volume High Volume PersonalPost DM300C DM800i DM50 / 55 DM400C DM900 DM100I DM450C DM990 DM150i DM550 DM1000 DM200I DM575

Editor: I assume that the ‘i’ suffix indicates that the machine is fitted with the ‘IntelliLinkTM’ Control Centre, but does anyone know what the ‘C’ suffix stands for?

Interesting Items from the Past Jim Ashby sends scans of two Neopost Design F “emblems” LV specimen machines that appear in two different forms. The variety features a 1mm wider crown, more "open" looking leaves and more detail in general. The thistle has more diagonal lines, and appears to be serrated at the top right hand side (highlighted in the extracts below). There are other minor differences too.

Normal

Variety

The meter numbers could be mis-leading as they are specimens, but both are believed to be LV6/LV8 or Model 105 machines. Note that the value figures are separate to the frame design. Jim points out that the LV and 105 examples in his collection all feature the normal design, but he has another specimen example of the variety for a production LV model. Your editor has a vague recollection that this has been reported in the past but cannot, at present, locate the reference. Jim would be interested to hear of other examples of this variety.

Meter News Page 87-7 of 8 Jan 2008 Meter Thematics Robert Rowe sends this thematic slogan advertising ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’:

Your editor has found this attractive slogan from the Eagle House School – about a mile and a half from my home. It is also a highest number for the FM2116 series this month.

Your editor, has also found this attractive avocet design, which has been the official logo for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for as long as I can remember:

Finally, Peter Mantell sends this slogan from the Northumbria Police Force HQ. Considering that this machine, PB510357, is now about 18 months old, it is surprising to see that the ‘Pitney Bowes Specimen’ town die has not been replaced by now!

Meter News Page 87-8 of 8 Jan 2008