Editor: Alastair Nixon, 7 Bramblegate, Edgcumbe Park, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6JA. Tel s3

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 Once again, my Meter of the Month is jointly awarded. On page 107-1 we showed a single-ringed town die from Bristol on an IS-330 machine, serial N1050209. Nearly two years on we can now report a second and third example of this type of die.

Peter Mantell reports the first appearance of this die on an IS-350 (N1176745), shown above. Strangely, this example is also from Bristol. Your editor reports a second example (shown below) from an IS-330 machine, N1051635. Presumably, both these types of machine share the same kind of printer and software. In both cases the user is unknown.

Talk to the Postal Mechanisation Study Circle (PMSC) Further to page 126-1, here is a reminder that your editor is planning to give a talk to the PMSC in Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London on Saturday 17th September 2011, starting at 10am. The informal talk will be on the subject of ‘Meter franking developments over the last 10 years’. It will be great to meet as many of you as possible as visitors are very welcome to attend. It is with regret that I shall be unable to email my display because of the number of sheets being shown. However, I do intend to upload some of these to my web site in due course.

Membership This month we extend a warm welcome to Margaret Emerson as Member No. 0034. Margaret edits the Bulletin of the Civil Service Philatelic Society and is also Honorary Secretary for that Society.

Meter News Page 129-1 of 11 July 2011 Acknowledgements My thanks this month go to Jon Aitchison, Jim Ashby, Dave Baker, David Crotty, Margaret Emerson, John Fowler, Alan Godfrey, Richard Goring, Peter Mantell, Miles Patterson, Richard Peck, and Peter Wood for their reports, communications or contributions.

Meter News Page 129-2 of 11 July 2011 Latest Numbers Below is the list of ‘Latest Numbers’ as at the end of July 2011 – with updates shown in red. Please could I have the next reports by 29th August, thanks. Frama (UK) Matrix F2, F4, F6 F1001157 19.05.11 See MN 128 EcoMail FSC357604 27.08.10 See MN 123 Francotyp-Postalia Optimail T402913 02.06.11 Reported by JF Optimail 25/35 F04113354 15.06.11 Reported by PM Centormail 240/300 FC5110511 13.05.11 See MN 128 MyMail FM2119908 01.07.10 See MN 121 MyMail / PostagePro FM2651316 02.06.11 Reported by PM Ultimail FU3116160 07.07.11 Reported by AN Neopost IS-330 N1051635 08.07.11 Reported by AN IS-350 N1179650 21.07.11 Reported by PM IJ-65 N1208320 18.03.11 See MN 125 Various upgraded N1240594 21.07.11 Reported by PM IJ-80/90/110 N1254416 27.07.11 Reported by AN Various upgraded N1290071 27.09.10 See MN 124 IJ-35/45 N1318120 29.03.11 See MN 127 IS-460 (Ex IJ-50) N1373543 25.02.11 See MN 128 IS-420 (Ex IJ-30) N1385340 19.07.11 Reported by PM IS-440 (Ex IJ-40) N1390335 17.02.11 See MN 124 IS-480 N3018212 14.07.11 Reported by PM AutoStamp2/IS-280 N3301500 25.07.11 Reported by AN IS-5000/6000 N5001011 13.05.11 Reported by PM, see p129-3 Pitney Bowes DM50, 55 PB076115 21.07.11 Reported by AN DM 810, 900 etc. PB526617 18.05.11 See MN 127 Connect+ 1000 etc. PB550889 01.06.11 See MN 128 Connect+ 10FC etc. PB555560 03.06.11 See MN 128 DM 400, 450, 475 PB616157 13.07.11 Reported by PM DM100i, 150i etc. PB857944 07.07.11 Reported by PM Advanced Mail AACT-KK N3018212 14.07.11 Reported by PM, as above ABCE-GH PB555386 15.02.11 See MN 128 . Peter Mantell also reports an increase in the PB13 ‘dead series’, PB130345:

Meter News Page 129-3 of 11 July 2011 New High Volume Neopost Franking Machines

Peter Mantell reports the appearance of a new ‘N5’ series, with this item from Neopost’s main UK base in Romford:

The Neopost web site is marketing two new high volume machines, namely the IS-5000 and IS-6000 SMART Franking Machines.

The IS-5000 SMART Franking Machine The IS-6000 SMART Franking Machine

Each model comes in three variations the ‘Essential’, the ‘Dynamic’ and the ‘Expert’, the specifications and prices of which are shown below:

IS-5000 IS-6000 Speed Price Speed Price Essential 200/120 ipm From £13,256 200/120 ipm From £14,746 Dynamic 230/130 ipm From £15,641 230/130 ipm From £17,131 Expert 260/140 ipm From £17,756 260/140 ipm From £19,246

It is assumed that the speed figures are for machines fitted without and with integrated scales, respectively. The IS-6000 franking machine is advertised as an entirely new breed of franking machine, designed to meet current and future needs with a full colour touch screen. At this stage it is not known whether the IS-5000 model is a re-branded IJ80/90/110 (which is no longer listed on their web site). It is also unknown whether the ‘N5’ prefix will be applied to both models or whether an ‘N6’ prefix will be seen in due course.

Meter News Page 129-4 of 11 July 2011 Sales Volumes of Neopost High Volume Machines Your editor has been analysing the sales volumes of Neopost high volume machines (i.e. the N120, N121, N124, N125 and N129 series) over the last ten years. The results are quite surprising - with sales of these machines seemingly grinding to a halt in 2011.

Year N120 N124 N125 N129 Total 2000 674 674 2001 1478 1478 2002 1559 1559 2003 1140 1140 2004 1333 1333 2005 1262 387 1649 2006 768 38 1618 2424 2007 14 134 989 15 1152 2008 33 137 696 2 868 2009 54 158 357 15 584 2010 87 230 39 356 2011 39 123 162* * To July 2011

Neopost High-volum e (N12 series) M achine Sales

0 5 1 0 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Sales of Neopost high volume machines in 2011 may have been impacted by the introduction of the Pitney Bowes Connect+ FC machines. It remains to be seen whether the new IS-5000 and IS-6000 SMART Franking Machines will improve sales figures, but at present it appears that these new machines do not come with a ‘full colour’ printing option like the Connect+.

Meter News Page 129-5 of 11 July 2011 Recent Interesting Items On pages 67-1, 104-4, 116-1 and 120-7, examples of town dies that included a full postcode or the outward portion only were illustrated. Peter Mantell now reports two further examples where the outward postcode only is included. The second example is also unusual in that the postcode is in the upper position.

Dave Baker, meanwhile, reports an example from 2009, FSC347913, that also has an outward code in the upper position. Dave also reports an example from FSC354241 that just contains the county (Somerset) - unusual.

It is only recently that your editor has noticed that all of the reports of postcodes included in town dies have been on Frama machines – very strange!

Meter News Page 129-6 of 11 July 2011 Recent Interesting Items Continued Peter Mantell reports this unusual slogan in hand-written script. The company is the brewery Wadworth, based in Wiltshire. I cannot recall seeing anything like this before.

Peter Mantell reports this frank from a Connect+ FC machine which measures 186mm in length. We have previously reported ones of similar length but only from PB themselves.

Alan Godfrey sends this Connect+ FC frank from PB that has not previously been reported:

Regarding the variable width of the Connect+ indicia featured on page 128-5, Jim Ashby writes to say that this could be due to the fact that Pitney Bowes advertise it as being able to print across the entire width of the envelope – see the press release below: http://pressroom.pitneybowes.co.uk/Uploads/files/512.pdf? PressRoomDocType=Press+Release This would imply that the spacing in the indicia will vary to match the width of the impression to the width of the envelope. It is likely the individual components of the indicia have to conform to dimensions agreed with the postal authorities and therefore only the intervening spaces could be changed. Jim also writes to say that a video explaining some of the features of the Connect+ can be seen on YouTube. In particular, the sections starting at 2:12 and 3:02 into the video are particularly interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=H1qhl8HNRk8&feature=relmfu

Meter News Page 129-7 of 11 July 2011 With regard to the printing problems in the PB52/PB55 series (p128-4), Jim believes these are likely to be caused by poor timing/control of the feed mechanism. This could be caused by electrical power hiccups or by degradation of the rollers & associated mechanism. Meter Thematics This month we have another fine selection of thematics reported. With thanks to Peter Mantell, we start with this unusual one from the Woodland trust in Grantham, depicting a pair of Wellington boots, no less!

Dave Baker has found this attractive bull’s head design from the Bull Partnership in Hereford:

The next one, from Peter Mantell is an attractive design from Chester Zoo showing Noah’s Ark – view at 200% to see the animals more clearly.

Also from Peter Mantell is this attractive peacock design from the Belvoir High School in Nottingham:

Meter News Page 129-8 of 11 July 2011 Meter News Page 129-9 of 11 July 2011 Meter Thematic of the Month

This month I am dedicating a whole page to the Meter Thematic of the Month. The sender, who wishes to remain anonymous, reports this slogan being used by the ‘Help For Heroes’ Charity. Two machines, PB832122 and PB850643, have been seen with this slogan:

This is a very worthwhile charity whose office is based at Tidworth near Salisbury. Interestingly, Tidworth is in Wiltshire but the town mark here shows Hants (Hampshire). The Help for Heroes website can be found at http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/ and the following extracts are taken from that site: Help for Heroes (H4H) is working with the Armed Forces and other Service Charities to deliver a comprehensive pathway to help launch wounded, injured and sick personnel launch back into the next phase of their lives. The multi million pound plan is a partnership between the Services, especially with the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Army, and key charities including The Royal British Legion (TRBL) and the Services' own supporting charities such as ABF- The Soldiers' Charity, BLESMA and Combat Stress. The sums involved are huge, with the MoD committing £35m over ten years to provide the personnel to man the teams that will be dedicated to look after the wounded. H4H has committed to raise more than £80m to build the Personnel Recovery Centres (PRCs) in Colchester, Catterick, Tidworth and Plymouth (see map insert above) and has already been funding the 'Pathfinder Centre' in conjunction with Erskine Scotland in Edinburgh. The Royal British Legion has agreed to fund the day-to-day running costs of the centres as well as fund the Battle Back Challenge Centre: about £50m over ten years. Other charities will provide specialist supporting services and Combat Stress is involved in the

Meter News Page 129-10 of 11 July 2011 £30m 'The Enemy Within' appeal to fund regional outreach teams to support those with mental issues caused by war.

Meter News Page 129-11 of 11 July 2011