franking machine

Franking mail started in the UK around 1660. It was a way for members of the government to mail letters without having to pay for a stamp. Frank comes from the Latin word francus, meaning “for free”. They would sign their name to it and that would act as the stamp. As the system got older more and more people would abuse it. Now companies use a franking machine. A franking machine prints an ink version of a stamp. They can print them either directly onto the envelope or they can print them onto labels that they can also use as stamps. The way it works is, you take the machine in to the post office and get it credited with a pre-paid amount of postage. Or if the company has a franking machine with a modem you can call in or top it off via internet. When using the franking machine you would type the amount of postage you would like on the package or envelope then feed the envelope of label through. The amount would then be taken out of the pre-paid amount that was loaded in to the machine. This saves companies from having to go out to a post office every time they had to mail something out.