Most offices need some sort of mail equipment and business mailing supplies in order to send out business mailings, advertisements and fliers. There are many kinds of mail room supply items that you can purchase to keep your business running smoothly. There are mailing machine and equipment solutions that sort business mail and handle postage. It's important that you know what kinds of mail equipment are available and what kinds of businesses they are best suited for.

Your staff also needs to have training in order to learn about security issues that can arise and how to handle them. Here are some things for you to consider about making the most of office mailing equipment and supplies for your company mail room or mail center business:

1. Avoid costly slow downs in productivity by purchasing mailroom supplies that will keep you organized and efficient.

2. Get information about the different kinds of mail room equipment for large or small businesses.

3. Learn about how to handle security threats and what mail room equipment you need to scan for them.

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Buy mailing supplies that help keep you organized to prevent production slow downs

Since mail rooms and mail centers handle all incoming and outgoing mail, it's important that they're productive. So whether your business is large or small, it's important to avoid costly slow downs in productivity by making sure that mail rooms and mail centers have organizational supplies such as sorters, lockers, shelving units and hampers, as well as mail totes, trays and tubs.

I recommend: Visit Postal Products Unlimited to order office mailing supplies like totes, tray racks and hampers. Go to Charnstrom to find business mailing supply items such as tabletop business mail sorters and office carts for in-house mail delivery.

Buy mailing equipment based on the size of your business and how much mail you process each day

There are many sizes and kinds of company mailing equipment, from bulk mailing equipment that can handle a lot of mail in a short period of time to tabletop units for small businesses where there isn't as much demand. Many providers of office mailing equipment offer both tabletop and large production corporate mailing equipment so that you can decide which units best fit the needs of your business.

I recommend: Visit Factory Express to learn about small mail equipment like a handheld electric letter opener or bulk mail equipment like high-capacity automatic letter openers that can open 20,000 letters in an hour. Go to Mail-Quip to find both new and used mail equipment, from desktop address printers to wrapping systems and stamp affixers.

Learn security threats and how to scan for them on mailing equipment

It's vital for the safety of your business and your employees for you to learn about how to handle potential security threats. Buying mailroom equipment that scans for these threats is essential, as is receiving training in how to properly scan suspicious mailings.

I recommend: Get onsite safety training seminars for you and your employees from Mail Room Safety. Receive x-ray interpretation training from American Innovations to learn how to scan suspicious packages for security threats. Buy an electronic mail scanner from Sitebuys.com so that you can detect unsafe materials such as guns or bombs in mail.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The United States Postal Services also offers information about office mailing supplies, including security threats in mail centers and how to deal with them.

Whether you run an assembly-line operation shipping thousands of products daily or are a solo consultant who mails one or two items a week, having the right mailing equipment and supplies at the ready can save you both time and money.

Nearly every small business should considering investing in a:

1. Postage meter
2. Postage scale
3. Folding machine
4. Letter opener

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A never-ending supply of stamps

Don't waste time driving to the post office to stock up on stamps or to refill the office postage meter — there's no need. You can now order stamps online and refill your postage meter by hooking it up to a phone line.

I recommend: Order stamps at USPS.com or print them out at your printer using Click-N-Ship, the postal service's online service.

An end to guessing at the proper postage

Rather than throwing on a few extra stamps, or overestimating the weight of a shipment to ensure a piece reaches its destination — which the USPS estimates costs us up to 20 percent more than necessary — lease a postage scale to determine the proper weight of a package.

I recommend: Sign up for a free 90-day trial at Pitney Bowes to see if their combo scale/postage-meter mail station can save you time. Or compare the prices of several postage scales and meters at BuyerZone.

Direct mail dynamo

If your business relies heavily on direct mail, a letter folder will speed that process along. You first need to decide between a friction (most common) or air-fed machine, taking into account the equipment's speed, paper sizes and weights accepted, types of folds made, and whether it has an auto-feed mechanism.

I recommend: Check out a variety of letter-folding options at Whitaker Brothers or OfficeZone, keeping in mind that basic models cost around $200, but commercial quality will cost thousands.

Consider used mailing equipment

Buying pre-owned equipment can often save you considerable cash, especially on larger machines.

I recommend: Check out Pro Mailing Equipment to compare old versus new pricing.

Speed up you mail opening

Companies with lots of incoming mail will benefit from commercial letter openers, also called slitters.

I recommend: Compare letter opening machines at ABCOffice, Staples or NexTag, all of which have models in the $20 range to start.

Box and packaging sources

Don't wait until the last minute to discover you're out of boxes for the shipment you have to get out today. Instead, stock up on boxes, packing material, padded envelopes and other supplies you use regularly.

I recommend: Order supplies directly from companies like Staples, Uline and Papermart, or through CNET Shopper. If you ship with FedEx, they provide boxes and supplies for free.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  There's really no need to go to the post office when you can order U.S. Postal Service (USPS) supplies such as stamps, forms, Priority and Express Mail envelopes and boxes online at The Postal Store.
• •  By shipping via Priority or Express Mail, you'll save money on boxes, since the USPS provides them to you for free.

For businesses that use office mailing equipment and supplies, it's important to have price information available whenever you need to buy or repair mailing equipment and supplies for your business. Since there are many providers of office mailing equipment and supplies, you're going to need to know the names of companies that offer the best prices for their items.

An alternative is to buy used or refurbished mailroom equipment so you can still have quality equipment without having to strain your business budget. Here are other things to consider about the pricing and costs of office mailing equipment and supplies:

1. Research several providers of mail equipment to get great deals on items.

2. Buy mail room supply items in bulk to keep your business well stocked.

3. Buy used or refurbished business mailing equipment.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Compare prices of mailing equipment to find items that fit your budget

Since company mailing equipment can be expensive, it's important to take the time to compare prices on items so that you can be sure you're getting the best price for your money. For instance, a folder sealer, which folds pressure-sensitive mailing paper into advertisements and fliers, can cost from $30,000 up to $75,000. An automatic letter opener that can process more than 40,000 envelopes in an hour can cost from $3,000 up to $6,500.

I recommend: Find the corporate mailing equipment you want for business at American Binding Company, which has everything from folder sealers to shipping and postal scales. Buy postal meters and other mailroom equipment from PitneyBowes.

Purchase mailroom supplies in bulk from business mailing supply providers

A busy mail room needs to be well-stocked of business mailing supplies. Since buying things in bulk is a great way to save money, this is an ideal way to getting the office mailing supplies you need at prices you can afford. For instance, it costs about $90 for one to two cases of wafer seals but about $70 for three to nine cases of the same product. Corrugated boxes can cost anywhere from about 60 cents for a case of 25 boxes to about 40 cents for 500 boxes or more.

I recommend: Buy mailroom supplies from MailingSupplies.com. Unline has items such as boxes and shrink wrap to help you stock your mailroom.

Buy used or refurbished mailing equipment so that you can have great items at budget prices

For businesses that can't afford to buy full-price mailroom equipment, the ability to buy used or refurbished items is a great way to save money while still getting quality items for your office mailroom. For example, a new production-size addressing equipment with conveyor that can process more than 30,000 envelopes at a time is about $20,000, while a used machine can cost about $9,000.

I recommend: Buy used and refurbished desktop and production-size mail room equipment from Mailmarketplace.com. Pro Mailing Equipment offers used, reconditioned and refurbished mail sorting machine along with other kinds of mail equipment.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you have any older mail room equipment that you would like to get rid of, consider selling it to the same places that you would purchase used and refurbished mail equipment.

Office mailing equipment and supplies are needed by any business that mails or ships out items or correspondence. Some businesses might only mail out a few documents a week, some might ship out products, and some might do mass mailing everyday. A business must first assess their office mailing needs, and make decisions about which office mailing equipment and supplies will best serve them. Learn the following office mailing equipment and supplies key terms to find equipment that will speed up the mailing and shipping process.

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Corrugated packaging

A corrugated shipping case is made from a durable, lightweight material and has an arched layer called fluting between two smooth sheets.

I recommend: Learn everything there is to know about corrugated packaging from Corrugated.org.

Fill and seal machine

A fill and seal machine is a packaging machine that combines the functions of filling and closing packages into one machine, which greatly increases the efficiency of packing and shipping.

I recommend: See some examples of fill and seal machines from Linapack.

Impulse sealer

An impulse sealer, also known as a heat sealer, uses an electrical current passed through a wire to permanently and securely seal plastic envelopes, bags and other packaging.

I recommend: Visit the website of FujiImpulse Co. to learn more about the different kinds of impulse sealers and the benefits of using one.

Primary packaging

Primary packaging is the main packaging that a product is shipped or packaged in. Different products require different types of primary packaging to protect and promote products.

I recommend: Find a more in-depth explanation of primary packaging at the website of Smurfit Kappa Group.

Secondary packaging

Secondary packaging is the outer layer of packaging in which the primary packaging and product is placed to protect the contents during mailing, such as envelopes, boxes or cartons.

I recommend: Learn more about secondary packaging from Medical Package Testing.

Legal weight

Legal weight, also known as gross weight, is the total weight of the mail contents or a package, including any immediate packaging sold with a product. In other words, the gross actual weight includes the contents of a package plus the package.

I recommend: Read an additional definition of legal weight at BusinessDictionary.com.