Surcharge Payments – What You Need To Know

If used correctly, using a franking machine and the latest modern franking technologies will help ensure that you always pay the correct amount for your mail items. However, on occasions, you may find mistakes occur in your mail room which will result in a surcharge payment from the Royal Mail.

Read our blog below to find out all you need to know about surcharge payments.

Preventing Surcharge Payments

You can easily prevent surcharge payments by following a few simple tips.

When franking large letters, ensure that the right size option is selected.

Remember large letters measure up to 353mm x 250mm x 25mm and can weigh up to 750g. On your franking machine please ensure that you select the right option instead of selecting the Letter option.

When posting to the Republic of Ireland, you will need to use an international product.

The Republic of Ireland is not part of the UK so please ensure that all letters and parcels sent to the Republic of Ireland, as well as other international destinations, are franked using one of the international products, such as International Tracked.

Contact By Royal Mail

The Royal Mail will be in touch with your business should you accidently underpay for a mail item. You will usually be contacted about small scale underpayments the following week after underpayments have been identified by Royal Mail. This will be done by:

– Single Letter – if your business’s total underpayment charge, including the surcharge fee, is over £10 within a single week, the Royal Mail will send you a single letter.

– Consolidated Letter – if your business’s total underpayment charge, including the surcharge fee, is over £10 within a 30 day period, the Royal Mail will send you a consolidated letter.

– Summary Letter – if your business’s total underpayment charge, including the surcharge fee, is up to £10 within a 30 day period, the Royal Mail will send you a summary letter.

Items Were Only Underpaid By A Few Pence

No matter how big or small the surcharge is, even if it is by a few pennies, the Royal Mail will still send a surcharge payment back to your business. Regardless of the value, the underpayment will be identified as there is no threshold set.

Due to the volume of mail that gets processed every single day by the Royal Mail, a few pence on hundreds of items all adds up to a huge amount. By highlighting the surcharge payment(s) your business will be able help out Royal Mail in the future by not making the same mistake and it will help highlight any hidden problems that may exist in your mail room.

How do Royal Mail know underpaid items were sent from my machine?

Every franking machine has a unique Die number associated with it and this number is shown on every franking impression that your franking machine produces. This number can then be used and recorded at the Mail Centre to identify your business as the sender of the items.

However if the die number recorded on the letter you have received from the Royal Mail does not match your franking machine die number, please contact Royal Mail or your franking machine supplier immediately.

Mailcoms Range Of Franking Machines

Mailcoms are one of the Royal Mail’s Authorised independent inspectors and maintainers of franking machines and as such we can provide you with a Mailmark franking machine to suit your needs.

A Mailmark franking machine can help massively when sending your mail. If you are interested in getting a franking machine or upgrading to a Mailmark franking machine with even lower prices available, then please view our franking machine page here or call us today on 01543 572 776.