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
For the third time in a row, my Meter of the Month comes from Peter Mantell – again with
an unusual town mark on a live mail item. In this case, the machine has been delivered to
the user with a ‘PITNEY BOWES / SPECIMEM’ town mark.
This has been observed before –
see pages 32-1 and 33-1, shown
again here for convenience.
In that particular case, the error had
been corrected by item no. 56, but
in this latest example the error is
still going at item number 2970.
Frama – New Series
Last month no updates were recorded against any of the Frama series. However, this
month sees the introduction of the FSC340 series. It is likely that this is from a standard
Sensonic 2000 machine rather than a new machine as the previous series had reached FSC
298. It is possible that FSC300 to FSC 339 have been reserved for use in other countries
and any reports of these would be welcome. I shall retain the FSC298 series in the list of
latest numbers for a few months to see how things work out.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Alan Godfrey, David Aspinwall, David Hardwick, Jim Ashby, Peter Mantell, and
Peter Wood for their reports and communications this month.
Meter News
Page 68-1 of 6
Jun 2006
Latest Numbers
Below is a list of ‘Latest Numbers’ as at 27th June 2006 – with updates shown in red.
Please could I have next month’s updates by 25th July, thanks.
Frama (UK)
EPSTSF251
Sensonic 2000
Sensonic 2000
Mailspirit
Sensonic 2000?
FSC 225307
FSC 298209
FSC 340471
FSC 701320
FSC 905804
06.07.05
09.03.06
07.06.06
10.10.05
15.06.06
See MN 63
See MN 66
New series p68-1 [AN]
See MN 61
Reported by AN
Optimail
JetMail
JetMail
Mymail
Ultimail 60
Ultimail 90
T 400812
FJ0710763
FJ1500003
FM2503118
FU8001492
FU9000542
28.01.06
06.02.06
12.08.05
06.05.06
12.06.06
07.06.06
See MN 66
See MN 64
See MN 60
See MN 67
Reported by DA
Reported by DA
IJ25
IJ65, 75, 85?
IJ80/90/110?
IJ40, 50
IJ80/90/110?
N1149082
N1207815
N1251085
N1315503
N1356071
21.06.06
07.06.06
12.06.06
22.05.06
09.06.06
Reported by DA
Reported by DA & PM
Reported by DA
Reported by DH
Reported by AN
PBP83958
PB129102
PB141165
PB270521
PB311110
PB325441
PB380184
PB463782
PB510010
PB761248
PB819792
19.05.06
12.06.06
19.05.06
18.04.06
08.02.06
12.04.06
02.03.06
15.05.06
06.06.06
15.06.06
16.06.06
Reported by PM
Reported by DA
See MN 67
See MN 67
See MN 64
See MN 67
See MN 65
Reported by PW
Reported by DH
Reported by DA
Reported by PM
Francotyp-Postalia
Neopost
Pitney Bowes
Paragon
DP200?
DP400?
Personal Post
DM 200?
DM 250?
DM 225, 300
Personal Post
DM 400 etc
Post Perfect
DM100
Correction: The report in MN66 (and MN67) of FU900409 dated 12.01.06 should have
been FU900490 dated 11.04.06 [Reported by AN].
My thanks also to Alan Godfrey for his examples sent this month.
Meter News
Page 68-2 of 6
Jun 2006
Recent Interesting Marks
Peter Mantell sends this item from IMP (Independent Managed Pubs) Ltd that advertises the
machine (Mymail) that was used to apply the frank. This company previously used the
slogan space to include their full name and return address.
It is rather odd that they should now do this. Is it possible that Francotyp-Postalia offered
them a reduction in the monthly rental if they advertised the Mymail machine in their slogan
space, I wonder?
Peter asks how many people really look at the Meter Mark at the top of the envelope, and
any that do, would they have a clue as to what 'Mymail' referred to? So one has to ask, is it
really worth it?
Peter Mantell also sends this item which clearly falls into the category of blatant advertising
rather than company promotion. I am surprised that we don’t see more use of advertising in
the slogan space, perhaps this is a sign of things to come.
David Hardwick sends this unusual ‘gold’ colour variation from a Pitney Bowes DM225/300
machine - probably the result of a lack of red pigment in the ink.
Meter News
Page 68-3 of 6
Jun 2006
Recent Interesting Marks Continued
The SECAP ‘ST’ series (now Pitney Bowes ‘PB1’ series) have always shown the item count
in two horizontal rows (rows 2 and 3 of the encryption code block). Up to now I have always
understood that the number in the middle row was the first item produced on a given day.
However, I have recently looked at a large number of such marks and, from a purely
statistical point of view, concluded that the item count in the middle row is, almost
certainly, the number of the last item produced on the previous day. In other words, I
have never seen both numbers the same in the last two rows.
If my theory is correct, this means that to determine how many items
have been produced so far in a day, you simply subtract the number
in the bottom row from that in the middle row. This makes the day
item count ‘No. 1’ in the example shown here. Your Editor would be
pleased to hear from anyone who can confirm this theory.
It is probably a couple of years since I have seen any Pitney Bowes ‘on-loan’ machines in
use on live mail. These machines are identified by serial numbers starting with PB799,
PB999 or PBP99. This example shows that they are still in use:
Here is a printing error from an IJ40/IJ50 machine. Not sure what went wrong with this one,
but there appears to be a problem with both the upper and lower print jets.
Meter News
Page 68-4 of 6
Jun 2006
Pitney Bowes – DM 100/150 and DM 200 Machines
Your Editor has recently noticed that some DM 200 machines (prefix PB3) have been
replaced with DM 100/150 machines (prefix PB8) this year. Both these machines types
are classified as ‘Low Volume’ – the DM 200 processing up to 40 items per minute and
the DM 100/150 processing up to 20 and 30 items per minute respectively.
Is this just a coincidence or does it reflect a policy decision by Pitney Bowes? If so, why
replace them with slightly slower machines? Could cost savings be playing a part? Here is
an example of a ‘before’ and ‘after’:
The table below lists the examples that I have seen:
Old Machine Licence No.
Last Date
New Machine Licence No.
Earliest Date
PB300584
10.08.05
PB814388
16.05.06
PB301170
22.04.02
PB809636
10.02.06
PB301278
22.07.05
PB809937
27.01.06
PB307260
24.09.02
PB813293
03.02.06
PB307636
09.08.05
PB810040
13.02.06
PB308165
14.11.02
PB811924
02.02.06
PB310097
03.08.05
PB815084
26.01.06
PB322510
14.07.05
PB815343
10.03.06
PB371392
21.07.04
PB810943
16.05.06
PB372121
16.07.04
PB806768
30.01.06
Meter News
Page 68-5 of 6
Jun 2006
Thematic Slogans
Here is an aircraft thematic from Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge. I shall leave it to an
expert to tell me what type of plane is illustrated:
Peter Mantell sends three thematics this month - including this badger from the Wildlife
Trusts in Stafford.
Here is a rather nice bird thematic from Eagle Leisure.
Finally, a bird or health thematic – take your pick:
- - - End - - -
Meter News
Page 68-6 of 6
Jun 2006