Name: International Mailing Systems Ltd
Address: 77 Milford Road, Reading, RG1 8LG, GB
Telephone: 0118 982 0988

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Folder inserter buyers guide

Jul 22, 2020

Folder Inserter Buying Guide

Thinking of buying a folder inserter? What should you consider?

If you’ve ever had the job of filling and sealing envelopes by hand, you’ll know it’s not the most exciting of activities. There can be multiple inserts going into any one envelope, and if the contents differ between recipients, the chance of error increases. Thankfully, the automatic envelope stuffer is here to save us from that time consuming GDPR nightmare.

While a folder inserter carries out a simple function – stuffing letters into envelopes, all folder inserters are not created equal. Depending on the volumes going through the machine and the type of contents being stuffed, you need to consider a few things first.

This guide to buying a folder inserter offers some simple tips to help you make an informed choice. Of course, the team at IMS is always here to help if you have questions.

Monthly Usage

This is referred to as the monthly volume, and it’s one of the first questions we’ll ask a customer when they enquire about mailroom machines. This is the maximum number of envelopes you’d expect to fill in a month, rather than the limit of the machine. If you have seasonal increases, it may be best to work out your average monthly amounts, but it’s better to go with a machine with a higher capability than regularly exceed those limits.

Speed

This, unsurprisingly, is how fast the folder inserter will operate. The industry standard to demonstrate this speed is how many times a single sheet of A4 paper can be folded and inserted into a DL envelope in an hour.

Envelopes Sizes

As there are many types and sizes of envelope, your folder inserter will need to handle a range of envelopes to fill and seal. All folder inserters can take DL and C5, but for other sizes and types, speak to one of our experts to advise you.

Machine compatibility

You can’t just use any envelope in your folder inserter. To ensure clean inserts, and a secure seal on the envelope you need machine compatible envelopes. These envelopes are made with external seams to prevent jamming, and they have a gummed flap that is moistened and sealed automatically by the machine. If you’re currently using a peal and seal envelope, you may find that your new machine compatible envelopes are cheaper, so you’ll save time and money.

Feeder Capacity

If you want to leave your folder inserter running for extended periods, you’ll need to have a folder inserter that can accept more envelopes in the feeder to run while you get on with other important work.

Paper Feeder Capacity

Along with an envelope feeder you will have one or multiple paper feeders to insert your mail into the envelopes. The feeder capacity is expressed as the number of sheets of A4 70gsm paper the feeders will accept.

Feeder Configuration

Are you just folding sheets of A4 paper? Or maybe you’re sending out booklets, return envelopes, or other content that doesn’t need folding? Your configuration will manage which items need to just be inserted and which need folding, collate them and fill the envelope automatically.

Display

Most folder inserters have a clear LCD display to show operating commands and information. Many of the higher volume machines have touch screens which are extremely user-friendly, making the operation of the machine open to more employees.

Presets

Save time with regular job set ups with presets on your machine. Your engineer will set your initial preset jobs up, and run through how to do your own using the easy-to-use screen instructions.

Reload Whilst Running

Keep your folder inserter running without breaks with reload while in operation. This useful feature allows both paper and envelope feeders to be topped up – reducing downtime.

Fold Only Option

Your folder inserter may also have the ability to simply fold and not insert and this could be useful if you have flyers or other materials for hand delivery. However, if this is something you’re doing at scale, a paper folder machine may be a cheaper option, and one that will reduce wear and tear on your folder inserter.

Approved Used Folder Inserters

A cost saving option could be a refurbished folder inserter. We have a range of machines and offer maintenance contracts to keep them running. These have been fully checked over and the savings can be quite substantial.

Want to find out more about franking?

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At IMS, we’re the franking experts. Want to find out if your business could benefit from mailroom machine such as a franking machine or folder inserter? Ask us!

Either fill out the form on our contact page, or get in touch via the Live Chat pop up in the bottom right of your screen.

Alternatively, call us on 0118 982 0988 or email info@ims-franking.co.uk.

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