Franking machines as we recognise them today were first introduced to businesses from the 1920’s. Before this time To frank a piece of mail was a privilege given to government officials. A limited form of franking privilege originated in the British Parliament in 1660, with the passage of an act authorizing the formation of the General Post Office. as use of the post office increased significantly in Britain, it was expected that anybody with a Parliament connection would get his mail franked. Prior to the introduction to the first postage stamp in 1840 (the British "Penny Black". pre-paid franking was applied exclusively by a manuscript or hand stamped "Paid" marking and the amount of the fee collected.

In the United states,where franking machines were invented the franking privilege predates the establishment of the republic itself, as the Continental Congress bestowed it on its members in 1775. The First United States Congress enacted a franking law in 1789 during its very first session. Congress members would spend much time "inscribing their names on the upper right-hand corner of official letters and packages" until the 1860s for the purpose of sending out postage free mail. Yet, on January 31, 1873, the Senate abolished "the congressional franking privilege after rejecting a House-passed provision that would have provided special stamps for the free mailing of printed Senate and House documents." Within two years, however, Congress began to make exceptions to this ban, including free mailing of the Congressional Record and agricultural reports. Finally, in 1891, noting that its members were the only government officials required to pay postage, Congress restored full franking privileges. Since then, the franking of congressional mail has been subject to ongoing review and regulation.

Each of the world's several hundred national postal administrations establish and regulate the specific methods and standards of franking as they apply to domestic operations within their own postal systems. Any and all conflicts that might arise affecting the franking of mails serviced by multiple administrations which result from differences in these various postal regulations and/or practices are mediated by the Universal Postal Union.

The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, and hence the world-wide postal system....a specialized agency of the United Nations.

Walter Bowes (1882-1957) was an English-born (Bradford) industrialist who moved to the USA and came to fame in the United States by being introduced to Arthur Pitney of the American Postage Meter Company an inventor who was struggling to develop his invention.

This led to a collaboration in 1920 which proved very successful and within a few years 400 meters were in service in the USA accounting for over $4million of postage revenue.

The popularity of Postage meters or Franking machines has grown steadily throughout the 20th century to the current generation of Digital mailroom systems that allow intelligent analysis of postal costs, data downloads via modem to document inserters and mail tracking solutions. A huge industry has developed by providing effective mail handling technology to the business community and Franking Sense® has for the last 20 years established itself in the market as offering first class service, best of class products supplied at competitive rates and we look forward to advising you an any mail questions you may have.