How Many Impressions Does a Franking Ink Cartridge Print?

Every franking ink cartridge is sold with a yield figure, usually written as "up to" a certain number of impressions. It is one of the most useful numbers in the mailroom and one of the most misread. If you have ever ordered a cartridge expecting it to last a year and found it empty by the spring, this guide explains why, and how to work out a yield you can plan around.

The short answer

A franking ink cartridge yield is the number of postal impressions the manufacturer expects it to print under test conditions, and it varies enormously by machine: roughly 1,000 impressions on a small desktop machine such as the Pitney Bowes DM60, around 2,500 on a Quadient IS-280, up to 4,000 on a standard FP Mailing PostBase set, and 12,000 or more on higher volume machines. Those figures are measured with a plain frank and no advertising logo. Print a slogan or return address alongside every impression and your real world yield will be lower, sometimes by a third or more. To budget properly, work out your own cost per impression rather than trusting the headline number.

Why "up to" is doing a lot of work in that figure

Manufacturers measure yield in controlled conditions using a standard test impression. Your mailroom is not a laboratory, so a gap between the quoted number and the number you actually get is normal rather than a sign of a faulty cartridge.

What a "logo-less" impression means

Look closely at published yields for machines such as the Quadient iX series and you will often see the phrase "logo-less impressions". That is the key caveat. A bare frank consists of the Royal Mail cruciform, the postage value, the date and the 2D data matrix barcode that makes it a Mailmark frank. Add a company logo, a strapline or a printed return address and the printhead lays down considerably more ink on every envelope. Businesses running a full width advertising slogan on all outbound post routinely see yields well below the quoted figure, and that is expected behaviour, not a defect. Our guide to what Mailmark means for UK franking machines breaks the frank down piece by piece.

What else drains a cartridge faster

Beyond slogans, four things quietly eat into your yield:

• Automatic cleaning cycles. Every time the machine wakes from standby it may purge the nozzles to keep them clear. Ink used for maintenance never reaches an envelope, and a machine switched on and off several times a day burns more of it than one left running through the working day.
• Small, frequent batches. Franking twenty items five times a day triggers more start-up cycles than franking a hundred items once. The impression count is identical; the ink consumption is not.
• Envelope stock. Absorbent or heavily recycled paper soaks up more ink for the same density of print than a smooth surface does. See which envelopes work best with a franking machine.
• A dry or ageing cartridge. Ink that has partially dried in the nozzles forces more cleaning cycles, which uses still more ink. See how long franking ink lasts and how to store it.

Typical quoted yields on common UK machines

The spread across the market is wider than most people expect. These are manufacturer quoted figures and a guide rather than a guarantee, so always check the yield stated on the specific product listing before ordering: standard and high capacity versions of the same cartridge can differ by a factor of four.

• Pitney Bowes DM50, DM55 and DM60: around 1,000 impressions per cartridge. Supplies for these machines sit in our Pitney Bowes DM60 range.
• Quadient and Neopost IS-240 and IS-280: up to 2,500 impressions, or twelve months in the machine, whichever comes first. Browse the IS240 and IS280 supplies.
• FP Mailing PostBase: up to 4,000 impressions from a standard cartridge set, rising to around 18,000 from the high capacity set. See the PostBase supplies range.
• Quadient iX-3: roughly 4,700 logo-less impressions. Supplies are in the iX-3 Series range.
• Quadient iX-5: roughly 11,600 logo-less impressions, from the iX-5 Series range.
• Quadient iX-7: roughly 12,800 logo-less impressions, from the iX-7 Series range.

If you are not certain which cartridge your machine takes, work through how to identify the right franking ink cartridge before ordering. Model names across the Pitney Bowes, Quadient, FP Mailing and Frama ranges are similar enough to catch people out.

How to work out your real yield and cost per frank

Your own machine will tell you the truth far more reliably than any datasheet. Do this once and you will never guess again.

1. When you fit a fresh cartridge, note the machine's total piece count or item counter reading, along with the date. Our walkthrough on changing a franking machine ink cartridge covers where to find it on most models.
2. When that cartridge runs out, note the counter again.
3. Subtract the first reading from the second. That is your genuine yield, with your slogan, your envelopes and your working pattern baked in.
4. Divide the cartridge price by that number. The result is your true cost per frank, usually a fraction of a penny.

Cost per frank is the only fair way to compare two cartridges. A cartridge that costs a third less but delivers half the impressions is a worse deal, and the headline price hides that completely. It is also the honest way to compare manufacturer branded ink against compatible ink, which we look at in original versus compatible franking ink.

Setting a reorder point that works

Once you know your real yield, stock control becomes arithmetic. Divide your real yield by your average weekly franking volume and you have the number of weeks a cartridge lasts. Order the next one when roughly three weeks of ink remain, which covers delivery and stops you squeezing the last few franks out of an exhausted cartridge.

That last point matters. Running a cartridge to the absolute end starves the printhead and is the most common cause of pale franks with gaps through the Mailmark barcode, and an unreadable frank can be delayed or surcharged. If your print is already deteriorating, why your franking machine prints faint or streaky sets out the fixes in order, and you can confirm current requirements on the Royal Mail franking pages.

Getting the yield you paid for

A few habits will push your real figure closer to the quoted one:

• Leave the machine powered on through the working day instead of switching it off between mailings, so it runs fewer wake-up purges.
• Batch your post where you can. One run of two hundred uses less ink than ten runs of twenty.
• Turn off the advertising slogan on internal or routine post where it adds nothing.
• Store spare cartridges sealed, upright and at normal room temperature, and use the oldest first.
• Check you are using the correct approved ink colour for your machine, which is not the same across all models. Our guide to blue or red franking ink explains which your machine needs.

Frequently asked questions

How many impressions does a franking ink cartridge print?

It depends entirely on the machine. Small desktop machines such as the Pitney Bowes DM60 are rated at around 1,000 impressions per cartridge, mid range machines at roughly 2,500 to 4,000, and higher volume machines at 12,000 or more. Always check the yield stated for your specific cartridge rather than assuming a standard figure.

Why is my cartridge running out before its stated yield?

Quoted yields are measured with a plain frank and no advertising logo, in controlled conditions. Printing a slogan or return address, franking in lots of small batches, using absorbent envelope stock and frequent automatic cleaning cycles all consume extra ink. A real world figure below the quoted one is normal, not a fault.

How do I work out my cost per frank?

Note your machine's item counter when you fit a new cartridge and again when it runs out, then subtract to get your genuine yield. Divide the cartridge price by that number and you have your true cost per impression, which is the only fair way to compare two cartridges.

Does printing a logo or slogan use more franking ink?

Yes, noticeably. An advertising logo, strapline or printed return address adds ink to every single impression, which is why manufacturers quote yields as logo-less figures. Switching the slogan off for routine or internal post is one of the simplest ways to make a cartridge last longer.

When should I order a replacement franking cartridge?

Order when you have roughly three weeks of ink left, based on your real yield divided by your average weekly volume. That covers delivery time and stops you running the cartridge dry, which starves the printhead and produces faint franks that Royal Mail's scanners may not read.

Order the right cartridge for your machine

We supply ink, labels and envelopes for Pitney Bowes, Quadient, Neopost, FP Mailing and Frama machines with fast UK delivery. Browse the full franking machine supplies range, start with our best selling franking ink cartridges, or contact our team and we will confirm the correct cartridge and yield for your exact model.