Mailing equipment is the machinery that turns a stack of printed pieces into finished, USPS-ready mail: it prints the address, folds and inserts, seals, tabs, applies postage, and moves the mail piece from one step to the next. Most shops need only two or three of these machines, and the right two or three depend on the mail piece, the volume, and how many hands you have. This page explains each type, what it does, and where it fits, with links into our catalog for each one.
Address and envelope printers
An address printer (also called an envelope printer or inkjet addresser) prints the recipient address, return address, Intelligent Mail barcode and indicia directly onto envelopes, postcards, self-mailers and flats, one piece after another from a feeder. Entry-level desktop units suit a few thousand pieces a week; production floor models and color addressing systems run tens of thousands of pieces an hour and print full-color graphics along with the address. This is the single most common piece of mailing equipment and usually the first one a growing mailer buys. We carry RENA / Quadient, Formax and Secap / Bryce address printers new and refurbished.
Tabbers and wafer sealers
A tabber applies the small wafer seals (tabs) that the USPS requires on folded self-mailers, newsletters and booklets so they stay closed through automated sorting. Tabbers range from hand-fed desktop units that tab a few hundred pieces to in-line production tabbers that place one, two or three tabs per piece at 20,000 pieces an hour or more and feed straight into an address printer. Many tabbers also apply stamps and labels. If you fold and mail your own pieces at any volume, a tabber pays for itself quickly against hand-tabbing.
Folders and inserters
Folders and folder inserters take printed letter-size sheets, fold them (C, Z, half, double parallel), collate inserts from one or more feed stations, and stuff them into envelopes, sealing the envelope on the way out. A tabletop folder alone handles statements and letters that go into window envelopes by hand; a folder inserter automates the whole letter-into-envelope job at 1,000 to 4,000 or more finished envelopes an hour depending on the model and the number of stations. Invoices, statements, notices and appeal letters are the classic inserter jobs.
Pressure sealers
A pressure sealer folds and seals one-piece pressure-sensitive forms (self-mailers printed on pre-glued stock) into a finished mail piece with no envelope at all: checks, pay stubs, PIN mailers, grade reports, tax forms and appointment notices. Because the form is the envelope, pressure sealing removes the inserting step entirely and is the fastest way to get a high-volume transactional mailing out the door.
Envelope sealers and openers
An envelope sealer moistens and closes envelopes that were stuffed by hand or on an inserter without a sealing station, from a hand-fed desktop moistener up to stack-fed units that seal thousands of envelopes an hour. An envelope opener does the reverse job on incoming mail, slitting the edge of each envelope so a remittance or claims department can process it. Both are simple machines that remove a slow, repetitive task.
Postage stamp appliers
A stamp applier (stamp affixer) puts a live postage stamp on each piece from a roll or coil at production speed. Nonprofits, political mailers and fundraisers use them because a real stamp gets opened more often than a metered or permit indicia, and because it lets the mailing look hand-prepared at machine speed. Several tabbers double as stamp appliers, and our own AFM80ST is built for this job.
Feeders
A friction or vacuum feeder separates one piece from a stack and delivers it to the next machine at a steady pace. Feeders sit in front of address printers, tabbers, labelers and inkjet bases so that one operator can run a line instead of hand-feeding, and they are the usual answer when a printer or tabber is faster than the person feeding it. Choosing a feeder comes down to the piece size, thickness and stock, which is where our people earn their keep.
Conveyors and dryers
Conveyors and dryers catch the output of a printer or tabber, shingle it so it can be handled in trays, and, on inkjet lines, dry the ink before pieces stack. A conveyor is not glamorous, but without one an address printer running 20,000 pieces an hour buries its operator in about a minute. Infrared and forced-air dryers matter most when you print on coated or glossy stock where aqueous ink stays wet.
Production systems
Production systems are complete in-line configurations: a feeder, address printer, dryer and conveyor (and often a tabber) matched and set up to run as one line at production speed. They are the right answer for lettershops, print shops with a mail department, and in-plant mail centers that run daily volume and cannot afford the bottleneck of moving stacks between standalone machines.
Labelers
A labeler applies pre-printed pressure-sensitive labels, address labels or postage labels to pieces from a feeder. Labelers overlap with tabbers (many machines do both), and they are the choice when you already have printed label stock or when the piece cannot be run through an inkjet printer.
Finishing solutions
Finishing equipment covers the print-shop side of the job: paper cutters, bursters, slitters, creasers and booklet makers that turn printed sheets into the pieces that then get folded, tabbed and mailed. If you print your own mail pieces in-house, finishing equipment is where they are made ready for the mailing line.
Shredders and cardboard perforators
Shredders from deskside to high-security destroy the returned mail, undeliverable pieces and data-bearing documents a mail operation produces. Cardboard perforators are a different machine with a different purpose: they turn used shipping boxes into cushioning packing material, which is why we list them alongside but never as shredders.
Mailing software and postage meters
Mailing software (Bulk Mailer and similar) cleans and CASS-certifies your address list, presorts it for postage discounts, and produces the postal paperwork and barcodes your address printer needs. A postage meter or mailing system prints metered postage on outgoing mail for offices that do not use permit or stamps. Neither is a machine that touches the mail piece, but both determine what it costs to send.
Where to start
Start with the mail piece and the monthly volume, and work backwards. A folded newsletter at 5,000 pieces a month needs a tabber and an address printer; a statement run at 20,000 a month needs a folder inserter; a fundraising appeal with a live stamp needs a stamp applier. We have been putting these machines on customers’ floors as a team since 1991 (All For Mailers itself was founded in 2006), we are veteran-owned and BBB Accredited A+, and we sell refurbished equipment alongside new from the brands we carry. Every machine we sell is backed by our manuals library and 24/7 technical support, and we buy used mailing equipment when you are ready to move up. Call 866-430-2874 or use the chat and a person who knows the machines will help you pick the right two or three.