Opening Remarks by Head of Marketing, A.F. Smith – Ms. Morgan Smith 

Good morning, distinguished guests, dear media friends, welcome. I’m Morgan Smith Head of Marketing at A.F. Smith. As you may know, A.F. Smith focuses its offerings in three areas: office supplies, furniture, and technology, representing leading brands, including Xerox, Ricoh, Steelcase and Apple. In the beginning of this year, we welcomed Frama to our workplace offerings. Today, we have the key leadership team, representing the Bermuda Post Office and A.F. Smith. It is my honor to introduce them to you: The Hon. Wayne Furbert, Minister for the Cabinet Office, Susan Moore-Williams, Acting Postmaster General for the Government of Bermuda and Ian Nash, Vice President of Technology at A.F. Smith. We would like to take this opportunity to communicate with the media about the latest technology and business achievements in the postal market. Now please join me in welcoming The Hon. Wayne Furbert, JP, MP. 

Remarks by The Hon. Wayne Furbert, JP, MP 

Innovations in digital technology have revolutionized many aspects of how we work and conduct business on our island, although some more traditional concepts have survived, such as physical post. Since 1812, the Bermuda Post Office has been providing postal service to individuals and businesses in, around and out of Bermuda. Changes in technology over the last 100 years have seen franking meters evolve as business needs change. Retaining or adding physical mail to your communication channels drives engagement and can be used as a powerful tool for improving cashflow. The Bermuda Post Office is happy to progress to a better postage meter system with a reliable postal partner such as A.F. Smith and we welcome Frama as a new partner as we ensure Bermuda’s companies have the latest and best technology. 

For more than 45 years, Frama has specialized in the development and manufacture of mail processing and data management systems. They were the first company in the world to launch a postage meter system with automatic date change and with integrated touchscreen and remain focused on the essentials of system operation guarantees, ease of use and great efficiency in everyday application. Headquartered in Switzerland, Frama has more than 100,000 

clients in over 50 countries in which A.F. Smith is Frama’s master distributor for the Bermuda, Caribbean and Latin American markets. 

Our partnership with A.F. Smith underscore’s our commitment to making your processing of incoming and outgoing mail as simple as possible. The launch of Frama franking systems enables us to further enhance services and grow revenue for businesses in Bermuda. The Bermuda Post Office as a trusted brand is well positioned to always deliver the right services at affordable prices to meet today’s business needs. 

Remarks by the VP Technology, A.F. Smith – Mr. Ian Nash 

In successful collaboration with Frama, we have received the official postal approval from the Postmaster General for the introduction of the Matrix F Series range of franking systems in Bermuda. A.F. Smith is the provider of sales, maintenance and repairs of franking machines in Bermuda. A.F. Smith is also the sole distributor of all Frama products for the entire Caribbean and Latin America. 

In 2012, Frama launched the new generation of franking systems, Matrix F Series. Depending on the size of your business, we can provide you with a franking machine that ranges from a small office with minimal mail to larger company with mass mailing each month. Stack weighing is supplied as standard on most models. The Matrix F Series are built to meet the requirements of a busy mailroom environment, with color display, label dispensers, stack weighing, fully automatic feeders, as well as integrated adaption to various letter thicknesses to provide you with non-stop, problem free franking. 

When sending written communication, franked post has proven more beneficial than standard post over the years, especially with regards to costs, security, convenience, time-saving, and delivery speed. With a franking machine, businesses and entrepreneurs get to prepay for their postage costs, insert a date, and affix a customized business image before having the post collected or dropped off at a local post office. Post sent via a franking machine is given more priority compared to standard letters or parcels. This is because much of the processing has already been handled by the time it gets to the post office. For your business, this only means faster handling and quicker delivery times. 

There are a number of advantages to using a franking machine; the most prominent being no charges for postage fund top-up, convenience, ease of use, Bermuda-based customer service and repair center, after sales support, and personalized mail messages. Brand your post with your company logo & details, turning the franking machine in to an amazing marketing tool. Promote your brand image by including your company’s slogan or logo on your outgoing letters and parcels. The remarkable HQ print mode with 600dpi resolution provides full contrast and sharpness for any advertising or customized message. 

All Matrix F Series franking machines are operated exclusively with a touchscreen: quick, simple determination of the correct postage rate without rate tables, codes or instruction manuals. 

There is no need to refer to the BPO Postal Rate Charts or having to memorize different postage rates. To make the operators ’life even easier, the Matrix F Series machines do all of this automatically for you at the touch of a button. FramaOnline2 (FO2) guarantees the secure, efficient updating of all aspects of your Frama franking machine, with A.F. Smith managing software updates, new postage rates and structures on the virtual server. The credit loading and auditing of the franking systems will occur online via direct IP-connection to server system FramaOnline2, administered by A.F. Smith. Additional postage funds should be added to your account by transferring funds to the BPO bank account. Once funds have been received, they notify A.F. Smith who will then upload funds on the FO2 system. Every transaction made with your franking machine can always be tracked and traced. This provides your business with the convenience of monitoring postage costs at the touch of a button. It enables companies to stay within their postage budgets or make adjustments where necessary. This feature also makes it easy to get a break down of what services and prices have been used. As mail has been reduced over the past 10 years, Frama and A.F. Smith have aligned themselves with Rpost to offer registered and certified email technology, email encryption and e-signature as this provides companies with secure options in the digital world. Rpost technology is also integrated with our current Xerox business line. 

I now introduce acting Postmaster General Susan Moore-Williams, who will speak on the transfer of funds from the existing decertified Pitney Bowes franking machines that remain in the local market. 

Remarks by the Acting Postmaster General - Ms. Susan Moore-Williams 

The Bermuda Post Office in collaboration with A.F. Smith, are happy to celebrate the innovative technology we are announcing. The synergy of our newly combined services will deliver enhanced solutions for professional communication combined with high efficiency and ease of use for our customers and the Bermuda Business market. The partnership between the Bermuda Post Office and A.F. Smith is a perfect combination to unlock further potential for a qualified approach in B2B and B2C communication. 

As current customers transition over to the new technology, the Bermuda Post Office will be de-certifying all Pitney Bowes, Postage by Phone franking meters which had an end of life for meter refills as of December 31st, 2019, in keeping with revenue protection initiatives and global trends in postage meter technology. All Pitney Bowes, Postage by Phone franking meters should be off-market with meters surrendered to the Bermuda Post Office by September 1st, 2020, for customers to receive a transfer or refund for any possible unused funds still remaining in the meter. 

The Bermuda Post Office as part of the de-certifiation process will not refund any unused funds remaining in de-certified meters after September 1st, 2020. Any de-certified meter found to be in operations after September 1st, 2020 will be seized for revenue protection as stated in license agreements and in keeping with the Post Office Act 1900 and Regulation 1933. 

The Bermuda Post Office appreciates its postage meter customer ’who see the benefits of being able to produce their postage stamps at their convenience. This initiative will allow you the opportunity to contact your vendor of postage meters to transfer any remaining funds to a new meter or collect the unused funds. 

The Bermuda Post Office is delighted to be partnering with A.F. Smith on an initiative which provides customers access to the best postal technology tailored to suit individual business needs.