Letter Folding Equipment Buyer's Guide

Automate one of the most tedious tasks in mailing by investing in letter folding equipment for your business.

Anyone who has manually folded invoices or brochures knows the prodigious amounts of time such tasks require. Letter folding equipment can help automate a very time-consuming part of the process, by providing a quick way to prepare materials for envelope stuffing.

Letter folding equipment helps minimize the amount of time spent by mailing departments or small businesses when preparing large volumes of outgoing mail. Letter folders are also useful for creating folded brochures or other complex pages.

This guide is designed to give you the facts you need to before buying letter folding equipment for your business. The various sections are listed in the box above. You can choose to read this guide from beginning to end, or jump directly to a section of interest.

Types of Feeders

Low-end letter folding equipment is fed manually. With this equipment, a user can typically keep pace with a person stuffing envelopes. This can translate to a speed as fast as a couple hundred pieces per hour.

For larger volumes of mail, automated letter folders operate at speeds varying from 1,500 to more than 4,000 sheets per hour. These models typically incorporate an automatic paper feeder for faster operation.

Friction feeders move paper by using rubber wheels. This technology is relatively inexpensive, but can result in smudging when used with freshly printed sheets. Friction feeders also wear out with use, making them less practical for use in a high-volume production setting.

Vacuum, or air suction, feeders use air to pull paper into the folder. These feeders are much more effective in handling coated, glossy papers, and can be used quite effectively with newly printed papers. However, vacuum feeders tend to be quite expensive, and are generally only available on high-volume machines.

Paper Handling

Letter folding machines can make numerous kinds of folds, including standard business letter folds (called a c-fold), accordion folds (a z-fold), double folds, single folds, right angle folds, and brochure folds.

Most machines can fold several sheets of paper together at one time. However, feeders usually have trouble handling stapled sheets. This means that you may need to feed stapled sheets through the folders by hand.

Features

Letter folders are fairly straightforward pieces of equipment. However, there are some features to look for that can help process mailings even more effectively.

A batch counter prevents the machine from folding more sheets than desired. Some models will automatically stop folding once a certain number of sheets have been run. There are also total counters available that can indicate how many sheets have already been folded, with stackers available to neatly hold the folded documents.

Inserters can help further automate the mailing process by inserting documents into envelopes. To ensure the appropriate forms are inserted in the right envelope, some folder/inserter models utilize optical mark recognition (OMR) technology. OMR-equipped models are particularly useful when sending invoices or statements of different page lengths to clients.

Companies that find they often need to fold certain documents will find memory settings useful. These settings allow the user to record as many as fifteen custom folding jobs into memory to facilitate the processing of a recurring project. For example, this feature can be used to set paper guides when folding odd-sized jobs, which can be more practical than having to adjust the paper guides each time.

Know Your Needs

Before you buy, you should know the following:

Expected Volume and Frequency
Although two businesses could be folding 1000 sheets per month, one might fold them in bulk once per month and the other might do 50 per day. The machine that is best for your business will depend on both volume and frequency.

Paper Size
Will you be folding mostly letter-sized (8.5"x11") copies? Or might you be using larger, ledger-sized (11"x17") sheets?

Type of Fold
You should know beforehand what kind of folds you'll need: z-fold, half-fold, c-fold, brochure-fold, etc.

Sequence
If the folded sheets need to be in sequential order, look into a letter-folding machine that will allow you to monitor that.

Pricing

Folders start at approximately $200 for a personal desktop model and are readily found in office superstores or mail order catalogs. Commercial folders are much more expensive, starting in the thousands of dollars, and are sold by mailing equipment vendors. As with other expensive pieces of mailroom equipment, high-end letter folders can also be leased from the manufacturer.

Special Tips

Test Equipment with the Paper You'll be Folding
Models are not all equally adept at handling thin, glossy or carbonless paper.

Check How Paper Jams are Handled
Better-designed machines can release rollers for easier access to the problematic sheet.

Keep Friction Paper Feeders Regularly Maintained
One key maintenance step is eliminating static, which can cause paper jams from sheets sticking together or wrapping around the rollers. In addition, rubber roller cleaner will prevent the rollers from cracking, and will remove ink and talc buildup that can cause feeding and folding problems.

A jogger helps align stacks of paper for folding and is recommended for dissipating static electricity.

When Leasing, Leave Yourself Open for Upgrade
If you will be renting or leasing folding equipment, find a dealer that offers a range of low- to high-end models. This will make it easier to obtain upgrades mid-way through your contract.

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