Postal scales are required by any business that has a post room as letters, packages and parcels need to be weighed in order to stamp the items with the correct value of paid postage. Paperstone supply both electronic, digital postal scales and analogue balances with dials from well-known brands, Alba and Salter. We stock a wide range of postal scales suited to different weights.

Postal scale Manufacturers

Our mailing scales are made by Alba and Salter. The Alba electronics manufacturing brand is now owned by Milton Keynes-based Home Retail Group, the latter having bought it in 2008. The original company was founded in 1917 by Alfred Balcombe and became known as Alba in 1960. Salter (now SalterHousewares) originated in the late 1760s when Richard Salter began making “pocket steelyards” – small, spring weighing scales. Over the nineteenth century the company made many innovative products for the time, including Britain's first bathroom scale, irons, mincers, coin-operated machines and typewriters.

Weighing post

The Great Post Office Reform of 1839 and 1840 saw the adoption of two important features in the postal service which survive in principle to this day. One was the Uniform Penny Post with the Penny Black becoming the world's first postage stamp in use. The other was a flat postage charge of 4d per ½ oz regardless of distance. Thus the cost of postage was formally tied to weight. For today's somewhat more expensive rates, go to the Royal Mail's Delivery Options page.