Patent ID: 8533127

Claim:
Device alerting to the expiration of tariffs for a franking system, comprising: a random access memory (RAM) for recording postal data including: a first table of postal tariffs relative to postal products and services, said first table of tariffs comprising postal tariffs applicable before a date of application, a second table of postal tariffs relative to postal products and services, said second table of tariffs comprising postal tariffs applicable after said date of application; and a processing unit comprising comparing means for comparing one by one postal data in said first table of postal tariffs with corresponding postal data in said second table of postal tariffs, wherein said processing unit further comprises: means for emitting to the operator of the franking system a message alerting that postal data corresponding to the mail item to be franked has been changed, if it has been determined from said comparison of said postal data that at least one of the postal data corresponding to the mail item to be franked has changed, and means for receiving a decision of the operator whether to replace the postal tariffs of the first table with the postal tariffs of the second table, for updating the postal tariffs at the operator's request, the device further comprising a franking machine which franks the mail item with the current postal data when it has determined that the current postal data has not changed, even though the date of the application of the current postal data is out of date.