Abstract: A method of inserting postal items into envelopes, comprising, for each of said envelopes: holding the envelope in an inserting position with an open end oriented towards a postal item transport path and with an envelope edge perpendicular to the open end against an alignment surface that defines an envelope alignment axis at the inserting position; displacing one or more of the postal items along the postal item transport path into the envelope, an edge of the or each postal item, at least partway along the transport path, being urged against and guided by an alignment surface that defines a postal item alignment axis along the postal item transport path, wherein the envelope alignment axis is offset from the postal item alignment axis by a predetermined distance in a direction away from the postal item transport path.