Abstract: A franking machine includes a non-volatile record memory and circuits for writing information into this memory only if at least one characteristic of a franking operation is different from that for the immediately preceding operation. For example, for a series of franking operations having the same value, the record memory contains only a block of information indicating the franking value common to each operation and the number of operations per formed. The required record memory capacity is therefore significantly smaller than if it were to store an information block respective to each franking operation.