a postage meter resetting apparatus includes a stepper motor as a first motive arrangement for turning the resetting shaft of a mechanical postage meter , another stepper motor as a second motive mechanism to enable or disable resetting by the first stepper motor . a lead screw , lead nut and linkage , driven by the second stepper motor , when resetting is authorized , moves an axially movable part of a coupling between the second stepper motor and the meter &# 39 ; s axially movable resetting shaft , to bring the resetting gear on the shaft into engagement with a gear of the meter &# 39 ; s descending register . an input to the first stepper motor , representing a variable amount of postage , effects turning of the resetting shaft and the engaged gears by amounts corresponding to the desired variable amount of postage to be added to the meter &# 39 ; s descending register . an encoder coupled to the shaft of the first stepper motor provides an output indication of the amount that the shaft has turned . a cpu routine assures that the gear on the meter &# 39 ; s resetting shaft has cleared a blocking pin and engaged the descending register gear prior to resetting by the first stepper motor . another cpu routine clears jams when it is detected that the shaft has not been turned the amount desired .