J. A. Powell, Jr.
We'll miss ya.
Yaaaahhhhooooo!!! Are you tired of that expensive, noisy, cantankerous, expensive, complicated, always broken, (and did I mention expensive) postage meter? Our pals at the United States Postal Service have freed us from that accursed machine. They have approved postage printed by your computer.
Back in the days of buggy whips and quill pens, our firm started using a postage meter. We thought that it would reduced our postage expense and give us a more professional look to our correspondence. We rented (our only option) a huge postage machine from Pitney Bowes. This thing was about four feet long. It sounded like a cement truck when running. It could process thousands of pieces of mail in a matter of seconds. We were impressed.
Then it started eating mail. Then it refused to stamp mail. Then we had to haul the meter to the post office for inspection. Then we spilled a bottle of red ink on the thing. Then the bills started coming in. First the monthly rental bill that we expected. Then the supplies' bill that we expected. Then the tax bill that we did not expect. Then the service bill that we did not expect. By the end of the lease, we were so happy to see this thing leave that we had a going away party.
The problem is that we had to replace it with another meter from a different company. This machine is more reliable but it is still expensive. Our only choices were to meter our mail or to stamp it. Well, now we have a choice. The Postal Service has approved two different systems for producing computer generated postage stamps. The Postal Service calls these stamps "Information Based Indicia Program," a snappy name if there ever was one.
When a letter needs to be stamped, you will click on a button within your word processor and type in the address. Your computer checks with the Postal Service to see if the address is valid. If it is valid, a "two dimensional barcode" is printed on your envelope by your laser or inkjet printer. A small scale can be attached to your computer to automatically compute the correct postage. Tapes can also be used to mail large items. The barcode that is created is unique for every letter. The code contains information about the sender, the address of the user, and the local post office. In theory, the Postal Service will be able to automatically route mail by using machines to read the barcode.
The two companies that have been approved are www.estamp.com and www.stamp.com. These two companies have different systems for providing postage to your computer. Estamp provides a small gadget that attaches to the printer port of your computer. They call this a "vault." You would connect to Estamp via the Internet and download the postage you will need in the foreseeable future. As you print postage, the balance contained in the vault would decline. The advantage for this system is that you would have postage regardless of whether you can get online to Estamp. The disadvantage of this system is that you have to buy a vault for every person in your office that will be creating postage.
The other company, Stamp.com, allows you to buy postage as you need it. You would not have any devices attached to your computer and when you got ready to mail a letter, your computer would contact Stamp.com and download the postage for that envelope. The advantage is that everyone in your office can print postage without any special equipment. Also, you do not have to pre-purchase postage. The disadvantage is that you must have a constant connection to the Internet in order to get postage.
The costs of the services depends on the amount of postage you use. Stamp.com charges 10% of the postage used. The maximum charged will be $19.95 per month regardless of the amount of postage used. Estamp charges $50 for the vault and a meter. After that, they charge you for 10% of the postage purchased up to a maximum of $24.95 per purchase.
I can't help but believe that this is the way to go for small to medium law firms. This system allows for the leveraging of the computer systems while at the same time eliminating an expensive machine that does nothing but print postage.