For now, people still have to lick stamps and stick them onto envelopes. But the Postal Service is working with private companies on technology that will allow people to click postage onto their letters.
Under a new program called PC Postage, USPS is beta-testing technology that delivers postage across the Internet to personal computers, which can then be printed out on envelopes. USPS and E-Stamp Corporation of Palo Alto, Calif., the first company to win preliminary approval for PC-generated postage, are conducting beta tests in the Washington, D.C. area this summer. Additional companies, including veteran postage meter maker Pitney-Bowes, expect to design PC Postage products.
The products set unique encrypted identifiers in every postage mark, making counterfeiting more difficult than with manual postage metering devices, which can be tampered with, the Postal Service says. The Postal Inspection Service has estimated counterfeiting costs USPS $100 million a year.
USPS and other federal agencies are increasingly looking at ways to deliver products and services over the Internet. For example, the General Services Administration and the Defense Logistics Agency have created online malls through which federal employees can purchase business products, and the Education Department allows college students to apply for financial aid online.
A Postal Service spokeswoman said no timeline has been set for full rollout of the PC Postage program.
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