Embracing E-Commerce

• PC Postage (launched August 1999)-Through private vendors such as Stamps.com and E-Stamp, customers can apply for digital certificates allowing them to purchase electronically stored postage. E-Stamp, for example, allows users to buy and store up to $500 worth of postage in an electronic vault attached to a computer. Postage then can be printed directly onto labels or envelopes and is deducted automatically from the vault.
• Returns@Ease (launched October 1999)-Designed to make returning merchandise bought online easier, the product offers a range of services, depending on a retailer's return policy. At the least, users can print off return mail labels. And if the retailer allows it, they can print off the postage necessary to send an item back, thereby avoiding a trip to the post office.
• Shipping Online (planned launch in early 2000)-Will allow customers to create shipping labels, verify addresses, schedule pickups, track Express Mail shipments, confirm delivery of Priority Mail, order shipping supplies and pay for everything with credit cards.
• Electronic Postmark (in testing phase)-Will provide an official time-and-date stamp-as regular mail postmarks now do-as well as authenticate sender and receiver and guarantee that the message was not tampered with. Officials hope the postmark will establish the agency as the trusted third party in electronic communication, a role the Postal Service already claims in the First Class mail arena.
• PosteCS (in testing phase)-The international Post Electronic Courier Service uses an electronic postmark to guarantee secure transmissions. The product, which is being tested with Canada Post and France's La Poste, also offers tracking and tracing, proof of delivery, sender and receiver authentification, account management and sender mailing list management.

For more information on these products, see the Postal Service's Web site (www.usps.com).

-Source: U.S. Postal Service