8. POSTAGE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES
Postage Technology Management (PTM) focused on contributing to the Postal Service Transformation Plan objectives of extending easy access to postage and leveraging commercially developed innovations to serve the Postal Service’s need for cost reduction and revenue growth during 2002. The leveraging of commercially developed innovations reduces or eliminates Postal Service capital investment and provides opportunities for cost savings, cost avoidance, revenue generation, and mail security.

PTM activities are based on preserving a technology platform of security requirements, functional specifications, and rules and regulations to ensure secure postage payment systems. This platform not only supports the $21 billion in postage revenues purchased by the 2 million customers using traditional meters and PC Postage^® products, but also enables new postage payment solutions.

During 2002, PTM received 25 concepts for new IBI meters and PC Postage^® software solutions. Significant among these are concepts involving customer access to special services. Of those concepts, 14 products were formally submitted for evaluation by the various commercial providers of which 11 have currently been approved for national distribution.

The first PC Postage shipping solution with a “POSTAGE PAID” IBI label entered a field test in June 2002. Package shipping customers asked specifically for a way to pay for postage conveniently without printing the postage amount directly onto the shipping label. The POSTAGE PAID IBI label provides the solution by allowing customers to print a postage-paid shipping label with the postage amount embedded in the barcode data. Early reports indicate wide customer acceptance.

PTM also tested and approved NetStamps^™ as a new feature to a popular PC Postage product in the market. NetStamps give customers Internet postage that can be used just like adhesive postage stamps. Giving customers this option provides an attractive technology-based alternative to support the Postal Service Transformation Plan objective to move simple transactions out of the retail lobby.

Another commercially developed innovation that entered initial testing during 2002 is the PC Postage kiosk solution. This product would allow customers to purchase IBI postage for First–Class Mail, Priority Mail, and Express Mail services on a secure web-enabled system with a credit card.

Enhancements to the centralized databases to track and manage products, customers and revenue associated with postage meter use continued during the year. These enhancements are designed to move decentralized data and data processing to centralized data management to improve audit and control capability, transition as many manual processes to automated processing in order to achieve workhour savings, and improve customer service. Many of the initiatives undertaken to move to electronic transfer of funds not only serve to improve Postal Service data management and savings, but also provide improvements for customers because they eliminate any delay in use of their postage funds that may have been caused by manual processes.

PTM’s enhancement efforts provided the opportunity to avoid and/or take $25 million in costs out of the system during 2002. Highlights of these efforts include:

• A reduction of 80 percent or 54,000 in manually reset meters from the level at the end of 2001, eliminating in excess of 486,000 manual resets at the Post Office window.
• Over 800,000 meter installations and withdrawals processed through the automated meter movement file that otherwise would have required entry by a field finance clerk.
• 84,100 secure fund transfers processed allowing meter funds to be transferred from one remote reset meter to another in the customer’s place of business — eliminating the need for a withdraw and installation by a Postal Service employee and the issuance of a refund check.
• 6,700 manual meter migration enhancements were processed allowing meter funds to be transferred from a manually reset meter to a remote reset meter at the customer’s place of business instead of the Post Office.