the parcels' destinations and receive discounts for doing so. With the PRS experiment, they would be able to pick up returns in bulk at those same facilities near the recipients' addresses and receive discounts for the handling and transportation costs that the Postal Service otherwise would have incurred for single-piece handling and transportation of those parcels back to the original shipper. Thus, the experiment would provide return parcels with the benefits of worksharing and the advantages of Parcel Select service realized by mailers for outgoing parcels.

     Mailers using the service would provide consumers with specially-marked prepaid return labels. Consumers would benefit by not having to apply postage or visit a Post Office to have postage calculated. They would be able to mail their returns by dropping them into a collection box, giving them to or leaving them for their mail carrier, or taking them to a Post Office.

     Following settlement negotiations, the Postal Service filed a Stipulation and Agreement signed by 12 of the 15 participants, with no objection from the other 3. On August 26, 2003, the PRC recommended the proposal to the Postal Service's governors. The Commission followed the terms of the settlement agreement, which differed from the original request only in minor details. The governors approved the recommendations on September 8, and the Board of Governors set October 19 as the implementation date.

     The three-year NetPost Mailing Online experiment began on September 1, 2000, pursuant to a decision of the governors of the Postal Service approving a recommended decision by the PRC. NetPost Mailing Online service provided customers a means for hybrid entry of items shipped by both First- Class Mail and Standard Mail services via the Internet. Many of those customers were smaller businesses who most valued the convenience of hybrid entry and the opportunity

it provided to increase business. During the experiment thousands of customers entered millions of pieces of mail.

     Under the terms of the experiment, NetPost Mailing Online service would terminate on September 1, 2003, unless the Postal Service took affirmative action to extend it by submitting a request to the PRC proposing a change to permanent status. The Postal Service elected not to request a change, and the experiment terminated on schedule.

     Although the Postal Service chose not to seek to extend NetPost Mailing Online service, it continues to believe that a hybrid combination of Internet entry and conventional hard-copy delivery is an appropriate use of Internet-enabled technology, and that it can lead to entry of new volume. Accordingly, it has determined that the existing customer base for NetPost Mailing Online service will continue to be served through a third party, to whom NetPost Mailing Online service is being conveyed. That third party now operates the service with mail entered on the same terms available to other mailers. The availability of mailing online through a third-party, rather than under the exclusive sponsorship of the Postal Service, is consistent with the business model for other Internet-enabled NetPost services.

     While the experiment did not result in a request for permanent classification changes at this time, the Postal Service believes that the experiment was a success. The purpose of this or any other experiment, in the Postal Service's view, is to allow flexible testing of new products and ideas while gauging customer response, operational feasibility, and cost and revenue implications. Valuable insights were gained from this experiment that will be of benefit in future Postal Service efforts.

     In October 1998, United Parcel Service (UPS) filed a complaint with the PRC, pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 3662, concerning the Postal Service's provision of PosteCS, a