U.S. Post Office unveils new electronic SmartStamps

The e-stamps were approved for testing and, if all goes well, businesses and individuals will be able to print their own postage using personal computers and the Internet.

"The (postage) we unveil today represents the most significant new form of postage payment in three-quarters of a century," Runyon said.

He then wielded a computer mouse to generate the first computer-generated stamp at ceremonies at the National Postal Museum.

The move toward electronic postage comes 78 years after approval of postage meters and 151 years after the United States issued its first postage stamps.

AP PHOTO E-Stamp Corp. President Sunir Kapoor takes part in a Washington, D.C. news conference Tuesday to unveil the U.S. Postal Service's e-stamp Internet software.

"This is the future," said Runyon. "Postage directly from a personal computer."

The system approved for testing was developed by E-Stamp Corp. of Palo Alto, Calif., but other companies are working on similar products, postal officials said.

E-Stamp calls its system SmartStamp, while others are promoting the term "mouse-mail," after the computer pointing device users will click to generate the postage.

For its part, the post office's uses "information-based indicia" to refer to the system. "Indicia" is the postal term for an indication on an envelope that postage has been paid.

The new stamp prints out on a regular computer printer as it puts the address on an envelope.

The system is likely to appeal to small businesses and some individuals, though E-Stamp President Sunir Kapoor said he hoped it would be used by everyone, perhaps with his software being included with standard programs.

Most people use personal computers and the Internet to generate content that ultimately goes into the mail stream, he said. Those with a computer, printer and Internet connection already have what they need to print their own postage.

While the systems of other companies may vary, E-Stamp's provides a small piece of hardware that fits into a computer port and serves as an electronic vault for stored postage. The customer has an account with the company and can download postage into this vault via the Internet whenever needed, then can print it on envelopes as necessary.

Customers will pay a transaction fee to download postage, but the amount of the fee has not been determined.

Pam Gilbert, Postal Service vice president for retail, said security was the main concern in developing an electronic postage system, since the ability to print stamps is equivalent to printing money.

The e-stamp will include the postage amount, name and ZIP code of the local post office, date the postage was printed and rate category, such as "First Class."

In addition it has an electronic bar coding of the same information as well as the ID number of the printing device and a digital pattern that will make each envelope unique and hard to counterfeit.

04-02-98