An Internet Kiosk for Postage

[Kelly Pierce <kelly@ripco.com>]

is this the end of post offices with people?  I wonder if accessibility has
been explored with these guys?

kelly 

The New York times 
   
March 6, 2000

COMPRESSED DATA

Mailing Supplier and IBM Try Postage Sales on Net

By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH

     So it has come to this. The latest convenience, brought to you by
     the Internet economy, will be the ability to go out and buy stamps?
     
     That is the selling point for the latest offering from Neopost
     Online, the Internet arm of the mail-room equipment company
     Neopost. Until now, Neopost Online concentrated on persuading
     people to download postage from their computers. Now it has formed
     a partnership with IBM to dot the landscape with kiosks that can
     dispense postage to those not tethered to a mouse.
     
     The self-service kiosks, envisioned for college campuses, grocery
     stores and post-office lobbies, would enable customers to weigh
     packages and select a postage category -- say, first class or
     priority mail. The kiosk would calculate the postage needed, print
     a digital stamp on a self-adhesive label, and charge the customer's
     credit card.
     
     David Crisp, Neopost Online's chief executive, bridles at the
     suggestion that the kiosks are digitally gussied-up versions of
     conventional stamp machines. "All you can do at those is buy a book
     of stamps," he said. "The kiosks let you weigh packages, get exact
     postage, do all those things you had to stand on line at the post
     office for."
     
     Actually, the U.S. Postal Service may have the most to gain. The
     kiosks will save on labor costs, since the Postal Service can
     automatically replenish the postage levels by computer via the
     Internet. Moreover, each stamp will contain a two-dimensional bar
     code that will identify the kiosk where it was issued, a feature
     that Crisp says will enable the Postal Service to quickly spot
     bogus stamps.
     
     Crisp said 15 kiosks had been in operation in a Florida test for
     three months, and "they've vended hundreds of thousands of stamps,
     far exceeding our expectations."
     
     He said that Neopost, IBM and the Postal Service had yet to decide
     on the exact financial arrangements, and even on a schedule for
     putting kiosks in other states. "But I'd really love to see this
     rolling out nationally this year," he said.
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