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No winners in mail dispute
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November 2002
'Buy stamps online' scheme
UK businesses could be able to buy postage online next year. Trials by Royal Mail of a Web-based postage service are due to start with selected customers in January. Customers will set up an account and pre-pay postage by credit or debit card or by Internet direct debit. Any type of postage will be available, including international, and the "stamp" will be printed directly on to envelopes or labels via the customer's desktop computer. Technology is being provided by Lockheed Martin in association with German software service provider GFT Technologies. The system will also allow users to generate customised slogans alongside the postage. Online stamps are already available in the US and Germany, where Deutsche Post recently won an award from EEMA, the European e-business association, for its STAMPIT system. It shared the accolade with Thales e-Security, whose WebSentry hardware cryptography platform is used to secure the system.
Gillian Wilmot, managing director of mail markets at Royal Mail, says that if the trials are successful, the UK system could go live by the autumn.
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