Postage meter

It was installed in the lobby of the General Post Office in Christiana, Norway, on August 24, 1900, but was removed in December that same year.

[4][1] Working independently, a young Chicago inventor, Arthur Pitney, obtained his first mailing system patent in 1902.

Pitney's first machine consisted of a manual crank, chain action, printing die, counter, and lockout device.

This investment's success allowed Franks and business partner, Girling, to enter into other postage markets around the world.

Years ago, users needed to take their meter to a postal office in order to add additional postage (sometimes called a "reset" or "refill").

Today, users can add to their postage balance by telephone, prepaid cards, via the web or through a direct connection over the Internet.

While more advanced, including remote meter resetting capabilities, this early technology was deemed susceptible to tampering.

The most advanced systems print Information Based Indicia (IBI), a two-dimensional Data Matrix or bar code combined with visually identifiable characters and symbols.

The data matrix contains such information as amount of postage, origin zip code, destination, mail class, weight, and confirmation/tracking numbers.

In 1999, Stamps.com became the first organization to be licensed by the United States Postal Service to print valid postage from a traditional PC printer.

Other elements include: For high-volume mailers, a postage meter may also be incorporated into an inserting system which prepares mail end-to-end.