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FEATURE
PPoostage
FFrrom Y Your PC
T
AKE THREE mechanical engineers from Stanford print the entire mail piece. “Th ere was this demand from
providing consulting services to the USPS Facilities people that would have loved to use USPS for shipping, but
department, expand their contributions to other they didn’t feel that there was a smooth interface to producing
areas, including mail operations; mix in a seemingly innocu- labels. FedEx and UPS have done it, but USPS was not able
ous task required of all post offi ces by the Postmaster General, to until we came along.”
a litt le creative problem solving, a sudden realization, and you He said people embraced it quickly, saying it was what
end up with Endicia.com, which is the same three guys, but they had been waiting for. “We had incredible early adoption
now selling postage. from Amazon and eBay shippers, and anyone who stumbled
Th e name of the company is derived from the word upon us. People still ask us where we have been, because
“indicia,” a marking on bulk mailings used as a substitute now they can do everything they need to without going to
for stamps or cancellation. Th ey changed the spelling to the post offi ce,” said Whitehouse. “With this application,
make it Internet friendly. Endicia has by far the most com- you can print a label at 5:05 and rush out to hand it to the
prehensive PC postage package ever designed. In fact, said nearest driver.”
Harry Whitehouse, Chief Technical Offi cer and one of the Customers pay for the service that makes this happen,
three principals, “We have been growing organically over 40 but the soft ware is free. “Th e user downloads soft ware which
percent every year. Last year we did $1.1 billion in postage, communicates across the Internet, but it is not a web based
and were responsible for 90 percent of the growth in USPS application,” said Whitehouse. Th e soft ware and service
priority mail.” calculate the weight, the destination, postage, and adds the
Endicia began with the blessing of the United States Post round, red security stamp. “People think it’s hard, but it isn’t.
Offi ce, and in 2001 the three principals put it all together. It is beautifully easy.”
From the beginning, said Whitehouse, their concept was to Th e monthly service plans are $9.95, $15.95, and $34.95.
Continued On 24 whwytriright
22 May 2009
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