Stamps.com 2003 Annual Report Download - page 8

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 8 of the 2003 Stamps.com annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 77

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77

Table of Contents
Benefits of Service
The main benefit of our service is convenience. First, customers can mail and ship items without leaving their home or office, saving the
time required to make a trip to the post office. Second, customers can buy and print postage any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days
a year, allowing customers the flexibility to prepare their mail and packages when it’s most convenient for them. Finally, customers can save
time by printing the return address, destination address and postage together in a convenient, one-step process.
Our service also helps customers save money. First, customers avoid wasted postage by calculating the exact amount of postage that is
needed depending on mail class, mail form, weight and destination address. Second, customers can reduce the cost of returned or undeliverable
mail with our address correction and verification feature. Third, customers using our service to ship packages with electronic Delivery or
Signature confirmation save approximately $0.40 to $0.50 per package compared to using non-electronic confirmation services at the post
office. Fourth, customers can better track and control their postage expenditures using cost codes. Additionally, we believe the total cost of our
solution is significantly less than the total cost of a traditional meter solution. Typically, users of traditional postage meters have to pay
monthly rental fees, pay for postage purchase surcharges, pay for meter repairs and maintenance, buy expensive ink cartridges, and must agree
to long-term commitments.
Our service also contains features designed to enhance our customer’s overall mailing and shipping process and efficiency. First, customers
can print professional looking mail. Second, customers can customize their envelopes by adding a company logo or graphic. Third, customers
can print postage for letters, contacts and mail merges from directly within Microsoft Office. Fourth, customers can directly access their
contacts from Microsoft Outlook, ACT, Lotus Notes and other popular contact management software packages. Finally, customers can track
their mailing and shipping history and spending through our reporting capability.
2
•
Stamps.com PC Postage Service.
We offer our customers three different ways to print postage, delivering a flexible solution designed
to meet a variety of mailing and shipping needs:
1.
Traditional Internet Postage – Our original PC Postage feature, Internet Postage enables customers to print the postage and
delivery address in one step for a professional look. The postage is tied to the destination address and has a mail date. It is most
commonly printed directly on envelopes.
2.
NetStamps
™ — Customers print NetStamps on blank label stock containing 25 labels per page. NetStamps can be printed for
any amount and used with any mail piece. NetStamps do not have a mailing date and do not contain a destination address and
thus can be used just like regular postage stamps. We believe that NetStamps, added in July of 2002, increased the value of our
service by meeting more of our customers mailing and shipping needs.
3.
Shipping Labels – Allows customers to print postage for packages on plain 8.5” x 11” paper, or on adhesive labels, and to add
electronic Delivery or Signature Confirmation at discounted prices. Customers can also choose an option called Hidden
Postage
™
,
which allows customers to hide the actual postage amount on the shipping label.
In addition to providing the ability to buy and print postage, our software has many additional features designed to improve the
mailing and shipping process for our customers.
•
Stamps.com Store . We sell consumables and peripherals related to our service. These products are sold through our online store
within the Stamps.com software. We currently sell labels, scales and dedicated postage printers. The labels we sell are used in
conjunction with our NetStamps, Shipping Label and Traditional Internet Postage features. Currently, only existing Stamps.com
customers can purchase from our store.
•
Stamps.com Insurance . We offer our customers the ability to purchase online package insurance directly from us as an alternative to
USPS package insurance. Our insurance offering allows customers to insure packages without going to the Post Office and without
the need to complete any physical forms. Our insurance is provided in partnership with Parcel Insurance Plan and underwritten by
Fireman
’
s Fund.