Setting Electronic Manually Reset Meters

The Postal Service is in the last stages of retiring all electronic manually reset postage meters. Fewer than 25,000 of these meters remain in use, out of more than 1.5 million meters in use nation-wide. Retirement of these meters will reduce Postal Service exposure to meter fraud, misuse, and loss of revenue.

The plan for retiring these meters links the last date on which each of these meters can be reset to the end of the customer’s lease or rental agreement for the specific meter. It gives the customer a minimum of 3 months from the end of the agreement to upgrade to a currently approved model.

After April 30, 2002, there will be a new process in place to enable postal employees to determine the last date on which each manually set meter can be reset. The Postal Service has mailed a letter authorizing meter resetting for each meter that can still be reset after April 30, 2002. Each authorization letter identifies a single meter, by manufacturer, model, serial number, and meter license and lists the last date that the listed meter can be reset. The information in the letter was based on customer data furnished to the Postal Service by the meter manufacturers.

After April 30, every time customer requests a meter resetting the customer will need to present the original authorization letter for that meter. The authorization applies ONLY to the specific meter described and WILL NOT be used to allow the resetting of any other meter. Meter licensees with more than one electronic manually reset meter must have appropriate authorization for each meter for which they are requesting a reset. Funds may only be transferred from one electronic manually reset meter to another if there is an authorization letter for the original (failed) meter, and the date of the transfer is prior to the last day on which a reset is authorized for both meters involved.

If a reset or transfer of funds is requested after the last date on which resetting is authorized, the customer will be instructed to contact their meter manufacturer to upgrade their meter. The manufacturer name and contact phone number is on each authorization letter.

Any customer who has not received an authorization letter should contact the meter manufacturer immediately. Manufacturer agents should not contact Postage Technology Management (PTM) directly. PTM will only accept data corrections through the manufacturer.

The authorization letter presented by the customer must be the original, which is printed on special "security" paper. It must not be a copy. It must not have been altered. The "security" paper has several features that will allow postal employees to know if it has been copied or altered.

This process does not change the meter withdrawal dates that were published in the Federal Register, December 13, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 240, pages 77934-77938), Retirement Plan for Manually Reset Postage Meters (Notice of Final Plan). It does clarify the procedure to be used and provides a definitive method to allow Postal employees to make an informed decision on whether or not to reset a specific meter.