NOTICE: New Requirement For Meters That Are Taken To The Post Office For Resetting.
After April 30th, 2002, an official ‘ ’ from the Manager, Postage Technology Management is required in order to reset your postage meter at the local Post Office. The authorization for reset is specific to meter model and serial number. All Post Offices are being notified to stop resetting meters after April 30th UNLESS the customer presents an official authorization letter. Instructions to the field are detailed in the "Setting Electronic Manually Reset Meters After April 30, 2002" article in
The authorization letter indicates the last date that the Post Office is authorized to reset the particular meter identified by its model and serial number. After the expiration date identified in the letter, the meter may no longer be reset by the Post Office. The reset expiration provides a grace period of at least 3-mos from the end of the meter lease agreement to allow time to upgrade to an approved meter model. Customers are encouraged to upgrade to a remote set meter before their current meter lease expires.
Remote set meters that use telephone technology and are not taken to a Post Office to be reset are not affected. Customers that use meters requiring Post Office resetting will receive authorization letters during the month of March. If you take your meter to a Post Office for resetting and have not received an authorization letter by April 30th, contact your meter manufacturer immediately.
NOTICE: Plan for Secure Postage Meter Technology
Postage Technology Management finalizes phased plan for assuring more secure and cost effective metering technology. The meter migration plan is aimed at transitioning the install base of meters from certain technology demonstrated to be susceptible to tampering, counterfeit or misuse to available technology offering enhanced security. The migration plan also targets metering technology that imposes operations costs that may be avoided with newer alternative technology.
Phase I accomplished the retirement of all mechanical meters and Phase II, which is currently underway requires the retirement of all manually reset meters (meters that must be reset manually by a Postal Service employee). Phase II is detailed in and also .
Phases III/IV retire meters that use letterpress technology to print indicia. Phase IV meters are distinguished by inclusion of a timeout feature that disables a meter that is not reset within a specified period or failure to meet some prescribed criteria. The final plan for Phase III/IV is detailed in
A list of Phase III/IV affected meter models is provided:
Technology in Our Lives.
New Meters Let Consumers Dial Up Postage.
Under a plan that was set in motion in 1995, the Postal Service is gradually retiring all manually reset postage meters.
It is believed upgrading to remote set meters will save businesses time, since
employees can stay on the job rather than heading off to the post office to have a meter
reset.