A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage. Then the stamp is affixed to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover —which they wish to send. The item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark—in modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing—is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse. Next the item is delivered to its addressee.
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, its insular areas, and its associated states. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution of the United States. As of 2023, the USPS has 525,469 career employees and 114,623 non-career employees.
An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card.
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a system of universal prepayment that required all letters to bear nationally issued adhesive postage stamps.
This is a partial timeline of significant events in postal history, including dates and events relating to postage stamps.
In philately, private overprints or commercial overprints are overprints applied to postage stamps, postal stationery or revenue stamps by anyone other than the official stamp-issuing entity. These overprints have principally been used as a security measure, however, propaganda and commemorative examples are also known. When overprinted for security purposes, they serve a similar function to perfins. It is important to distinguish between private overprints and private cancellations.
Stamps.com is a brand and the former corporate name of Auctane, an American company that provides Internet-based mailing and shipping services. Until its acquisition by Thoma Bravo, Stamps.com was a public company traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol STMP. The company's main offices are located in El Segundo, California.
A personalised (or personalized) stamp is a postage stamp on which, for a fee, an image and/or text of the purchaser's choosing may be placed. The stamps vary from country to country, and while some are normal stamps with a personalised label on the left attached by perforations, elsewhere the stamps are more properly regarded as one-piece personalised meter stamps with a colourful design next to the indicia. Stamps produced by Zazzle.com for the United States, for instance, are one-piece, self-adhesive with die cut margins to emulate perforations, and visually very similar to normal United States postage stamps, except for the addition of an information-based indicia (IBI) encoded by little black and white squares along one edge. A serial number appears next to the IBI.
India Post is an Indian government-operated postal system in India, and is the trade name of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings had taken initiative under East India Company to start the Postal Service in the country in 1766. It was initially established under the name "Company Mail". It was later modified into a service under the Crown in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie introduced uniform postage rates and helped to pass the India Post Office Act 1854 which significantly improved upon 1837 Post Office act which had introduced regular post offices in India. It created the position Director General of Post for the whole country.
A postage meter or franking machine is a mechanical device used to create and apply physical evidence of postage to mailed items. Postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority. A postage meter imprints an amount of postage, functioning as a postage stamp, a cancellation and a dated postmark all in one. The meter stamp serves as proof of payment and eliminates the need for adhesive stamps.
Pitney Bowes Inc. is an American technology company most known for its postage meters and other mailing equipment and services, and with expansions into e-commerce, software, and other technologies. The company was founded by Arthur Pitney, who invented the first commercially available postage meter, and Walter Bowes as the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company on April 23, 1920.
A Markmanhearing is a judicial proceeding held in the United States District Court for claims dealing with patent infringement. During a Markman hearing a judge is responsible for interpreting the meaning of words and phrases in a patent, ultimately providing what is known as "claim construction." This is also known as claim interpretation. A Markman hearing usually defines the scope of the patent either for or against the inventor. However, effects of the Markman hearing, include (1) what evidence to consider, (2) de novo review on appeal, (3) depletion of judicial resources, and (4) the timing of a Markman hearing.
DataTreasury, located in Plano, Texas, United States, develops, acquires and licenses technology for secure check image capture and storage. As of 2010 the company had 2 employees, about 1000 shareholders and had generated over $350 million in licensing revenue in the previous four years.
Riverbed Technology LLC is an American information technology company. Its products consist of software and hardware focused on Unified Observability, Network Visibility, End User Experience Management, network performance monitoring, application performance management, and wide area networks (WANs), including SD-WAN and WAN optimization.
Michael J. Critelli is the CEO and an investor in The MakeUsWell network of the MoveFlux Corporation. He is the former chairman and CEO (1996-2007) of Pitney Bowes.
Arthur H. Pitney (1871–1933) was an American inventor and businessman, best known as the father of the postage meter. Pitney filed a patent application, in Stamford, Connecticut for the world’s first postage meter on December 9, 1901. He presented, demonstrated and perfected his invention over two decades – after partnering with Walter Bowes, the postage meter was approved by the U.S. Postal Service. He co-founded the Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter Company in 1920, now known as Pitney Bowes - it is a $6.1 billion provider. Pitney’s invention, the Pitney Bowes Model M Postage Meter, has been recognized as an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Walter Bowes (1882–1957) was an English-born industrialist and sportsman, who came to fame in the United States as the co-founder of technology firm Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter Company
Murray D. Martin is the former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S.-based Pitney Bowes. In 2007, he was appointed CEO to succeed Michael J. Critelli. Martin joined Pitney Bowes in 1987 and is best known for Pitney Bowes’ transformation from an American company selling goods and services into a global company.
Nils Aall Krag was a Norwegian businessman, inventor and industrialist. He was the founder of the firm, Krag Maskinfabrikk A/S, now a division of Pitney Bowes.
