Stamps.com

Stamps.com

Stamps.com is a Los Angeles, California-based company that provides Internet-based mailing and shipping services. Stamps.com is a public company and trades on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol STMP.

History

In April 13, 1998, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the E-Stamp Corporation unveiled for beta testing the E-Stamp Internet postage system, aimed at providing digitally encoded postage franks or stamps via the Internet. At the launch in 1998, the Postmaster General at that time, Marvin T. Runyon, described his vision of postage being "available, on call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

E-Stamp was the first company to get USPS approval for beta testing and successfully brought internet postage to market, but the company did not survive the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000. In 2001 its domain and patents were bought by a fellow early entrant in the digital postage market, Stamps.com.

In the fall of 2003, Microsoft released a beta version of its office productivity suite of programs, which includes an electronic postage capacity through Stamps.com.

In August 2004, Stamps.com introduced PhotoStamps. This service allows computer users to upload their own photos or graphics, which Stamps.com then prints on custom postage stamps. This had been preceded by Stamps.com having various pictures on its E-stamps, including U.S. presidents Jefferson, Kennedy, Lincoln, TR and Washington, people playing various sports, and world landmarks. [ [http://www.pnc3.com/cvp/netstamps.htm Craig Selig NetStamps] ]

There was considerable negative publicity immediately after the inception of PhotoStamps, when investigative website The Smoking Gun publicized various stamp designs they had successfully ordered featuring images of Jimmy Hoffa, spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, and the DNA-stained blue dress of Monica Lewinsky. [cite web|url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0831041_photostamps_1.html|publisher=SmokingGun.com|title=Stamps Of Approval: Rosenbergs, Milosevic, Lewinsky dress now on official U.S. postage|date=August 31, 2004|accessdate=2008-06-08] Stamps.com's current policy prohibits images of world leaders or "any material that is vintage in appearance or depicts images from an older era." [http://photo.stamps.com/Store/conditions/]

Competitors

Stamps.com's main competitors are Pitney Bowes and Endicia Internet Postage.

References

* [http://www.socaltech.com/fullstory/0001406.html Interview with Jim McDermott, co-founder of Stamps.com]

External links

* [http://www.stamps.com Stamps.com main page]
* [http://photo.stamps.com PhotoStamps]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • com|mem|o|ra|tive|ly — com|mem|o|ra|tive «kuh MEHM uh RAY tihv, uhr uh », adjective, noun. –adj. preserving or honoring the memory of some person or event: »Commemorative postage stamps are issued to honor a famous person or to celebrate a historical event. –n. 1. a… …   Useful english dictionary

  • com|mem|o|ra|tive — «kuh MEHM uh RAY tihv, uhr uh », adjective, noun. –adj. preserving or honoring the memory of some person or event: »Commemorative postage stamps are issued to honor a famous person or to celebrate a historical event. –n. 1. a commemorative stamp… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Stamps-Baxter Music Company — The Stamps Baxter Organization= The Stamps Baxter Music Company was an influential southern music publishing company in the shape note gospel field. V. O. Stamps founded the company in 1924 and J. R. Baxter, Jr. joined him to form the Stamps… …   Wikipedia

  • Stamps family — The Stamps Family was one of the First Families of Virginia during the early 17th century. Descendants, including many aristocrats from Southern states like Virginia and Georgia, have played important roles throughout American history, especially …   Wikipedia

  • Stamps Quartet — Infobox Musical artist Name = The Stamps Quartet Img capt = Img size = Landscape = Background = group or band Alias = Origin = Genre = Christian Years active = Label = Associated acts = URL = Current members = Past members = Two Stamps and A… …   Wikipedia

  • Stamps of Malta — Infobox Country native name = Repubblika ta Malta conventional long name = Republic of Malta common name = Malta |Stamps of Malta are the stamps issued by the Republic of Malta. MaltaPost p.l.c. is the entity that issues these stamps. In 1881,… …   Wikipedia

  • Postage stamps and postal history of Iraq — This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Iraq.The earliest postal service known in the area of present day Iraq was operated by Assyria; archeologists have found a large number of commercial letters written in cuneiform on… …   Wikipedia

  • Postage stamps and postal history of Israel — The postage stamps and postal history of Israel is a survey of the postage stamps issued by the state of Israel, and its postal history, since independence was proclaimed on May 14 1948. The first postage stamps were issued two days later on May… …   Wikipedia

  • Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States — Confederacy Treasury Dept cover Various departments of the Confederate government used envelopes which were printed with the names of their department. Examples where the words Official Business occurs are common. The postage stamps and postal… …   Wikipedia

  • Postage stamps and postal history of Turkey — Turkey became a republic in 1923, and in the following years, its postal service became more modernized and efficient and its postage stamps expertly designed and manufactured.The Ottoman Empire s early or classic stamp issues between 1863 and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”