USPS to end netpost mailing online project

In a plug for its NetPost Mailing Online hybrid mail service, the US Postal Service web site says, "Upload your documents and we do the rest."

Well, it appears the project hasn't not been that successful or much of a revenue generator because the post wants to end the "experiment" and try to transition it over to a private operator. Targeted at small and medium-sized businesses, individuals and charitable organizations, the three-year-old NetPost service let mailers upload documents and mailing lists electronically to the post.

The USPS then securely transmitted the files to print sites nearest the recipients, where the documents were printed, addressed, stamped, processed and delivered.

Customers even paid for the service online.

It could be used for both First Class and standard mail. Although NetPost Mailing Online, which the post promoted as a "faster, easier and more affordable service," has been widely available since it began, work on the initiative actually started in March of 1998 with a small bunch of customers.

The USPS' decision not to extend the "experiment" was communicated to the Postal Rates Commission by the agency's chief counsel for ratemaking Daniel Foucheaux on August 29. In his letter, Foucheaux did not outline the reasons why the USPS decided to terminate the project but claimed that it had "learned a great deal during the experiment, although some of the lessons differed from the initial aspirations."

Foucheaux wrote that, "Although the experiment did not result in a request for permanent classification changes at this time, the Postal Service believes that the experiment was a success. The purpose of this or any other experiment, in the Postal Service's view, is to allow flexible testing of new products and ideas while gauging customer response, operational feasibility, and cost and revenue implications."

Although the USPS claims that NetPost Mailing Online was an experiment, in the past it thought about offering the service on a permanent basis. "The NetPost Mailing Online experiment is the third of an expected four-step process that will culminate in the establishment of a permanent NetPost Mailing Online service," the USPS said in August of 2000.

There was no doubt that the post once had ambitious plans for the service. It even signed an agreement with Microsoft to integrate NetPost Mailing Online with Microsoft's seminal bCentral products so small businesses could correspond with customers using bCentral's online services and transfer the communications electronically to the post office for printing and mailing.

The USPS said customers used NetPost Mailing Online to enter millions of pieces of mail into the system. Apparently, most of them were small companies.

According to a rate calculator on the USPS web site, the cost of sending a two-page black-and-white document to 100 people via the NetPost service worked out to $56. The service provided customers with color-printing options and the ability to schedule mailings up to 30 days in advance.

NetPost users included federal agencies such as the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The post figured that using the Internet for mail could lead to additional volume.

In his letter, Foucheaux claimed the USPS has gained valuable insights from NetPost that will benefit it in the future but did not say how.

The USPS did not respond to questions about NetPost by press time.

NetPost is not the first USPS online service to fall by the wayside in the last few years. The agency has discontinued eservices such as the PosteCS secure electronic document delivery service and the NetPost Certified secure messaging service citing poor customer adoption. Last year, it outsourced the electronic postmark service to AuthentiDate.

USPS' entry into e-services caught flak from the private sector and the censure of the General Accounting Office over the way its e-commerce initiatives have been managed. Recently, the presidential commission set up to study the USPS recommended that the post leave electronic services to private concerns and focus on traditional mail. In its final report, the commission slammed the agency's online initiatives as "dubious forays" and said they had produced disappointing results (EPN No 168).