AUSTIN, Texas, March 18 -- Pitney Bowes Inc. today provided testimony to the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service about the benefits available to the U.S. Postal Service and its customers through further development of the Intelligent Mail system, or "I-mail". A Pitney Bowes white paper on I-mail is available at http://www.pb.com/downloads/US/ENG/imail.pdf. "The Postal Service must focus on constant, vigorous improvement in both efficiency and customer value to enable mail to remain a vital communications medium in the 21st century," stated Mike Monahan, president, Mail Solutions, Pitney Bowes. "Mail will continue to be the most accessible, effective and affordable communications channel for businesses, government organizations and mailers of all sizes to communicate with each other. Through further innovation by the postal service and mailing industry, I-mail will ultimately increase the value and affordability of all mail, while creating more customer-friendly interaction with the postal service." At the core of I-mail is the ability to attach data-rich, machine readable information to each individual mailpiece which can provide valuable, business critical information required by both business mailers and the postal service -- including information about the mailer, the recipient, the postal product used, or content contained within the envelope. This information "lives" with each mail piece so that data can be gathered as that mailpiece travels through the postal network. When leveraged, this information will help businesses create more effective marketing campaigns, and aid the Postal Service in scheduling and planning workload resources to decrease postal costs. One obvious benefit of I-mail to business is the ability to accurately predict when a mailpiece arrives at a customer's or prospective customer's house. With this information, e-mail messages or phone calls can be timed to the exact day of delivery, making integrated marketing campaigns more effective. Additionally, mailpieces that are produced with I-mail technology are inherently more secure because the sender and mail path are recorded and tracked through the mail stream. This not only provides greater protection against anonymous biological of physical threats sent through the mail stream, but can help credit card companies identify cards that are lost or stolen before they are delivered to the recipient. The President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service, established by President Bush on December 11, 2002, is a nine-member bipartisan Commission formed to identify the operational, structural, and financial challenges facing the Postal Service; examine potential solutions; and recommend legislative and administrative steps to ensure the long-term viability of postal services in the United States. The Commission is co-chaired by James A. Johnson, Vice Chairman of Perseus, L.L.C., and Harry J. Pearce, Chairman of Hughes Electronics Corporation. The Commission will submit its report to the President by July 31, 2003.