WASHINGTON D.C. — The U.S. Postal Service received a World Mail Award for Innovation for its Confirm program at the World Mail and Express Conference in London this month. The World Mail Awards recognize the best practices in the global mail industry. Award submissions are decided by a prestigious panel of judges from the industry. The Innovation Award is sponsored by Pitney Bowes and is given for new ideas or initiatives that deliver value to mail users through new services or making existing services easier to use. In presenting the award for the Confirm system, Patrick Keddy, president of Pitney Bowes Europe, Africa and the Middle East, noted, "The Award is given for a system that provides tracking on letter post items, allowing customers end-to-end information on efficient mail flows almost in real time." The Confirm system provides mailers with data collected by mail processing equipment on their incoming and outgoing mail pieces using PLANET Code technology. The PLANET Code allows storage of additional information on the mail piece that is used to track the piece through the system. The encoded data is captured when the mail piece passes through mail sorting equipment such as barcode sorters. This data then is transmitted to the customer's computer system or to the Confirm website. Confirm information is also used by Postal Service operations for performance tracking to monitor and improve performance. "We are honored by the recognition the Confirm program has received from the World Mail Awards," said John Ward, vice president, Core Business Marketing. "Our team has worked very hard to make Confirm a useful tool for mailers and to enhance the value of the mail by providing a meaningful performance measurement." Nearly 600 mailers already participate in the program. About Confirm Confirm is an innovation in customer service because it provides information on the processing and delivery status of mailings in a relatively easy-to-use format. Mailers can conveniently download the information to their computer systems or access it from the planetcodes.com web site.