STAMFORD, Conn., July 18 -- Pitney Bowes Inc. today announced it is launching a customized postage service through a new alliance with Zazzle (http://www.zazzle.com), the Internet's leading customized products marketplace. The new service allows customers to create full-color customized stamps using images they upload at the Zazzle website, or a vast collection of images already available on the site, including famous characters from The Walt Disney Company and other special collections. "Letters are such a personal form of communication, and our new service allows that personal expression to go outside of the envelope as well," said Ian Siveyer, vice president of postal solutions at Pitney Bowes. "This alliance gives consumers unprecedented choices to create one-of-a-kind, colorful stamps." "We like Zazzle because it's an established, high-volume site where thousands of customers are already designing and ordering a wide variety of customized goods," Siveyer continued. "Extending this product line to include stamps is a great way to reach creative people who are looking for new ways to express themselves." The alliance calls for Pitney Bowes, the world's leading provider of integrated mailing solutions, to provide the software that manages the postage transaction between the customer and the United States Postal Service. Consumers can go to Zazzle's website, quickly and easily upload their own images or choose from Zazzle's special collections. Postage can then be customized using Zazzle's design tools that provide a broad array of choices for colors, layouts, styles, fonts and more. The combination of Zazzle's online interactive marketplace and Pitney Bowes' expertise in postal technology creates a fully-integrated customer experience that is both highly secure and easy to use. Visitors to the Zazzle website can design sheets of 20 stamps available in the most common denominations from $0.23 (postcards) and $0.37 (first-class letters) to $3.85. After the order is complete, Zazzle will review all uploaded images for adherence to USPS guidelines for customized stamps. Once approved, the stamps are printed and shipped to the customer within 24 hours. Siveyer noted that customized stamps are a relatively new product category. "This new product line is made possible thanks to recently-released guidelines from the United States Postal Service. We think it's a terrific way to make mail an even more appealing communications channel, and we look forward to working with Zazzle and USPS to ensure the success of this alliance."