“Changes in technology, mail volumes, mail patterns, USPS® processes, and economic conditions are causing more organizations to reconsider their strategy for obtaining postage discounts,” said Grant Miller, vice president, global strategic product management and North American sales, Document Messaging Technologies, Pitney Bowes. “Our new Reliant Sorting Solution makes it viable for organizations with lower mail volumes to sort their mail in-house to take advantage of deeper postage discounts.”

The Reliant Sorting Solution can sort letters up to 18,000 per hour and flats up to 16,000 per hour. Measuring only 9.9 feet long by 34 inches wide, the small footprint of the solution makes it seamless to add to existing mail and print operations. The Reliant Sorting Solution enables mailers to access U.S. Postal Service® outbound sorting, in-bound sorting, and Vote by Mail applications. The solution is also backed by a single service and support team for peak efficiency and performance. The Reliant Sorting Solution is available immediately for order.

Pitney Bowes press release

NEW YORK, January 06, 2011 – Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) today announced the Volly™ secure digital delivery service, a new cloud-based digital mail communications platform that will empower consumers to receive, view, organize, and manage bills, statements, direct marketing, catalogs, coupons and other content from multiple providers using a single application. This opt-in, consumer-focused consolidation service, which also includes online bill pay, will begin to be made available to consumers in the United States in the second half of 2011.

Expanding Pitney Bowes’s Customer Communications Management (CCM) portfolio, the Volly™ digital delivery service will provide a secure, electronic means of communication and help organizations realize significant cost savings, while ultimately empowering consumers with an opt-in, spam-free experience to help organize and manage their lives.

With the Volly™ secure digital delivery service, Pitney Bowes will provide participating high-volume mailers with a communications service that can expand consumer options while also giving mailers the ability to:

* integrate with their existing physical mail delivery processes;

* rapidly deliver cost savings including reduced operating expenditures.

Pitney Bowes can also help mailers, billers, cataloguers, and government agencies save time to market and additional valuable resources by initiating the electronic relationship and connecting them with each customer.

Pitney Bowes already connects with consumers in their daily lives. From providing the engine that generates postage labels for millions of eBay shipments every year, to handling all American changes of address on an outsource basis for more than 40 million moves annually — Pitney Bowes has extensive experience understanding consumers, and managing consumer interactions and financial transactions.

The events will offer educational seminars for customers on important mail industry developments, and practical solutions to help maximize productivity and decrease postage costs. In addition, customers will be able to see Pitney Bowes’s latest technology and solutions in action for its domestic presort services and international mail services.

“In today’s business climate, efficiency and costs are top of mind for many mailers,” said Jay Oxton, president, mail services, Pitney Bowes. “Our Customer Summits will offer the latest information on important postal industry topics, as well as mail services technology and solutions that can help organizations optimize deliverability and reduce postage costs for their U.S. and international mailings.”

For additional information on the Customer Summits including locations, dates and seminar topics, please visit www.pb.com/mailservices.

As the nation’s leading mail presorter, Pitney Bowes enables customers to receive significant postage discounts on First-Class™ letters and flats, and Standard Mail®. Pitney Bowes currently handles 14 billion pieces of mail per year through its 37 facilities across the United States.

With expertise in 215 countries, Pitney Bowes is also a leading international mail consolidator in the U.S. and U.K. that can help customers enhance the effectiveness of mailings around the globe. Customers can select from a choice of cross-border carriers for the distribution of mail, marketing material, publications and small packages based on service and price. In addition, Pitney Bowes helps customers track visibility to the movement of international packages, manages the customs process and pays service providers on behalf of customers. Pitney Bowes’s international network of resources is supported by the most advanced mailstream technology and processes anywhere.

The Vantage™ Sorting Solution is intended to deliver superior performance along a number of dimensions, including productivity, reliability, flexibility and ease of use, for a greater total return on investment. Its new feeder technology allows for greater variability of mailpiece thickness than current systems, without compromising system speed. The increased loading capacity and L-shape feeder deck design simplifies workflow. Sorting integrity—a critical component of meeting stringent postal and business requirements—is enhanced by tracking each mailpiece to its final sort pocket destination and by an innovative new double-detection technology that can even distinguish tabbed mailpieces.

“This solution is the culmination of countless conversations with our global customers about the specific capabilities they require. In fact, the Vantage™ Sorting Solution is designed specifically to help mailers to create real value in the mail sorting process,” said Grant Miller, vice president for global strategic product management at Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies. “Posts, service bureaus, presort shops, enterprise mailers and mail consolidators will all find this powerful, flexible and scalable new solution can help deliver results for their business.”

One of the key value propositions, Miller noted, is the ability to offer integration of mail sorting with other processes, such as inline weighing and postage metering. This automation of more mail processes not only streamlines the overall way mailpieces are handled, but also allows mailers to accept mail from more sources and expand their service.

The Vantage™ Sorting Solution’s ergonomic design takes the safety and comfort of its operators into account as well. All optional equipment, such as printers, are housed in the chassis and behind covers for improved accessibility and quieter operation.

Pitney Bowes backs up the Vantage™ Sorting Solution with optional service packages that can help keep the system operating with superior performance over the long haul. Pitney Bowes’s specially trained customer service organization can help the system run at its optimal efficiency, enabling mailers to provide aggressive Service Level Agreements to their clients.

”The Vantage™ Sorting Solution takes our years of experience in mailing technology and exceptional customer service and puts it all together. It delivers superior quality, higher overall throughput speed and ease of operation that will enhance our customers’ business operations.” commented Miller. First placements of the new systems are expected in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Located at 8551 Industrial Drive, Jacksonville, the facility will have the annual capacity to presort more than 40 million pieces of First-Class™ letter mail and Standard-Mail® in its first year of operation. The 40,000-square-foot center will employ approximately 30 people by the end of 2010.

“Our new facility in Jacksonville will serve as an important gateway for Pitney Bowes to offer Florida customers convenient, one-stop presorting of their mail to help optimize deliverability and reduce postage costs,” said Jay Oxton, president, Presort Services, Pitney Bowes. “We are thrilled to join the Jacksonville business community and look forward to working with area customers to meet their mail presorting needs.”

As the nation’s leading mail presorter, Pitney Bowes enables customers to receive significant postage discounts on First-Class™ letters and flats, and Standard Mail®. Pitney Bowes currently handles 14 billion pieces of mail per year through its 37 facilities across the United States.

via New Pitney Bowes Mail Presort Facility to Open in Jacksonville, Florida | Pitney Bowes Newsroom.

The ComColor series helps organizations add value to existing documents by managing the transition from printing in black and white to color. The series is ideal for mid- and high-volume mailers printing transactional or transpromotional documents such as invoices, promotional flyers, postcards, and direct mail.

“Our collaboration with RISO is the perfect complement to Pitney Bowes’s portfolio of printing and mailing solutions,” said Debra Thompson, vice president, marketing, U.S. Mailing, Pitney Bowes Inc. “The ComColor series offers Pitney Bowes customers a fast and affordable inkjet printer solution that drives efficiency and productivity.”

“ComColor offers real and unique value to Pitney Bowes customers,” said Kevin Hunter, executive director, CMD program and new dealers, RISO, Inc. “ComColor combines affordable color, high speed, and high reliability, resulting in a low total cost of ownership. Organizations can now afford to convert their black and white documents to full color, increasing their response rates and improving the overall appearance of their printed communications.”

With print speeds of 90-150 pages per minute, the series is designed to work with a broad range of customer applications and print volumes. There are five models in the series: ComColor 9050, 7050, 7010, 3050, and 3010. They are distinguished by print speed, paper capacity, print image area, and option compatibility.

The series can handle print volumes up to 500,000 per month using a no-heat imaging system that offers increased reliability and up-time for post insertion processes. All five models are ENERGY STAR qualified printers and offer optional scanning and copying capabilities.

The ComColor series expands on the previously introduced HC5500 inkjet printer by RISO, which Pitney Bowes continues to offer. Pitney Bowes will show the ComColor 9050 flagship model at the AIIM/ON DEMAND Expo and Conference from April 20 to 22 in Philadelphia.

The Connect+ Series is the first mailing systems series with a Web- and application-based software architecture and features an intuitive color touch-screen display with graphic icons that provides instant online access to numerous mailing, printing and reporting applications. Customers can access their accounts online to order supplies, download graphics, place service calls, visit USPS Web sites, track parcels and access exclusive Pitney Bowes® presort services.

High-resolution HP inkjet technology with 1,200 dpi allows promotional messages to be printed across the top of envelopes with text, logos or photographs in color or black, while applying postage all in one pass. Messages may range from simple text to limited-time specials or complex color graphics to help build and reinforce an organization’s brand, increase read-rates and drive customer response. With the Connect+ Series, users can also print messages and images along the bottom and back edge of the envelope with multiple passes. Marketers can instantly design messages and import graphics or select images from Pitney Bowes’s extensive library to print on the outside of envelopes, and the Connect+ Series enables direct control of the entire messaging process from an individual’s desktop.

Recent independent market research commissioned by Pitney Bowes shows that 69 percent of consumers indicated they would be more likely to open a mail piece with color text and graphics first compared to a plain white envelope without messaging. What this suggests is printing color promotional messages on the outside of envelopes can help marketers connect with more customers.

“In today’s economic environment, organizations are looking for new ways to retain, acquire and grow the value for their customers,” said Leslie Abi-Karam, Pitney Bowes Executive Vice President and President, Mailstream Solutions Management. “With the Connect+ Series, organizations can now build customer relationships and grow their businesses by turning all of their physical communications into new opportunities to help increase revenue.”

The Connect+ Series includes three product platforms for mid- and high-volume mailers. For mid-volume mailers, the Connect+1000 and Connect+2000 systems can print up to 180 letters per minute and features a 10.2” color touch-screen display. The Connect+2000 system also offers Pitney Bowes Weigh-on-the-Way® technology, which automatically weighs and dimensions mail pieces for additional productivity.

For high-volume mailers, the Connect+3000 system can produce up to 300 letters per minute and includes a standard 10.2” color touch-screen display. The Connect+3000 is also available with Weigh-on-the-Way technology and additional options to customize the solution, including a high-resolution, 15” color touch-screen display.

The Connect+ Series is available for order immediately. Systems with black printing will ship immediately. Color systems are scheduled to ship during the third quarter of this year. Color printing upgrades, which are easily added to existing systems, can also be ordered immediately.

Pitney Bowes will be introducing its Connect+ Series to additional markets around the world in the coming months. For additional information on the Connect+ Series, please visit: http://www.pb.com/connectplus.

Full story: Postal Updates Blog.

Stamford-based Pitney Bowes Inc., the world's largest maker of postal meters, said U.S. mail volumes have remained "relatively steady" as individuals send fewer letters and packages.

Business and direct-marketing mail has grown, offsetting a 4 percent decline in first-class mail, Chief Executive Officer Murray Martin said at an investor conference in New York Wednesday. Electronic mail, including digital versions of bills and financial statements, hasn't hurt volume, he said.

"The segments we participate in have had steady to growing mail volumes," Martin said. "Electronic solutions are still a very, very low percentage."

Martin said he expects the U.S. mailing business to rebound next year from declines this year as equipment leases come up for renewal.

The company issued the following press release:

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) told an audience of financial analysts and institutional investors today that its diversification strategies have brought significant benefits to both customers and investors. The company also provided fresh perspectives on growth plans for its major lines of business worldwide.

In his remarks, President and CEO Murray Martin noted that the company has changed in several significant ways in recent years, citing especially a geographic expansion that has nearly tripled international revenues since 2000, and an expansion of products and services beyond Pitney Bowes’s core mailing business that has enabled a much richer suite of offerings to customers.

“Our systematic expansion beyond our historic niche of mail evidencing enables us to meet more of the customer’s end-to-end needs,” Martin said. “This keeps the customer connected on topics that matter to them and helps Pitney Bowes build longer-term relationships.”

Martin noted that the addition of several new and rapidly-growing lines of business through acquisition has reduced mail and related hardware to just 54% of total annual revenues, down from 75% just seven years ago. “Our focus of delivering value has evolved from office equipment to mail, from mail to mailstream, and now from mailstream to connections with customers around what matters in the mailstream,” Martin said.

Chief Financial Officer Mike Monahan provided a detailed review of the company’s operating units and their long-term potential for revenue and profitability. Taken together, Monahan said, the company is positioned to deliver a total return to shareholders of 11-13% per year. This estimate assumes an organic revenue growth rate of 3-5%, improved operating profit margins, continued share repurchases, and a dividend yield of approximately 3%, which is close to Pitney Bowes’s long-term historical average.

In addition to the presentations from Martin and Monahan, the company provided demonstrations of many of the new technologies and services it offers. These included location intelligence software that assists marketers in a range of industries make more informed decisions; new systems that add customized marketing messages to bills and statements; and services that help companies take advantage of the rich trove of information provided by the U.S. Postal Service’s Intelligent Mail® barcode.