A franking machine having a throat for receiving items to be franked, a platform where an item not fitting into said throat is placed, a weighing scale integrated at a bottom of the franking machine in order to minimise the footprint, at least a control unit for operating the franking machine, separated power supply and data transmission modules, wherein the franking machine and the weighing scale are configured to be operated through the control unit of the franking machine, and the weighing scale is configured to be decoupled from the franking machine to allow the weighing of large items such as parcels.

A computerized method for intelligently distributing computer processing of mail piece scan images across a plurality of mail piece scan image processors. The method can include receiving a mail piece scan image from a mail piece scan image job requestor and selecting one of a plurality of scan mail piece scan image processors to process said mail piece scan image. The mail piece scan image can be transmitted to said one of a plurality of plurality of mail piece scan image processors and a mail piece scan image processing result can be received from said one of a plurality of plurality of mail piece scan image processors. Post-processing operations can be performed based on said mail piece scan image processing result. The mail piece scan image processing result can be transmitted to said mail piece scan image processing requestor.

A package shipping processing system has a kiosk housing, with a computer terminal with a display device, an input device, a data processor, and network data communications module included therein. A weighing scale with a platform on which objects for shipment are placed, and in communication with the computer terminal, reports a measured weight of the object. An imaging device is disposed in proximity to the weighing scale and positioned to have a field of view extending beyond the platform of the weighing scale. The imaging device is in communication with the computer terminal to transmit captured image data of the object placed on the platform. The data processor generates dimensional parameters along a plurality of axes based on the image data, and a new shipping record with the dimensional parameters and the measured weight of the object.

An image, which can be analyzed by a computer and shows at least one face of an item, is generated for an item that is to be transported at a predefined time. By automatic analysis of the image, the arrangement determines, for at least one of a plurality of predetermined optically detectable features, the value of the feature for the image of the item. The identification feature value vector generated is automatically compared with stored registration feature value vectors. A record for a particular item contains six registration feature value vectors and each of the six registration feature value vectors specifies a value for each predefined optically detectable feature for each one of six faces of the item. When the identification feature value vector matches a stored registration feature value vector with sufficient accuracy, a message is generated.

A mail item sortation system and method that includes an external controller for culling candidate letters in a mailing job to produce groupings of letters based on industry average weights and/or thicknesses in order to place all the candidate letters going to a single address adjacent to each other, an internal controller, interfaced with the external controller, that utilizes the groupings of letters to manage multiple letter sorters, wherein a specific letter sorter is selected to pair a calculated number of pockets to accommodate the groupings with an actual number of pockets in the selected letter sorter, and a transfer process for moving letters within the letter sorter pockets to a StatementPack machine.

Aspects of the technology described herein provide an activatable postage. The activatable postage is printed on a media, such as an envelope or sticker. Initially, the activatable postage has no postage value and may not have any value until activated. Each instance of activatable postage can include a unique identifier encoded in a machine-readable format. Postage value is added to the activatable postage through an activation process. To activate an individual instance of activatable postage, the unique identifier encoded in the activatable postage needs to be provided to the activation application. At the end of the activation process, a central database is updated to associate the unique identifier with a postal value calculated during activation. When the Postal Service receives an item with activatable postage it validates the activatable postage and then deactivates the activatable postage by updating the central database.