| Type | Public (NYSE: STMP) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Key people | Jim McDermott, Founder Jeff Green, Founder Ari Engelberg, Founder Ken McBride, CEO |
| Industry | Business Services |
| Products | Metering Systems, Custom Postage Stamps |
| Employees | 190[1] |
| Website | www.stamps.com |
Stamps.com is a Los Angeles, California-based company that provides Internet-based mailing and shipping services. Stamps.com is a public company and trades on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol STMP.
Contents |
History
In April 13, 1998, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the E-Stamp Corporation unveiled for beta testing the E-Stamp Internet postage system, aimed at providing digitally encoded postage franks or stamps via the Internet. At the launch in 1998, the Postmaster General at that time, Marvin T. Runyon, described his vision of postage being "available, on call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."
E-Stamp was the first company to get USPS approval for beta testing and successfully brought internet postage to market, but the company did not survive the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000. In 2001 its domain and patents were bought by a fellow early entrant in the digital postage market, Stamps.com.
In the fall of 2003, Microsoft released a beta version of its office productivity suite of programs, which includes an electronic postage capacity through Stamps.com.
In August 2004, Stamps.com introduced PhotoStamps. This service allows computer users to upload their own photos or graphics, which Stamps.com then prints on custom postage stamps(personalised stamps). This had been preceded by Stamps.com having various pictures on its E-stamps, including U.S. presidents Jefferson, Kennedy, Lincoln, TR and Washington, people playing various sports, and world landmarks.
There was considerable negative publicity immediately after the inception of PhotoStamps, when investigative website The Smoking Gun publicized various stamp designs they had successfully ordered featuring images of Jimmy Hoffa, spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, and the DNA-stained blue dress of Monica Lewinsky. [2] Stamps.com's current policy prohibits images of world leaders or "any material that is vintage in appearance or depicts images from an older era."[3]
Scam complaints
Potential customers should be aware that, while one can sign up online, the only way to cancel an account is to call the company and talk with a salesperson. After a four-week trial free trial, the company starts charging customers about $20 a month for having an account, even if no services are used. Many customers report having had no intention of having their cards charged at all; there are more than 1200 complaints against stamps.com at the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau alone [4].
Competitors
Stamps.com's main competitors are Pitney Bowes and Endicia Internet Postage.
References
- ^ http://investor.stamps.com/faq.cfm
- ^ "Stamps Of Approval: Rosenbergs, Milosevic, Lewinsky dress now on official U.S. postage". SmokingGun.com. August 31, 2004. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0831041_photostamps_1.html. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ http://photo.stamps.com/Store/conditions/
- ^ http://www.la.bbb.org/Business-Report/Stampscom-13131095
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
