TRUMBULL, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 2000--Illustrating how it supports customers' mission critical business processes, Pitney Bowes Office Systems, a division of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), is displaying a new mail creation solution at the XPLOR Convention in Miami, FL (10/31-11/2). The flexible customized configuration brings together several of the best Pitney Bowes solutions in one complete package. Now, mid-volume mailers can cost effectively print, collate components and pre-sort mailing to reduce labor in the mailing process and maximize postal discounts.

"Although Pitney Bowes Office Systems is a recognized market leader in the fax and copier industry, this new solution is a perfect example of how we often use `out-of-the-box' thinking for our customers," stated Nathaniel Gifford, vice president, marketing, Pitney Bowes Office Systems. "Our unique ability to capitalize on our 80 years of mail experience in customers' messaging and document management processes distinguishes us in the marketplace and is highly valued by today's more sophisticated market."

Companies whose standard mail runs are in the 20,000 and 100,000 piece per month range have often found it difficult and expensive to manage their mail to qualify for postal discounts. To sort the mail to obtain the lowered postal rates, companies must integrate approved postal presort software into existing database systems and be able to print the variable data consisting of names, addresses and bar codes on each mail piece.

Bringing the mailing jobs in-house instead of outsourcing them to a direct mail or presort house can mean improved efficiency for companies by shortening lead time, controlling scheduling, and eliminating confidentiality issues that may exist with a third party vendor. In addition, many companies could realize the significant cost reductions by moving volume from their traditional desktop printers to digital copiers that can print at twice the speed for a fraction of the cost. Pitney Bowes does all this with an integrated suite of PB products.

At the heart of the solution is Pitney Bowes' Harmonizer Software. Working with existing legacy system print stream data, Harmonizer uses Pitney Bowes Softmailer(TM) Addressing Software to add presort and bar code capabilities for postal rate discounts. With the 6 cents per piece discount that the United States Post Office offers for mail that is correctly sorted and bar coded, a company automatically saves $300 on every 5,000 piece mailing. In addition, Harmonizer also helps eliminate nuisance stops by separately printing any pieces with too many pages to be processed automatically.

Using Pitney Bowes' DL Series Digital Copier/Printer with a Connex interface allows most operating systems to network copier installations to support the organizational print needs. This translates into immediate cost-per-page savings when page volumes are moved off desktop laser printers. Costs are further driven down when documents are printed on two sides. This lowers the page count and weight of the mailing pieces, further lowering postage and paper supply costs.

Utilizing Pitney Bowes' 5 Series(TM) inserter to produce the finished mailing piece provides additional labor savings for the customer. The series 5's OMR can automatically process mail runs with a variable number of pages in each envelope. Without OMR, runs like this must often be manually separated into jobs with common fixed page counts and then run one after another on the inserter.

Supporting this solution, is 80 years of Pitney Bowes' mail, messaging and document management expertise. Uniquely, Pitney Bowes can install, finance and maintain a turnkey solution that includes postal software, digital copier/printers, computers, and inserters. Pitney Bowes eliminates concerns about software conflicts or the necessity of coordinating multiple vendors. Live demonstrations will be given daily during XPLOR at the Pitney Bowes booth. For more information, or for a pass to visit the Pitney Bowes booth, please call 800/290-7860.

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes Office Systems offers high performance, leading-edge analog and digital copier/printers and facsimile systems for the corporate market through a nationwide direct sales/service organization. All products are supported by the company's Customer Satisfaction Guarantee. In 2000, the Pitney Bowes model DL520 received the "Digital Imaging System of the Year" award by Buyers Laboratory, Inc., the nation's leading independent office products testing center. Pitney Bowes Inc. is a $4.4 billion premier provider of informed mail and messaging management. For more information about the company, please visit its web site at www.pitneybowes.com.

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