Picture this – you can now place your company logo on a U.S. postal stamp. How’s that for added branding? Personalized postage, here we come. Question is – how will we be able to do that? 

The U.S. Postal Service recently expanded its customized postage program, which allows patrons to personalize stamps with pictures or images using Customized PC Postage® technology. USPS inked contracts with three vendors to produce customized postage to be used on First-Class Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail for personal and commercial use. Endicia, Zazzle and Stamps.com will add the commercial application to their existing agreements for the production of postage. 

This isn’t the first time customized postage is making a special appearance. This special personalized stamp is currently in its third test phase. The first two phases of the test, which began in 2004, allowed the Postal Service and qualified vendors to determine the viability of the product and to gauge the interest of consumers in creating their own personalized postage. So far, it’s been a success – customers are responding, the USPS notes. 

Customized postage has two parts: a customer-supplied image and a state-of-the-art secure bar code. All customized postage is compatible with the Postal Service’s automated mail processing systems.