Businesses across the country now have one more way to literally send a message about their company and products with the expansion of the U.S. Postal Service’s popular customized postage program.

Customized postage allows a customer to personalize postage with pictures or images using Customized PC Postage® technology. The Postal Service has contracted with three qualified PC Postage® vendors to produce customized postage to be used on first-class mail, priority mail and express mail for personal and commercial use.

Endicia, Stamps.com and Zazzle have added the commercial application to their existing agreements for the production of postage for personal use, said Nick Barranca, USPS vice president, product development.

“Expanding the way customized postage can be used is a bonus for businesses who want to create awareness for their products or services, build their brand and develop strong customer relationships,” Barranca said.

This is the third phase of the market test for customized postage. It will run through May 16, 2007, with an option for the Postal Service to extend the test for a second year. The third phase removes the restrictions around commercial images that were in place for the second market 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.

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