Welcome to the world of electronic postage. On August 9, 1999, the US Postal Service announced public availability of information-based Indicia, or IBI. Targeted at the SOHO (small-office home-office) market, IBI is genuine USPS-certified postage that can be printed on envelopes and meter labels right from your office. Forget about rushing off to the post office to fill your meter, or running out of postage and waiting for your phone order to clear. Everything you need is on your personal computer.

Of course, you still have to pay for the postage. You also have to pay a provider for the privilege of using their electronic postage products. But other than that, all you'll need is an Internet connection, your PC, and a printer.

So how does it work? One option allows you to buy and store your postage online securely in your vendor's web site; this requires a connection to the Internet every time you need to stamp your mail. Alternatively, you can connect your computer to an offline postage storage device, freeing you to print postage offline--you return to the Web only to purchase more postage.

There are two main ways of printing: onto envelopes or onto special labels. If you are printing onto envelopes via your existing printer, however, you'll need to print your postage and address at the same time, which can be limiting. For those who don't relish sending labels through their printer, one product even comes with its own small thermal label printer to print postage.

Each provider structures its pricing a little differently. The four players in the field are E-Stamp, Neopost (PROmail and PCmail), Pitney Bowes (ClickStamp Online), and Stamps.com. And don't forget consumables, which you should always figure into your ongoing costs. They include labels, envelopes (which you would use anyway, although some providers offer specially-designed envelopes as an option), and the ink or toner used to print the postage.

So will electronic postage save you money? For some small offices, absolutely. If you spend about $50 per month in postage, your monthly fee can be as low as $4 or $5 per month, not including consumables. At higher volumes, you'll probably want to factor a traditional postage mailing system into your options.

But don't just focus on the bottom line when you try to figure out which one is best for you. Spend some time thinking about what type of mail you send and how it gets processed, too. The new electronic offerings seem better suited for a small office where the vast majority of the mail requires a first-class mail stamp, with one person handling the outgoing mail. Larger offices will probably prefer the convenience of traditional equipment with their higher end features. Either way you go, your tongue will thank you.

Quick tips

Watch limits. In some cases, you will need to make sure you don't purchase more postage than you've agreed to, or you're likely to find yourself paying a penalty. Cancel this. Find out about cancellation policies. If you sign up for a specific term and cancel, you may be liable for full costs for the year. Quick Fixes: Printing your postage incorrectly can happen frequently. Make sure you ask your vendor about how easy it is to be reimbursed for mishaps.