All You Need to Know about Pitney Bowes
Today, Pitney Bowes is an S&P 500 company with worldwide operations. The Stamford, Connecticut-based Pitney Bowes Inc. is a manufacturer of hardware and software products. It provides services in the fields of documents, mailing, packaging, and shipping. However, the more than a century old history of the company is interesting as well as inspirational.
History & Timeline of Pitney Bowes
In the year 1901, an inventor by name Arthur H. Pitney officially patented “postage stamp device,” an invention by him that promised higher efficiency in offices. He started the Pitney Postal Machine Company. On April 28, 1904, the United States Congress authorized the use of permit Mail. Subsequently, in 1908, Walter H. Bowes invented a stamp canceling machine and started supplying the machines to the Post Office, after incorporating his company, Universal Stamping Machine Company.
The United States House of Representatives permitted the practice of mechanical stamps on all First Class Mail on March 15, 1920. Subsequently, the two companies founded by Pitney and Bowes merged together as the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company. Their postage meter was approved by the US Post Office on August 25, 1920. In 1950, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company slowly expanded its operations to barcode equipment, copier machines, facsimile machines, barcode printers, weighing & metering systems, secure digital postage meters, and the D3 platform (Digital Document Deliver) for message management. The company owns more than 3,500 patents in ticketing, laser printing, cellular phone payment, encryption, shipping, mail production & processing, etc.
Products & Services of Pitney Bowes
At present, Pitney Bowes concentrates in four core areas of operations. They are Customer Engagement Solutions, Business Insight Solutions, Workflow Management Solutions, and Mail Solutions. In 2007, the revenue of the company was $6.1 billion and the assets of the company totaled to $9.4 billion. The products and services offered by the company are as follows:
Software Products
• Address List Management & Passport Discounts
• Document Stream Management
• Exam Booklet Tracking
• Mail & Package Tracking
• Postage & Carrier Expense Accounting
• Print Finishing & Production Management
• Property & Evidence Tracking
• Scanning Software
• Visitor Tracking
Services
• International Shipping Services
• Multi-Vendor Services
• Optimization Services
• Outsourcing Services
• International & Presort Mail Services
• Print Management
• Technology & Software Development
Equipment
• Postage Meters & Mailing Systems• Folders
• High-Speed Envelope & Document Printers
• Inserters – Low/Mid/High Volume
• Mail Openers
• Postage Printer
• Postal Kiosks
• Scales
• Shredders
• Sorters
Supplies & Parts
• Envelopes & Paper
• Ink & Toner
• Office Products
• Parts – High Volume Inserters & Sorters
• Postage Meter Supplies
• Sealing Solutions
• Shipping & Receiving
Other Capabilities
• Channel Marketing Strategies
• Customer Relationship Management
• Customer Relations & Trade Incentive Programs
• Customer Communications Management
• Enterprise Output Management & ADF Solutions
• Exclusive Marketing Channels
• Location Intelligence
Related Services
• Education & Training
• Installation & Relocation
• Postage Payment Options
• Service Agreements & Product Protection
Industry Solutions
• Government – Federal, State, & Local
• Higher Education
• Legal Solutions
Pitney Bowes is the recipient of a number of awards over the years. The company operates in 38 countries in the Americas, 9 countries in Africa, 17 countries in the Asia Pacific, 36 countries in Europe, and 10 countries in the Middle East. The total employees in this global company exceed 36,000. For more than a century, Pitney Bowes had lived up to its motto, "Engineering the flow of communication."
