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Abstract

A system for accounting for postage on large batches of mail without franking of each mail piece. The system includes an intelligent inserter system or automatic weighing system for generating postage determining information for mail pieces in a large batch of mail and a printer or scanner for serializing the batch by either imprinting each piece with a serial number or scanning for pre-printed serial numbers. The postage determining information and serial numbers are transmitted to a manifest system which generates a manifest (i.e., a matched list of serial numbers and postage) and computes the total postage due on the batch. In one disclosed embodiment, the manifest system then selects a random sample of the manifest, encrypts the serial numbers and transmits this encrypted sample to a data processing center. The data processing center decrypts the sample and transmits it to the post office handling the batch of mail so that the computed total postage may be verified with a particular confidence level and concurrently transmits instructions to a trustee bank to pay the postage due to the postal service out of a pre-established account. The random selection and encryption schemes are kept secure to avoid the possibility that a mailer may tamper with the selected sample. In another embodiment, the encrypted random sample is output on a printer, and the printed output is then metered in a conventional postage meter in payment of the total postage due. In another embodiment, an unencrypted random sample is output on a printer in response to an access code entered by a postal service employee and this unencrypted sample is then metered with a conventional postage meter in payment of the total postage due.

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