10/06/97 COMING SOON: POST OFFICES IN CYBERSPACE

COMING SOON: POST OFFICES IN CYBERSPACE

POSTAGE STAMPS ARE ABOUT ready to zoom onto the Internet. E-Stamp Corp. in Palo Alto, Calif., aims to let businesses buy electronic postage from its Web site with a credit card, then print it out on the spot. The E-Stamp SoHo product (that's short for ''small-office/home office,'' its initial target market) consists of a small printer adapter, called a Postal Security Device, that stores the electronic stamps, along with software to print them. The system is expected to cost less than $300.
The resulting stamp, in the form of a new type of bar code, contains its value, the destination and return addresses, a transaction identification number, and other information to speed delivery and stem fraud. E-Stamp also plans to make money from stamp subscriptions and refill fees--and eventually give postage-meter maker Pitney Bowes Inc. a run for its money.
On Sept. 22, the three-year-old E-Stamp announced some big-name backing: AT&T and Microsoft Corp. are each buying a 10% stake and taking seats on E-Stamp's board. Once the U.S. Postal Service gives its O.K., the products will be tried out in San Francisco and Washington, perhaps as early as December, and rolled out elsewhere next year.
Robert D. Hof
EDITED BY PETER ELSTROM