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History
Founded in 1920 by the remarkable Arthur Pitney and Walter Bowes, Pitney Bowes opened for business with a seemingly simple, yet significant invention: the world’s first U.S. Postal Department–approved postage meter.
A tradition of innovation enabled the company to continually optimize its offerings to make mailing faster, easier, more cost-effective, and safer, providing both small- and large-sized business customers all over the world with highly advanced mailing systems that offer postal discounts as well as the ability to track and trace, all without a trip to the post office.
The company entered the new millennium as a leading mail and document solutions provider, making history with attention to the customer, excellence in product and service design and development, and quick recognition of and response to changing market needs.
Key developments in the Pitney Bowes success story include:
• April 23, 1920 — The Universal Stamping Machine Company and American Postage Company merged to form the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company.
• 1922–23 — The government collected $4,339,070 in postage from the first commercial installations of 400 meters, and Pitney Bowes products began to be sold outside the United States.
• 1940s — Company income topped $4 million with the new “R” line meters capable of printing variable amounts of postage, and employees numbered 1,243. Pitney Bowes received four Army-Navy “E” awards for war production excellence for 28 different products.
• 1950s and 1960s — The demand for meters grew rapidly, particularly the “DM” desk model C. New products included folders, Tickometers, and an electric mail opener.
• 1970s and 1980s — Pitney Bowes had nearly 800,000 postage meters producing more than $1 billion in revenue and introduced electronic POSTAGE BY PHONE® technology as well as full lines of facsimile, copier/printers, and other computerized document and mail inserters, folders, and related products. The U.S. Postal Service collected $8 billion through postage meter resettings, representing 49 percent of their total postage revenue. Pitney Bowes Management Services was created to provide mailroom management and other outsourcing services.
• 1990s — Pitney Bowes introduced solutions that manage the secure production, routing, multi-channel delivery, and tracking of documents and Intellilink™ technology, the next generation of advanced mailing systems that capture important customer data. Pitney Bowes celebrated its millionth customer of POSTAGE BY PHONE® technology.
• 2001 — During the anthrax threats that followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, Pitney Bowes shared its expertise through a mail security campaign to address the immediate needs of customers and the public. The company divested its copier and fax business to focus on its core strengths in mailing and document management.
• 2002 — Pitney Bowes launched Intellilink™ technology globally.
• 2004 — Pitney Bowes acquired Group 1 Software Inc., an industry leader in software that enhances mailing efficiency, data quality, and customer communications. According to Michael J. Critelli, chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes, “Group 1 has a broad range of address management, document generation, and delivery and marketing campaign management software applications that complement our existing mailing software business and products and will expand our mail stream participation by adding 3,000 high- and mid-volume mailing customers worldwide.”
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