STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2000--Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI)

-- One million plus Pitney Bowes customers can now download

postage online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with the new

Postage By Phone(R).com System

-- Of the $11 billion dollars of U.S. postal funds that the

Postage By Phone(R)System will process in the next year, over

$1 billion is expected to be handled online

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), today announced that it has web-enabled its huge Postage By Phone(R) System that services one million plus customers and processes over $11 billion dollars of U.S. postage annually. The new service -- called Postage By Phone(R).com --will enable Pitney Bowes customers to reset their meters online, maintaining the highest level of system security while adding greater convenience, process automation, account tracking and management features to the already efficient system. With the recent launch of ClickStamp(TM) Online (an Internet postage product for the small office/home office market), Pitney Bowes is now the only provider of online postage refills for the entire mailing market -- from customers processing 5 letters to those mailing 50,000 pieces a day.

Pitney Bowes was the first to embrace the idea of transferring postage electronically when it introduced the Postage By Phone(R) Resetting System over 20 years ago. Essentially one of the world's first and largest electronic funds transfer and management systems, "remote" meter resetting eliminated the need for mailers to carry their meters to a post office for refilling: a simple service concept that last year alone saved businesses an estimated 800,000 hours of unproductive activity. And perhaps just as important, Pitney Bowes manages this huge and complex system with the highest security and integrity -- accounting for every single penny.

Pitney Bowes projects that a significant portion of its customers have Internet access in their mail processing area, and these accounts are likely to be interested in using the online version of the Postage By Phone(R) System. It is further estimated that in excess of one billion dollars in meter resetting transactions will be downloaded through the Postage By Phone.com URL (www.postagebyphone.com) over the next twelve months, making it one of the busier transactional Web sites on the Internet.

"The Internet can help make even the best designed services more powerful, and as a result, our customers can be more efficient," stated Russell Wilson, Vice President of Customer Relationship Management for Pitney Bowes Mailing Systems. "The Postage By Phone(R).com Service gives our customers an easy and quick way to reset their meters along with some other great benefits. For example, the online system is also a great management tool since account balances can be viewed and printed anytime from an Internet-connected computer. Postage By Phone(R).com is the best of both worlds: cutting-edge technology within a proven application."

The Postage By Phone(R).com System is easy to use and it provides users with payment options for the postage they need. Customers can make withdrawals from their pre-paid account or they can apply for an extended line of credit (Pitney Bowes Purchase Power(R)) on the Web site -- eliminating the need to pre-pay for postage. In fact, the company has a full suite of financial services available for purchasing postage. The Pitney Bowes Reserve Account, for example, enables mailers to earn interest on their postage funds.

The Postage By Phone(R) and Postage By Phone(R).com Systems become even more important in light of the pending United States Postal Service (USPS) requirement that all metered mail users transition to postage meters capable of being reset by computer. Meter manufacturers have already stopped making any new placements of "manual reset" meters (also called "counter reset" meters), and current users of these systems are likely to be required to convert to the newer technology in the not too distant future.

"We understand that staying ahead of the curve isn't always easy in this market," stated Tim Bates, Vice President, Marketing, Pitney Bowes Mailing Systems. "With regulatory guidelines changing, postal rate increases looming and technology accelerating at a break-neck pace, customers need a trusted partner with the experience, knowledge and know-how to bring it all together. With Postage By Phone(R).com for online resets, our financial services for postage procurement and our full suite of digital and electronic mailing systems for maximum efficiency, Pitney Bowes delivers the solutions that customers need today!"

Customer support for the Postage By Phone(R).com System is available via the service's Web site (www.postagebyphone.com). On screen instructions for meter resetting can be referenced while using the online system, making it a simple process for first time users as well as veterans.

Pitney Bowes is a $4.4 billion global provider and worldwide leader of integrated mail and messaging management solutions that meet the increasingly complex needs of its customers in businesses of all sizes. For more information about the company, visit www.pitneybowes.com.

CONTACT: Pitney Bowes Inc.

             Jim Berkovich, 203-351-7514
             berkovji@pitneybowes.com
                    or
             Ogilvy Public Relations, New York
             Lois Russo, 212-880-5280
             lois.russo@ogilvypr.com