Ray Van Eng (12/27/96)                           

In addition to the desire to lick our e-mail, the U.S. Postal Services (USPS) is getting ready to offer WebForms, a sophisticated Internet application that would enable a mailroom clerk to quickly and easily fill in and submit bulk mail acceptance forms to the USPS for processing online.

This cross-platform application written with the Sun Microsystems' Java language can be downloaded over the Internet and be instantly usable on any computer regardless of what operating system e.g. IBM-PC, Mac, Unix etc., the machine is running on.

This marks one of the very first time that a U.S. government agency is relying on the hot new highly touted computer tool to develop a nation-wide mission critical application that can be used by the general public in doing business with the government through the widely popular computer network. .

What is more, WebForms is smart. It has built-in intelligence that could make simple math calculations, prompt the user for errors or missing information, and be able to skip to the right section based on the details provided by the user such as mailing weight, rates etc.

It is a win-win for both the USPS and the public. The post office could automate the tedious and error prone bulk mail submission process and allow shippers from around the country to conduct part of the business transaction online.

Yes, the post office still has to make schedule pick-ups of the real thing (i.e. bulk mails) themselves, but knowing the demands before-hand would allow them to make better logistic planning.

Communication and knowledge, there lies the power of the Internet.

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