An Post, Ireland’s national postal service, has launched a digital stamp starting at €2 (about $2.70 Cdn.) through its smartphone app.
Customers who buy the digital stamps, unveiled on Oct. 12, will receive a unique 12-digit code to write on their envelope in the place of a traditional stamp.
Des Morley, the state-owned company’s chief digital and technology officer, called it “a major step forward in the digital transformation of our mails and parcels business. … Once the digital stamp code is created, our letter-sorting technology recognizes it as a real live stamp as it’s processed for delivery before the postperson scans it to send confirmation of delivery as it drops through the receiver’s letterbox.”
The digital stamps cost about 75 cents more than the company’s traditional postage owing to the “value added of getting a delivery notification,” Morley added.
A digital stamp for larger envelopes is also available for €3.80 (about $5.15). The technology is currently available for envelopes sent and delivered within Ireland, but postal officials hope the program will expand to include parcels and international mail.