USPS orders 300,000 scanners

The Postal Service will order more than 300,000 handheld scanners from Motorola.

The 16-oz. Intelligent Mail scanners will be equipped to read signatures and the 30 varieties of codes that USPS employees use to capture information about mail as it moves through the postal distribution network. USPS officials view the new scanning equipment as critical for improving their delivery service through the use of information and information technology.

USPS officials declined to state the value before placing the order, but they said it would be the agency's largest hardware order under a three-year contract that was awarded to Motorola in July. The contract's total estimated value is $300 million over the lifespan of the deal.

Before awarding the contract to Motorola, USPS officials had been using a variety of scanning devices to capture information from bar codes affixed to mail and packages.

"The [new] concept was to create a standardized scanner platform within the Postal Service