1982 United States Postal S Brochure: E-COM, Electronic Computer Originated Mail

E-COM was first introduced in 1982, and in 1984 handled 23 million messages, but folded in 1985, as each message was costing them $5.25, while the charge was just 26 cents.

E-COM, Electronic Computer Originated Mail, began on January 4, 1982, and ended on September 3,
1985. The service was intended to allow business mailers across the United States to take advantage of
electronics to ensure delivery of hard-copy mail to any address within the contiguous 48 states within two
days. E-COM service originally allowed mailers to transmit messages of up to two pages from their own
computers, via telecommunication lines, to one or more of 25 serving Post Offices located around the
country. The serving Post Offices were located in the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago,
Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New
Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Richmond, St. Louis, San Antonio, San
Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.
After arriving at the serving Post Office, the messages were processed and sorted by ZIP Code, then
printed on letter-size bond paper, folded, and sealed in envelopes printed with a blue E-COM logo.
Mailers were required to send a minimum of 200 messages per transmission.