Patent ID: 8255334

Claim:
A method for providing mailpieces with postage indicia, comprising providing a customer system which interacts with a customer to regulate a loading and a storing of account amounts of the customer; generating and storing by a security module of the customer system a random number; combining and encrypting by the security module the random number and an identification number of the security module transmitting by the security module the encrypted random number and identification number of the security module to a value transfer center; decrypting by the value transfer center the encrypted random number and the identification number of the security module; assigning by the value transfer center the identification number of the security module to the customer in a postage application database; forming by the value transfer center a loading procedure identification number that contains the identification number of the security module and an actual account amount of the customer; encrypting by the value transfer center the decrypted random number together with the loading procedure identification number transmitting by the value transfer center the encrypted random number and the encrypted loading procedure identification number to the customer system; forming by the security module, a hash value of a portion of the mailing data, the random number and the loading procedure identification number; creating by the customer system a postage indicium using the portion of the mailing data, the encrypted random number, encrypted loading procedure identification number and the hash value; and printing by the customer system postage indicium which is applied to the mailpieces.