Personalized stamps are pushing the envelope

Proud new parents can have pictures of their newborns printed on stamps for birth announcements. Dog lovers can have pictures of their pooches stamped on their letters.

The Internet distributor of software used to print stamps from home, Stamps.com, recently launched a Web site: Photostamp.com, to which consumers can mail or e-mail pictures to be printed on certified stamps, for about twice the cost of a regular stamp. The added cost goes to the printing and shipping of orders, which are available in denominations between 23 cents and $3.85.

Stamps.com is a privately-held company but regulated by the U.S. Postal Service.

Employment

Labor bureau expects ‘low’ demand for IT jobs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is pessimistic about information technology jobs.

The latest version of its Occupational Outlook Handbook, which estimates how many jobs will open due to industry growth and retirements each year between 2002 and 2012, ranks the replacement needs for each job title in IT as “low” or “very low.”

The handbook says 45,000 computer and information systems managers will be needed each year during the period.

Motley Fool

Name that company

I’m a privately held company based in Wisconsin, founded in 1876 by a retired minister. He created a hosiery company to offer a better alternative for lumberjacks whose crude wool socks were giving them blisters and infections. I introduced an innovative kind of underwear in 1934 — the “brief” — that remains highly popular today. My briefs were given my name, a word that evoked athletic supporters and conveyed the brief’s “masculine support” capability. In 1982, I introduced my first complete line of women’s intimate apparel. It became my most successful venture since the brief. Who am I?