"For years, we have worked with the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo to improve the technology we use to recognize handwritten addresses. While the technology we use to electronically read typed or printed addresses has been very successful, we have had only limited success in recognizing handwritten addresses because there is such variation in styles of handwriting. When we first deployed them, Remote Computer Readers could fully resolve about one-third of the printed images they received but less than two percent of the handwritten ones. For handwritten mail, the Readers could partially resolve some of the five-digit ZIP Code mail. Then we conducted a pilot test of an early version of handwritten address interpretation technology. This early version could fully barcode about one of every eight handaddressed images it received. This year, our research has started to pay off as we began deploying the latest software and equipment designed to electronically read, decipher, and automatically barcode many of the billions of pieces of handwritten addressed mail we process each year."