Systems and methods for distributed activation of postage

A method comprising:

• obtaining one or more pieces of fungible stock, wherein each piece of fungible stock of said one or more pieces of fungible stock includes a pre-produced indicium thereon, wherein said pre-produced indicium for each of said one or more pieces of fungible stock includes substantially unique identifying information that identifies a piece of fungible stock corresponding to said pre-produced indicium and an entity that requested generation of said fungible stock piece;
• selecting a piece of said fungible stock of said one or more pieces of fungible stock for use with an item;
• scanning, by a scanner device, a pre-produced indicium of said selected piece of fungible stock to obtain substantially unique identifying information included in said pre-produced indicium, wherein said substantially unique identifying information in said pre-produced indicium indicates that the pre-produced indicium is in an unactivated state, and wherein said unactivated pre-produced indicium includes said substantially unique identifying information identifying said entity that requested said generation of said fungible stock piece;
• transmitting, by a processor-based system communicatively coupled to said scanner device, a request to activate said pre-produced indicium of said selected piece of fungible stock as a value bearing indicium to an activation system, wherein said request comprises at least a portion of said substantially unique identifying information of said pre-produced indicium of said selected piece of fungible stock and information indicating an activation value corresponding to an amount to be charged, by said activation system, to an account of an entity identified by said at least a portion of said substantially unique identifying information for said activation of said pre-produced indicium of said selected piece of fungible stock as said value bearing indicium, wherein said request to activate causes said activation system to:
• charge said amount to said account of said entity;
• and
• modify a record corresponding to said unactivated pre-produced indicium, in a database, wherein said modifying is configured to change status information corresponding to said pre-produced indicium from said unactivated state to an activated state, said modifying including changing a data field associated with said record from said unactivated state to said activated state;
• printing, by said processor-based system, a mark on said selected piece of fungible stock, wherein said mark indicates a range of values within which said amount charged for activation of said pre-produced indicium of said selected piece of fungible stock as said value bearing indicium;
• and
• using said selected piece of fungible stock in a transaction requiring a value bearing indicium, wherein, during said transaction, said mark provides an indication of said activation said pre-produced indicium of said selected piece of fungible stock as said value bearing indicium.

A system comprising:

• a plurality of fungible stock pieces, wherein each fungible stock piece of said plurality of fungible stock pieces has a pre-produced indicium associated therewith, and wherein each pre-produced indicium includes information that identifies an entity that requested generation of said pre-produced indicium;
• a first scanner system comprising a scanner, a scale, and a stock piece marking apparatus, wherein said first scanner system is configured to:
• scan, via said scanner, a pre-produced indicium associated with a selected fungible stock piece of said plurality of fungible stock pieces;
• weigh, via said scale, an item which will bear said pre-produced indicium of said selected fungible stock piece;
• and
• mark, via said stock piece marking apparatus, said selected fungible stock piece to visibly indicate activation of said pre-produced indicium of said selected fungible stock piece, wherein said mark is configured to indicate a validity status of said pre-produced indicium of said selected fungible stock piece, wherein said validity status indicates whether said pre-produced indicium of said selected fungible stock piece has been activated as a value bearing indicium;
• and
• an activation system configured to:
• store said information that identifies said entity and validity status information for each fungible stock piece of said plurality of fungible stock pieces as records in a database, wherein, for a particular fungible stock piece of said plurality of fungible stock pieces, said validity status information indicates whether a particular pre-produced indicium corresponding to said particular fungible stock piece is in an unactivated state or an activated state, wherein said validity status information for said particular pre-produced indicium indicates said unactivated state when said particular pre-produced indicium is generated, and wherein said unactivated pre-produced indicium includes substantially unique identifying information identifying said entity that requested said generation of said fungible stock piece;
• activate, responsive to a request, said pre-produced indicium of said selected fungible stock piece as said value bearing indicium using at least a portion of information obtained from said pre-produced indicium by said first scanner system, wherein, upon successful activation of said pre-produced indicium of said selected fungible stock piece, said pre-produced indicium is said value bearing indicium and a record corresponding to said pre-produced indicium of said selected fungible stock piece is modified to change said validity status information from said unactivated state to said activated state, wherein changing said validity status information includes changing a data field associated with said record from said unactivated state to said activated state;
• and
• a validation system communicatively coupled to said activation system and configured to:
• determine whether a mail item placed in a mail stream comprises a pre-produced indicium that has not been activated, wherein said pre-produced indicium corresponds to a fungible stock piece of said plurality of fungible stock pieces;
• in response to determining that said mail stream includes a mail item having a pre-produced indicium that has not been activated:
• determine an entity identified by substantially unique identifying information included in said pre-produced indicium that has not been activated;
• and
• in cooperation with said activation system, modify a record corresponding to said unactivated pre-produced indicium to change validity status information corresponding to said unactivated pre-produced indicium from said unactivated state to said activated state, and charge an account for activation of said unactivated pre-produced indicium, wherein said account is identified based on said information included in said unactivated pre-produced indicium that identifies said entity, and wherein changing said validity status information includes changing said data field associated with said record from said unactivated state to said activated state.