System and method for computing domestic and international postage

A method of calculating a postage value specific to one country of a pluarlity of countries as a function of parcel weight, country of destination and postal class of service comprising the steps of storing commonly structured postage rate data applicable to a plurality of countries including said one country at different predetermined addresses in a memory, said postage rate data in the form of equation boundary conditions and instructions including a start weight, at least one weight increment, a start postage corresponding to the start weight and at least one postage increment corresponding to each weight increment,

• determining in which one of a plurality of groups the country of destination belongs for the entered class of service,
• determining a weight limit and address for retrieving stored postage rate data in accordance with the determined group,
• retrieving said rate data stored at the determined address, and
• calculating a required postage value for the one country from at least one equation of a set of equations in accordance with retrieved rate data including the boundary conditions and said instructions.

A method of calculating a postage value for a specific country of destination included in a plurality of countries as a function of parcel weight, country of destination and postal class of service, comprising the steps of:

• (a) storing commonly structured postage rate chart data applicable to said plurality of countries at different predetermined addresses in a memory, said postage rate data including a start weight and at least one postage increment corresponding to each weight increment,
• (b) assigning country code destinations to each of a plurality of possible destination countries,
• (c) storing addresses of the rate chart data as a function of class of service and country designation,
• (d) accessing the stored addresses and retrieving the rate chart data at the accessed address, said rate chart data being in the form of equation boundary conditions and equation use instructions, and
• (e) calculating a postage value for said specific country from at least one equation of a set equations in accordance with the retrieved rate chart data including said boundary conditions and said equation use instructions