Arizona Army National Guard

An Army of One, Postage for Many

The Arizona Army National Guard has reposed special trust and confidence in the service, software, and support of Endicia Internet Postage.

At the time Arizona formed its first guard unit in September 1865, the Pony Express had come and gone nearly four years earlier. America had just the year before seen the surrender of General Robert Lee to the Union Army and the country was still mourning the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. In response to the Indian Wars, many of Arizona’s native sons joined the First Arizona Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Following the Indian Wars, Arizona’s Guard unit answered the trumpet call to battle of Colonel – later President - Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War.

Arizona's volunteer citizen soldiers have since seen combat in all of America's battles and even earned special honors in World War II under another President Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. General Douglas MacArthur hailed Arizona's 158th Regimental Combat Team as one of the greatest fighting teams ever to enter battle. In the 130 plus years since the Arizona Guard was formed, their mission has always been to protect the state and nation in times of crisis.

Background. When the Guard needs to ship a tank, they call Military Transportation and order up a truck or a train or a ship. When they need to ship a small package or envelope, they use the postal service. What they need from the postal service is only the same things you need from the postal service: they need shipping labels to mail out care packages and re-enlistment documents; they need stamps to mail checks and pay bills; and occasionally, they need special services like Certified Mail or Return Receipt.

Office manager, Don Milligan, and the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC), Sergeant Major Sieczkowski, started looking for a better postage system; with just a small list of requirements and one hope. They needed a system that gave them better control and greater accountability for nearly 20 armories around the state. They needed a system that was easy to install and even easier to maintain and run.

They needed a system that let them refill postage to each of the armories postage meters quicker and easier and would allow them to do so with a unit credit card. Lastly, they hoped they could get all of these “upgrades” at about the same cost as what they were paying now. When Mr. Milligan went online and searched on Google for "Postage Systems," he found a short list of providers. He started calling the companies on the list and found one that met his requirements.

Endicia's Role Endicia was easy to setup and use, and with Enterprise Account Management, the Arizona Guard has all of the control and accountability that they need from a single location. Now, all 20 armory locations around the state can be managed and refilled over the internet in a matter of minutes rather than days.

Endicia's service gave the armories the ability to print all the mail classes the Postal Service offers and add fees for Certified Mail or Return Receipt. Mr. Milligan can go online and run a report for a single armory or for the whole unit. From his office, he can monitor and account for every single penny his unit prints in postage. He can control when an armory gets funds and how much.

And best of all, Endicia’s system gave the Arizona Guard all the control and accountability features at a much lower cost than the meter machines they were using before. Said Mr. Milligan:

"Overall, working with Endicia / Dazzle has been a WIN-WIN for the Arizona Army National Guard. Everything stacks up on the positive with no negatives. No more postage hardware leases; no more time wasted having a check cut to be over-nighted to be deposited into an account; no more charges to have meters updated to current postage rates. What [used to take] a week or more happens right now. The printers and scales that were purchased have paid themselves off after the first year of not having any equipment leases."

It's difficult for Mr. Milligan and SGM Seiczkowski to calculate how much time they save with the new system because they weren't tracking the time it took before, but they had no trouble saying that their budget savings are about $6,500 annually.

Endicia's award winning software and service comes with a full staff of highly qualified support technicians. Mr. Milligan is able to download and install software updates and any time he has questions or issues, he can get assistance via phone or email quickly. Said Mr. Milligan about the support he receives from Endicia:

"Let's add another WIN for Customer service, we get software updates very often and if myself or one of our Soldiers needs help, [Endicia's] customer service knows the software inside out. We are pleased with every aspect of Endicia; our one gripe is that Endicia doesn't offer espresso attachments."

To learn more about the Arizona Army National Guard, visit www.azguard.gov.

Download This Case Study

Previous Case Study | Next Case Study

Refer a friend
get a free month of service.

Become an affiliate
earn cash for referrals.

www.endicia.com
1.800.576.3279
Back To Site