Dallas and Fort Worth Mail and Postal Centers to Provide New ReturnValet Service; ReturnValet Service Makes Returning Catalog and Web Purchases Easy.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2000

Consumers now have a convenient, low-cost option for returning products purchased from catalog and web retailers. Nearly 90 area mail and parcel centers in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex are providing the new ReturnValet service for product returns beginning Dec. 26.

The new service is delivered by Newgistics Inc. through innovative technology that integrates mail centers and retail partners' databases with ReturnValet's technology center. The new technology offers instant access to a customer's order transaction, allowing quick credit back to the consumer by the retailer.

The participating mail centers provide convenient neighborhood brick-and-mortar locations to return goods. In addition, the ReturnValet service at the mail centers will offer consumers quick credit, low shipping rates and friendly customer assistance. Consumers need to bring a receipt of purchase or shipping invoice to the mail center with their item. Participating mail centers include Eagle Postal Centers, Associated Mail & Parcel Centers (AMPC), Handle With Care Packaging Store, Neighborhood Postal Centers (NPC), Pak Mail, Parcel Plus, PostalAnnex+ and PostNet International Franchise Corp., as well as other independently owned centers.

"Catalog and Internet shoppers like to buy and receive their order instantaneously. But returning an item always seems like a drawn out, dreadful experience," said Brandon Gale, president of Eagle Postal Centers, a 32-store Dallas-based chain. "Thankfully, ReturnValet makes returning goods quick and hassle-free."

The ReturnValet service is being launched initially in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with the Lillian Vernon Catalog company and will expand nationwide with more than 4,000 mail and parcel centers and additional catalog and retail merchants in 2001.

Newgistics Inc.

Newgistics Inc. is a leading business-to-business (B2B) supply chain management company that is revolutionizing the logistics industry through seamless and robust technology. An Austin, Texas-based company, Newgistics is integrating technology and logistics to provide consumer-friendly and cost-effective logistics services to catalog and Web retailers. Newgistics has developed a technology platform, a network of neighborhood locations, and a logistics system to enhance how consumers and small office, home office (SOHO) buyers receive services and return goods.