Post offices in North America and I'm sure Europe are feeling the attack of e-mail on their revenues. Canada Post, for example, has decided to combat the rise of e-mail by going on the offensive with an advertising campaign to remind everyone "nothing says it better than a letter''.

The advertising is being shown in cinemas, then will be put on television and in newspapers. Telephones, fax machines and now e-mail are cutting into the core revenues of selling stamps and envelopes. The number of letters mailed in Canada has dropped ten percent in the last five years.

Another move has been to target online customers though secure electronic post office boxes and electronic bill payments.

In the US, businesses have the ability to purchase and print their own postage through Stamps.com on the Internet.

The business purchases postage online by using a credit or debit card, or via electronic transfer from a bank account. The postage is then output on a regular printer and is encoded to prevent fraud. The cost is subtracted automatically from your account, so you must be online while printing postage.

At the United States Postal Service site (www.usps.gov) you can look up ZIP codes, get postage information, download passport applications and buy stamps online. You can also keep track of express mail, and locate your nearest post office.

The Bermuda Post Office at www.bermudapostoffice.com compares well with the much larger organisations. Visitors can get the same sorts of information and by having a standard order account service, collectors can buy news issues of stamps online and get them sent by airmail.

Postmaster General Clevelyn Critchlow said he hasn't seen any impact by e-mail on the amount of post being sent out of Bermuda. That's because of the large percentage of business mail sent out of Bermuda compared to personal mail.

Businesses still need to send our letters and packages through the post office.

"The letter writing market is extremely small,'' he said. "I don't see any impact.'' He believes the impact will be felt when e-mail becomes certified and as legal as the hard copy when doing business.

A new survey by the Association of Internet Professionals found that technical managers at Internet companies earn an average of $73,382 in the US, $2,000 more than the salaries of chief executives, chief information officers, or other top business posts at the same companies.

The survey was based on feedback from 374 companies. Pay scales for mid- and entry-level positions showed that people with the most technical skills commanded the highest salaries.

Software developers earned an average of $72,503. Design and layout jobs paid the least, an average of $46,735. Media production, system administration, and content development rounded out the bottom ranks with salaries below $51,000.

With the growth of the industry I don't think the demand will level off in the near future. Students who are inclined toward a career in the sector should be encouraged and gear their studies accordingly.

Good idea of the week: The Royal Gazette carried a story earlier this month indicating that Bermudians had started booking flights for January 1, 2000 without fear that the Y2K computer bug will bring the plane crashing down.

China has gone one step further in attempting to soothe public concerns by forcing the chief executive officers of its airlines to be on the planes when they fly on January 1. You can bet that order is an incentive for the executives to ensure their businesses are compliant.

I think executives of all the airlines should take the plunge. ..er...initiative and jump on their planes as well.

Gimmick of the week: Exit23b, a startup Internet retailer is offering ten chances to win 10,000 shares of its pre-IPO stock to those who visit the site before official launch in March. Here's a chance to ride the Internet stock market rollercoaster without paying the fare. Hey, I entered at internethosts.com/exit23b/. They did promise not to send me any spam.

Word of the week: Stickiness. That's the word executives at Internet related companies are using to describe the attempt to get surfers to stay or stick to their sites, or other related sites. Hence companies are buying and merging on the Internet. You may leave one site in a technology that lets you click your way out in an instant but still stay with the same company. The range of information and services gives the company a bigger advantage in selling advertising. This is the reasoning for recent acquisitions and mergers in the fast paced Internet industry as everyone jockeys for position. In the latest such move Yahoo! has agreed to acquire GeoCities and its 3.5 million members for about US$3.56 billion in stock.

GeoCities (www.geocities.com) is the biggest community site and fifth most-visited site on the Web. You can go there and get a free web page site with 11 megabytes of space on which you can post pictures and and personal information. In return you have to put up with advertising on your home page.

The site also offers the option of no advertising and 25 megabytes of space for $4.95 a month. That's a good bargain.

Tech Tattle is about technology. Contact Ahmed at 295-5881 ext. 248, 238-3854 or techtattle y gazette.newsmedia.bm.