Abstract: A system and method of postal-charge assessment facilitates the production of mail pieces exhibiting a collective postage-fee payment code issued by a postage vendor and authorized to be applied to a plurality of mail pieces in response to a postal-customer request. There is associated with the process no inherent limit on the number of mail pieces exhibiting the collective postage-fee payment code that the requesting postal customer can cause to have produced; the postal customer is, instead, assessed a postal charged only for those mail pieces exhibiting the postage-fee payment code that are detected in the postal system. The requesting postal customer has the option of associating limitations with the collective postage-fee payment code such as (i) restrictions on authorized delivery addresses, (ii) a postage expiration date and (iii) a limit of the quantity of mail pieces exhibiting the postage-fee payment code that can be introduced into the postal system.