Abstract: A system for accounting for postage on large batches of mail without franking of each mail piece. The system includes an intelligent inserter system or automatic weighing system for generating postage determining information for mail pieces in a large batch of mail and a printer or scanner for serializing the batch by either imprinting each piece with a serial number or scanning for pre-printed serial numbers. The postage determining information and serial numbers are transmitted to a manifest system which generates a manifest (i.e., a matched list of serial numbers and postage) and computes the total postage due on the batch. In one disclosed embodiment, the manifest system then selects a random sample of the manifest, encrypts the serial numbers and transmits this encrypted sample to a data processing center.