Web Services to Challenge Post Office in Bill-Paying.

The latest threat to the Postal Service is a partnership to be announced on Tuesday between Manilla a bill payment service owned by Hearst, and AOL.

Handle customers can view and pay their bills with e-mail accounts or through the Web site of AOL, said Jim Schinella, executive director of Manila. In addition, Mr. Schinella said, users can link their Yahoo or Gmail accounts with Manilla account manager / AOL, which can scan invoices.

"So instead of opening a tab to your cable bill and credit card bills or electric, you can do everything in one place", said Mr. Schinella.

At least half a dozen other digital email new companies have entered the market over the past three years, including Volly, which is owned by Pitney Bowes, the maker of postage meters, and Zumbox, payment of utility bills similar to Manilla online. Another competitor, Outbox mail will physically lift their customers, scan it and make it available online.

New competitors have a new challenge to the post office struggling financially, which recorded financial figures better than expected last week - a smaller loss than a year ago - in an attempt to prevent the erosion of their customer base and close of 23.2 billion bills, statements, notices and other doctors mail flowing through the mailboxes of Americans each year.

The postal service is already grappling with a sharp drop in the volume of first class mail - 30 percent since 2007, to 68.7 billion pieces last year, from 95.9 billion - which provides the majority of its income, and with billions of dollars in bonds to a health fund for future retirees.

Postal Service officials say the charts still have an advantage over digital. Paper copies of credit card and other bills, they say, are a more reliable way to check and make payments easier record keeping, according to authorities. And the post office says it provides a much safer environment for written communication, as it is a federal offense to handle the mail.

But for many companies, start-ups offer a cheaper alternative to traditional mail. Companies spend about $ 30 billion each year to print, organize and electronic documents.

Mr. Schinella said one of the differences between the online service of Manila and its competitors is the number of billing companies - including DirecTV, Netflix and Citibank - it has signed. Companies, about 3,600 of them, will allow customers to use their accounts through Manila and management service AOL bill.

The service is free for consumers, but the companies pay a fee to participate. Manilla recently announced that it had signed up more than 500 000 taxpayers bill and was on track to exceed one million users by the end of 2013.