Talk:Pitney Bowes/Archives/2017

Orphaned references in Pitney Bowes
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Pitney Bowes's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "Forbes": From Startup company:  From Sprinklr:  

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 06:37, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Request to update article, starting with the Infobox and "Overview" section
On behalf of Pitney Bowes via Burson-Marsteller, I am proposing an expanded and updated article as part of my work at Beutler Ink. Given my conflict of interest, I will not edit the article directly and ask independent editors to review for accuracy, neutrality, and verifiability. During this project, Pitney Bowes has provided feedback to ensure accuracy. I've saved my draft in full here to show how I hope to update the page overall.

I'll briefly identify some problems with the current Pitney Bowes article:
 * Most importantly, several of the sources are inappropriate for Wikipedia, including bad URLs, press releases and company websites.
 * The first inline citation in the "History" section does not appear until the third paragraph, and about half of the section's later content is unsourced.
 * Much of the content in the "Research and technology" section is also unsourced.
 * The "Significant acquisitions" section is problematic for several reasons. The content is presented in the form of a bulleted list, which goes against Wikipedia's Manual of Style, and should be converted into prose. The content is presented in reverse chronological order, and the section is mostly unsourced.

I've worked hard to present a neutral company overview and history, with subsections dedicated to acquisitions/divestitures and PB's products and services, using appropriate sourcing. I am looking for uninvolved editors to review parts of my proposed draft and copy over markup appropriately.

This is a long draft, which I don't expect editors to review in its entirety. Volunteers are welcome to review more than what I'm requesting, but for now I'm specifically hoping someone can review the proposed Infobox and "Overview" section. I am happy to address any questions or concerns that may arise during the review process. Thanks in advance for your consideration and help. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:52, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Your draft is mostly in good shape, so I went ahead to implement most of your proposed changes. What's keeping me from merging more of your changes is the duplication of portions of the lead section in the corporate overview section. I moved the leadership subsection to the history section and made the portion on products and services its own section. I don't see how the section on the foundation is relevant to the rest of the article, so I left it out. What's left of the corporate overview needs to be merged into the lead section, however. As soon as you integrate in your draft the corporate overview section into the lead section, I'll go ahead with completing your request. Alexius08 (talk) 05:42, 12 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much for your help. While there are many Wikipedia articles about companies with similar "Overview" sections, I am fine with using the proposed "Overview" content (not counting the "Leadership" subsection) as the article's lead. Are you willing to replace the current lead with the following markup?

Pitney Bowes is a global technology company, most known for its postage meters and other mailing equipment and services,  and with recent expansions into global e-commerce, software, and other technologies. The company was founded by Arthur Pitney, who invented the first commercially available postage meter, and Walter Bowes as the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company on April 23, 1920.

Pitney Bowes provided customer engagement, customer information management, global e-commerce, location intelligence, and mailing and shipping services to approximately 1 million customers in about 100 countries around the world in 2016. The company is a certified "work-share partner" of the United States Postal Service, and helps the agency sort and process 15 billion pieces of mail annually. Pitney Bowes has also commissioned surveys related to international e-commerce.

Pitney Bowes is based in Stamford, Connecticut, and operates a 300,000-square-foot Global Technology Center for manufacturing and engineering in Danbury, Connecticut. The company has 33 operating centers throughout the United States, and additional offices in Hatfield (United Kingdom), New Delhi, and Tokyo. As of December 2016, Pitney Bowes employed approximately 14,000 people worldwide.


 * Currently, there are 13 or so error messages in the References section, but the above lead markup should fix these errors since the sources are defined within. If you need me to update this page, I can, but I think the markup above should be pretty straightforward. I took the content directly from the proposed draft, and the only change I made was bolding the company's name for use in the first sentence.


 * Also, are you comfortable removing the "Research and technology" and "Credit ratings and Revenue" sections? The research section is mostly unsourced and not specifically about Pitney Bowes, not to mention the number of patents held by the company is already stated in the company's history. The third paragraph (starting "In February 2016...") is sourced by PB, and revenue numbers are already mentioned elsewhere. I am not sure the other content in this section is absolutely necessary, but if you think otherwise, maybe it can be integrated into the History section and not kept as a small standalone section? Thanks again for your consideration and help, please let me know if you have any questions. Inkian Jason (talk) 15:59, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
 * I've made the following changes:
 * Replaced the lead section with the one you provided
 * Removed the "Research and technology" section
 * Copied two paragraphs from the "Credit ratings and revenue" section into the "History" section
 * All in all, your edit request has been implemented. Alexius08 (talk) 23:03, 17 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you so much for your time and assistance with these requests. Inkian Jason (talk) 22:07, 24 October 2017 (UTC)