Postage online.

[TheForce]

Has anyone here tried the US Post Office web site Stamps.com?

For a modest postage user, is there any advantage to using this? What are the negatives?

I just got their CD in the mail and thought I'd look into it as a replacement for my DHL overnight using Express mail.

 

[navychop]

It's not the Post Office's site. Private company. They're "approved" by the USPS.

The business next to us uses them. But they actually pay for fancy preprinted stamp backgrounds, driving their mailing costs way up.

I looked at them, and chose to stick with a meter (certainly not the overpriced P-B). You might print a few stamps on a sheet, say at a higher rate for large manila envelopes. Then later print a few more stamps on that same sheet at the regular rate. The system remembers which spots were used, which weren't. So far, so good.

But I saw a nuisance factor. Today, I just run an envelope thru a meter. With this stamps.com system, I'd need to feed a label sheet thru the printer, peel and stick the stamps on each envelope. Well, if you're mailing fewer than maybe 10 items a day, maybe this makes sense. We mail hundreds each month. Once a month, I'll have about 300 items to go out in one day. Not practical for us.

Yes, it does Express and other classes. Certified remains a pain. I find UPS easiest for overnight. Good riddance DHL.

EVERYONE SHOULD NOTE: The Post Office is phasing out acceptance of more meters at the end of this year. If your meter does not print a sort of burst code, it will not be accepted as of 1/1/09. It may already be too late to replace it before it cannot be used. Everyone should have rec'd notice from their vendor, and the USPS by now. But there's always a few that don't get the word. Especially when that word is sent thru the mails.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

Has anyone here tried the US Post Office web site Stamps.com?

For a modest postage user, is there any advantage to using this? What are the negatives?

I just got their CD in the mail and thought I'd look into it as a replacement for my DHL overnight using Express mail.

I did it a couple times. I don't know if my post office is the only pain in the neck or not but they gave me a hard time because the zip code of the post office that I dropped the package off at differed from my return address and it just made it not worth the hassle. That post office is the only one close to me with long hours for dropping off.

 

[TheForce]

Good enouigh reports for me guys. I'll pass on it for now. I don't need to revolve my life around a couple of 42 cent expenditures a month.

 

[charper1]

I used to use Stamps.com and it does print directly onto my own envelops via my own laserjet or inkjet, BUT I discontinued when they raised the surcharge or monthly maintenance fees; they said that is was the USPS that was raising the rates.

I still use online PC label printing from both FedEx & UPS packages but for "flat" mail I either go with email, fax, or take it to my work's mail center where we use an "actual postage" meter and I just pay the young lady with the change in my pocket. This is almost always cheaper than an actual stamp; and NEVER more than..

 

[navychop]

Didn't know about the ability to print onto envelopes directly. That would help, but still not be as easy as a meter.

One nice thing about stamps.com: You can use the postage on any envelope. Other options we examined in the past required you to enter the address in, so it was put into the burst code. Since we print hundreds of monthly statements at one time, and our accounting software does not feed the addresses (do any?) to such programs, we would have a hard time matching up "stamps" and envelopes. Totally impractical.

 

[jbron8]

I haven't used it yet, but my friend does. he pays for postage online with a credit card and he just takes the package there and they ship it off. it's pretty convenient he tells me.

 

[Hall]

I don't know if my post office is the only pain in the neck or not but they gave me a hard time because the zip code of the post office that I dropped the package off at differed from my return address and it just made it not worth the hassle.

I've heard of this before. Turns out that the "home" post office, based on your zip code or the zip code you input for the label, gets credit (or "commission" ?) for your package/postage. Makes it sound like the sending post office and receiving post office get funding based on what they "touch".

 

[wolfjc]

FYI,
I am sure that I got a flyer from USPS and you can buy stamps online and you can even print stamps on your home computer's printer.
I don't know how this printing thing works since I use so few stamps.

 

[navychop]

You can order stamps from the post office and they will deliver them to you. But stamps.com is a private entity. They may have made a deal for USPS to deliver their ads.

Their first page states they are "an approved licensed vendor" of the USPS.

 

[SamCdbs]

I've heard of this before. Turns out that the "home" post office, based on your zip code or the zip code you input for the label, gets credit (or "commission" ?) for your package/postage. Makes it sound like the sending post office and receiving post office get funding based on what they "touch".

This is true in two ways.

At the smallest rural post offices, the actual post masters are still political appointments, and their pay is based on stamp purchases. My mother would always buy her stamps at this small store/post office managed by a relative, because she got credit for selling them, while the post office in our actual town was a government worker who did not care.

At the larger level, they are always looking at productivity.