Comments on: Print Postage Online

By: Soccer9040

Soccer9040 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:38:54 +0000

Paypal Multi-order tool has also been great for me. You get the discount of buying your postage online. Our mail man is a bit of an idiot so we can’t take advantage of the free pickup thing. I usually stop by every few days to drop off packages. I get so much satisfaction walking in with a pile of boxes and walking past everyone waiting in line to either drop them off on the counter, or deposit them in the APC.

Multi-Order does have its fair share of downtime unfortunately.

I am however sick of the postage increases we have been getting in the past year. Flat rate went from 7.10 to 7.70 to 8.10 to somewhere in the 9s now. I dont even keep track. I just pass that right along to my customers and tell them to complain to the post office.

By: JoEllen

JoEllen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:17:34 +0000

I have been using the paypal multi-order shipping tool for a couple of years. Now, when the busy selling season is on at amazon.com and half.com this service has failed me! It has been down for about 3 weeks! They tell me that it is my computer, BUT, I went next door, used my son’s fancy computer and get the same message “paypal shipping is unavailable at this time”. So, please HELP! I need to mail about 20 books, media rate per week and these trips to the post office are getting OLD!. Has anyone else had problems with paypay that you have been able to fix? Yes, I called them three times……

By: Gary

Gary — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:10:41 +0000

I just put my mail in the mailbox with no stamps but with enough money to cover the postage. The mailman brings my change back the next day and leaves it in the mailbox. I don’t pay extra and I don’t have to worry about buying enough stamps to keep around for the next round of bills.

I guess it’s neat to print the envelopes with postage but that uses ink (which is another hidden cost) and it’s just too easy to put an unstamped envelope in the mailbox with a buck.

BTW, I can also purchase shipping supplies (and just about any USPS service) through my mailbox just by leaving a note and money in the box.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:11:27 +0000

Maybe it’s that as we get older, our tolerance is going down?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:56:44 +0000

What is your evidence for your contention that postal service is “getting worse and worse”? Mine has been pretty much the same my entire life. Not fantastic, but pretty damned good considering the universal availability and low costs.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:43:14 +0000

My vote is for Paypal. The delivery confirmation on everything is definitely a plus. The main problem though is that you can’t print international first class mail… to ship internationally you have to ship priority. I’m wondering why the USPS rates keep rising but their service is getting worse and worse… what exactly are we paying extra for?? Not to mention that the more it costs to mail an envelope, the less likely I am to mail one. I can pay all of my bills online, so why waste the stamp? I’ve even stopped mailing cards for the most part and I wait until I see someone to give it to them.

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:51:52 +0000

Jim you hit a nerve with me on the inconsidates that crowd our post offices . . . ugh! After they finish at the post office, they rush over to the bank and then the supermarket!

I am familiar with the Newell Rubbermaid product– it’s a pretty good solution.

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:59:11 +0000

I use PayPal. It supports media mail (I’m mainly shipping a few books a week) and is only an $0.18 premium. With that, you get shipment tracking – a vital thing when people may question where a package went.

By: chris Cruz

chris Cruz — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:09:02 +0000

I HATE waiting at the post office too. Especially when people dont even have their stuff boxed or packaged and expect the workers to box it for them. I use USPS.com all the time. It’s great because they also pickup for free. You just have to schedule it online. If you just hand the mailman a big box without scheduling they’ll give you attitude.

By: jenn

jenn — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:49:07 +0000

stamps.com is actually 15.99 a month not 19.99. I think it has stealth postage too

By: thomas

thomas — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:14:48 +0000

Great review of online alternatives to shipping. I really only ship during the holidays and that ends up being shipping with the store.

I wonder those who are super eBay sellers are using to minimize costs.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:32:31 +0000

I’d like to add another vote for Dymostamps. I purchased a label write to help organize files and such, but have gotten most of my use out of the stamp printing ability. There is no cost for the account, just buying the stamp labels and paying for my postage. Between Dymostamps for letters and USPS for packages I never have to wait in line at the post office.

By: Master Allan

Master Allan — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:14:12 +0000

Selling 3 or 4 items by online auction every week I visit the post office about twice weekly, often regrettably. The USPS added automated postage machines to many of their locations however those unprepared in long teller lines have just migrated over to the machine. I cannot explain why most people seem to act like it’s their 1st time at the post office.

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:04:36 +0000

For those of us in Canada, I print my Canada Post postage through PayPal. The time savings alone are well worth it, though you do get a bit of a discount too. Printing out postage and just dropping off the packages is great.
I hear you about waiting in line as the post office! I don’t know what goes through some people’s heads sometimes, starting to wrap or address packages there instead of ahead of time. It’s not like the post office needs to supervise you to make sure you write out your friend’s address properly. :p

By: eric

eric — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:28:55 +0000

Oh god…you don’t know how many people I’ve seen in line waiting to get up to the counter to start wrapping their stuff. It’s like they have to do it in front of the clerk to be sure or something. Drives me crazy.