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USPS Click and Ship vs. Local Branch Post Office

Started by creeps,

22 posts in this topic

creeps

creeps

Posted
Posted

I do a fair amount of shipping through USPS - usually 10 to 15 packages a week. Ebay and USPS has really been pushing the Click and Ship deal where you print mailing labels online. I know I can save a little by using this method, as well as get free tracking. My concern, though, is the local branch post office. I have been using the same branch office now for 5 years or so. I really don't want to take any business away from them.

 

Does anyone know how local post offices make money? I assume they only make money if I pay for postage through them. Would they benefit at all from accepting my package with pre-paid printer labels already attached?

 

I would appreciate any input from those with USPS experience as well as other online sellers and shippers.

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Pirate

Pirate

Posted
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Click and Ship is the only way to go. I mainly use paypal shipping and just drop my packages off. There are worse things happening at the PO than you buying shipping online.

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comix4fun

comix4fun

Posted
Posted
I do a fair amount of shipping through USPS - usually 10 to 15 packages a week. Ebay and USPS has really been pushing the Click and Ship deal where you print mailing labels online. I know I can save a little by using this method, as well as get free tracking. My concern, though, is the local branch post office. I have been using the same branch office now for 5 years or so. I really don't want to take any business away from them.

 

Does anyone know how local post offices make money? I assume they only make money if I pay for postage through them. Would they benefit at all from accepting my package with pre-paid printer labels already attached?

 

I would appreciate any input from those with USPS experience as well as other online sellers and shippers.

 

 

You aren't taking business away from them. The USPS gets the money, but the zip code you ship from, and the tracking scan when you drop them off lets the USPS know that they local PO is in use, and getting traffic, and making them money...basically being useful.

 

Take the 5% discount, smile, and watch the local PO people smile back at you because they don't have to enter your postage for you.

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CKB

CKB

Posted
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The USPS will be laying off a quarter million employees. Whether you pay them at the counter or print the labels....well I think your concern is......misplaced. :)

 

I think at this point they want you to use the online payment and labels for packages....

 

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mschmidt

mschmidt

Posted
Posted
I haven't been to the post office in nearly 4 years (except for the occasional foreign parcel).

 

I can't even imagine standing in line anymore.

 

i go for the smiling faces :grin:

 

can you click & ship Media Mail? i didn't think you could

 

Sure - right here:

 

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

 

(You'll need a Paypal account, though)

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Junkdrawer

Junkdrawer

Posted
Posted
I do a fair amount of shipping through USPS - usually 10 to 15 packages a week. Ebay and USPS has really been pushing the Click and Ship deal where you print mailing labels online. I know I can save a little by using this method, as well as get free tracking. My concern, though, is the local branch post office. I have been using the same branch office now for 5 years or so. I really don't want to take any business away from them.

 

Does anyone know how local post offices make money? I assume they only make money if I pay for postage through them. Would they benefit at all from accepting my package with pre-paid printer labels already attached?

 

I would appreciate any input from those with USPS experience as well as other online sellers and shippers.

Actually when you create your label online you do click on what zipcode your package ships from. your usps will get credit for handling the packages even if you went to a different post office
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AnastasiasCollect

AnastasiasCollect

Posted
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I haven't been to the post office in nearly 4 years (except for the occasional foreign parcel).

 

I can't even imagine standing in line anymore.

 

The lines have mostly disappeared.

 

:o wow you're lucky, but I drive by the post office out here in socal and the line is usually out the door from open to close. That's why I always use click and ship.

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the blob

the blob

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we have pretty big lines here too. no way i can schedule pick-ups because i'm not around, so when I have a package that won't fit in the drop off box or i don't feel comfortable plopping in there, I have to go to the PO and usually wait on line. i have a lot of old people around here who go to the post office with their unstamped mail and buy however many stamps they need that day...5 or whatever..after waiting on line.

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

Posted
Posted
I haven't been to the post office in nearly 4 years (except for the occasional foreign parcel).

 

I can't even imagine standing in line anymore.

 

The lines have mostly disappeared.

 

:o wow you're lucky, but I drive by the post office out here in socal and the line is usually out the door from open to close. That's why I always use click and ship.

 

Mine (a regional branch office in a town of 100,000) used to get very busy, esp. from 4-5 but with the rise of printing your own postage, it really varies. Generally there are maybe 2-3 people in there and maybe up to six or so late in the day. Today I walked in at 2:40 with two international packages to drop off and there was no one waiting.

 

The central office has gone from a complete nightmare to now often being a 5-10 minute wait.

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the blob

the blob

Posted
Posted
What kind of scale do you guys use to calculate shipping? I checked eBay and all I could find are the little drug scales. How do you weigh a big box?

 

I went on ebay and bought a $15 or so digital scale that I think has like a 25 pound weight limit. looks like a piece of junk from china, but it has worked well for 8 years and i don't think i've ever even changed the battery.

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Annihilus

Annihilus

Posted
Posted
I haven't been to the post office in nearly 4 years (except for the occasional foreign parcel).

 

I can't even imagine standing in line anymore.

 

The lines have mostly disappeared.

 

Ok. Let's pretend that your hypothesis is true for every USPS branch in the nation.

 

I can't even imagine spending the gas money to drive down to the post office and hand over the packages then turn around and drive home, taking a half hour out of my day when I could just watch my postman pick them up for me and not waste any of my time.

 

;)

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Baron

Baron

Posted
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My city actually doesn't have a post office (there's one close by in another town), so I drop it off at the USPS Postal Annex where you can pick up mail on hold or drop-off packages. Never a really long line there since people can't buy stamps or ask dumb questions.

 

I do like the post offices where they have package slots where you can fit in medium-sized priority mail boxes without having to wait in line.

 

Did UPS up their dimensional weight prices recently? I shipped a golf bag via UPS ground a couple years ago for $25, then when I tried shipping again at a UPS store a similar golf bag they were going to charge me $175 because of the dimensional weight (the actual weight of the package is like 7lbs.). I ended up shipping it via USPS Parcel Post for like $26.00.

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