Leave it the United States Federal government to continue to demonstrate irrelevance. This time (or as always) with the postal system.I do a LOT of shipping with FedEx Ground, USPS and least of all UPS. For years I struggled to efficiently ship out items sold on eBay or items sent to customers. I usually guess as to shipping fees to charge eBay customers- but finally bought digital postal scales.
For years I have used our FedEx Ground stickers to adhere to boxes and it has been great because we get billed later and can pay for everything once per month. But FedEx charges more than USPS and occasionally have screwed up deliveries I have sent or received. So I have searched for a way to use USPS as long as it lessens my hassle.
So USPS finally came out with stamps.com. Cool – right? Not. You have to PAY just to use that service in addition to your postage fees. How about the USPS web site? Well there is “Click-n-Ship” but you still have to type in the addressee to see the costs and print out the label to stick on your box. USPS’s address import feature is bug ridden as is their desktop software – Shipping Assistant 3.0.
So yesterday the sun came out and God shined down upon me. It was right there all along but was hidden.
PAYPAL!
I have seen their “Print Shipping Label” feature for months but upon selecting that option was taken to PayPal’s UPS portal. NOT. I don’t like UPS because of the complete hassle in dropping off my package to their Gaylord location which is a TOTAL hassle. And of course, they charge to come here to pick it up.
But- when I dug deeper in PayPal I found that I could select USPS as the default shipper and use that to ship all items. Bingo!
No importing of addressees, no package drop off hassles (my Post Office is just 2 miles away), no pick up hassles (our mailman will pick up anything), shipping fee hassles are gone – I can pay directly from PayPal when printing out the USPS label, AND THE COSTS ARE THE LOWEST!
The stars have aligned.
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