cdrumm4448 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) At least she posted links to factual content, as opposed to quoting a fact-free and unsourced reader response (an essentially anonymous one at that) to an about.com article. usgovinfo.about.com/u/ua/consumerawareness/Survive-Without-The-Postal-Service.htm My last read of the board rules mentioned no websites other than government ones. I was unaware the posting of dissenting opinions was frowned upon. Edited August 11, 2012 by cdrumm4448 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I haven't had any problem printing postage/labels. I either do it straigh through Amazon, or through Stamps.com. Here, I think the lack of package pickup is because I live in Mayberry and our carriers walk their route. With a bag. Except the rural carriers, of course; they deliver to your mailbox on the street. And it's different than, say, a UPS route. The carriers have to stop at every address. I do wish package shipping could be streamlined, though. Don't you have to pay for Stamps.com? I just don't think we should have to pay extra to print our own labels. I use PayPal to ship, but again, I think we should be allowed to print all labels including media from the postal website and should be able to request pickup for any method of shipping. The post office acts very often like they are doing a favor rather than providing a service we pay for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 My last read of the board rules mentioned no websites other than government ones. I was unaware the posting of dissenting opinions was frowned upon. I don't think we were referring to your post. Don't you have to pay for Stamps.com? I just don't think we should have to pay extra to print our own labels. I use PayPal to ship, but again, I think we should be allowed to print all labels including media from the postal website and should be able to request pickup for any method of shipping. The post office acts very often like they are doing a favor rather than providing a service we pay for. Um, you buy the (discounted) postage and it prints as a shipping label with a delivery confirmation barcode. I do it through the USPS website (more options than Amazon), which redirects to Stamps.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Hey! 20/20's "True Confessions" hour has the behind the scenes of shipping companies on next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Don't you have to pay for Stamps.com? I just don't think we should have to pay extra to print our own labels. I use PayPal to ship, but again, I think we should be allowed to print all labels including media from the postal website and should be able to request pickup for any method of shipping. The post office acts very often like they are doing a favor rather than providing a service we pay for. You shouldn't have to request a pick up for anything. Just put it in your mailbox (or on your box if it won't quite fit) with the red flag up. The only time you shouldn't do that is if you're using individual stamps for an item over 13 oz. if you carrier is telling you that's not allowed, go complain at the local office. I once had a fill in carrier try to charge me 14.95 per box to pick up things I left out. Boy did he get an earful and then some from his supervisor after I complained (I know because he came back to tell me i'd gotten him in trouble). My mom's worked for the PO for 33 years so I know more than I really care to about SOP for the PO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Actually. I assume they make money from the junk mail :confused: Yeah, junk, bulk and publications are their backbone these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 The post office acts very often like they are doing a favor rather than providing a service we pay for. I think THAT is the bottom line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I don't think we were referring to your post. Um, you buy the (discounted) postage and it prints as a shipping label with a delivery confirmation barcode. I do it through the USPS website (more options than Amazon), which redirects to Stamps.com. The "Um" at the beginning of the post confuses me. But, I did preface my post with a question. I remembered trying to print a label for books -- media rate shipping -- through the postal website, and media rate did not qualify for printing labels. Are you saying this has changed? Or are you saying this website costs nothing and you get discounted postal rates: http://stamps.com/welcome/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 You shouldn't have to request a pick up for anything. Just put it in your mailbox (or on your box if it won't quite fit) with the red flag up. The only time you shouldn't do that is if you're using individual stamps for an item over 13 oz. if you carrier is telling you that's not allowed, go complain at the local office. I once had a fill in carrier try to charge me 14.95 per box to pick up things I left out. Boy did he get an earful and then some from his supervisor after I complained (I know because he came back to tell me i'd gotten him in trouble). My mom's worked for the PO for 33 years so I know more than I really care to about SOP for the PO. I thought the same thing when I had easier going postal employees. The "law" -- if you will -- is that postal employees are required to pick up priority and above. They can pick up other items if you have one of the premium shipping rates. I have had employees fine with this. I have had others say file the request online, and even if the package is media, just note it as priority. It seems postal employees have some accountability with the supervisors about how they spend their time, and since packages slow them down, they must be reported. I understand your employee may not care about picking up the packages, but it is not their duty according to: https://tools.usps.com/go/ScheduleAPickupAction!input.action I have no problem with scheduling a pickup. I just think they need to stop looking down on shipping less than priority because all packages cost us quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) The "Um" at the beginning of the post confuses me. But, I did preface my post with a question. I remembered trying to print a label for books -- media rate shipping -- through the postal website, and media rate did not qualify for printing labels. Are you saying this has changed? Or are you saying this website costs nothing and you get discounted postal rates: http://stamps.com/welcome/ Sorry. The um was just that; I was trying to figure out how it not work. There isn't a separate step, it just prints the label, postage, and barcode in one big rectangle to cut out and tape to the package (or, if you're really fancy, on a sticky label, I would think). I have no idea if it's a change; I've only recently started shipping this way instead of going to the PO with my package. I don't recall Amazon having a button to buy postage before, though, so maybe it is. Media mail was one of the shipping options on the USPS website (which says you will be purchasing the postage through Stamps.com), but I selected Priority Regional because it wasn't media (I was shipping a puzzle). I'm pretty sure Amazon's shipping widget is just a custom interface to Stamps.com, too, and I print postage paid media mail labels with a delivery confirmation barcode from that, too. The menu of shipping options shows the online rate and the counter rate for all options that have both available (some are only available over the counter and vice versa). The online rates are lower. Edited August 11, 2012 by MyCrazyHouse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I thought the same thing when I had easier going postal employees. The "law" -- if you will -- is that postal employees are required to pick up priority and above. They can pick up other items if you have one of the premium shipping rates. I have had employees fine with this. I have had others say file the request online, and even if the package is media, just note it as priority. It seems postal employees have some accountability with the supervisors about how they spend their time, and since packages slow them down, they must be reported. I understand your employee may not care about picking up the packages, but it is not their duty according to: https://tools.usps.com/go/ScheduleAPickupAction!input.action I have no problem with scheduling a pickup. I just think they need to stop looking down on shipping less than priority because all packages cost us quite a bit. I think your PO is giving you a line of Bull. Generally those services you linked to are for businesses. So unless you're mailing out dozens of packages a day this shouldn't apply to you. You shouldn't even need to schedule a pick up online at all. Just put it out in/near your box with the red flag up, that's what the red flag is there for. I've seen this topic come up and have asked both my Post Master as well as the one at my mom's office and both have said that "Package pickup" is for businesses not just the general public. They've also told me that even if they have no mail to deliver at a specific house if the red flag is up on the box outside they MUST stop and pick up said package/mail to go out. I do a lot of PBS as well as Swap a DVD and anytime I've had a carrier refuse to take my things (sometimes as many as 10-12 in one day) and they tell me it was wrong of the carrier to do that. I rarely have the same carrier too, so it's not a matter of my regular one being "nice" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Sorry. The um was just that; I was trying to figure out how it not work. There isn't a separate step, it just prints the label, postage, and barcode in one big rectangle to cut out and tape to the package (or, if you're really fancy, on a sticky label, I would think). Media mail was one of the shipping options on the USPS website (which says you will be purchasing the postage through Stamps.com), but I selected Priority Regional because it wasn't media (I was shipping a puzzle). I'm pretty sure Amazon's shipping widget is just a custom interface to Stamps.com, too, and I print postage paid media mail labels with a delivery confirmation barcode from that, too. The menu of shipping options shows the online rate and the counter rate for all options that have both available (some are only available over the counter and vice versa). The online rates are lower. I know where she's coming from, If you go on the USPS website to print postage, they will show the cost of media mail, but you can't actually select that option for printing, it's simply there to show the cost of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I know where she's coming from, If you go on the USPS website to print postage, they will show the cost of media mail, but you can't actually select that option for printing, it's simply there to show the cost of it. And it was my understanding that it sends me to stamps.com where I have to pay a monthly fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I paid no fee other than the postage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Ok, yes, I can select MM on the shipping options menu of prices, but the online is "unavailable". When I buy postage through my Amazon Seller account, though, I can select MM and print the barcoded label. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I suspect that the subscription rate is for people who to import shipping data from their own system and use a connected scale. Casual users can just use the USPS portal. As an aside, I almost never send things MM, because the difference in price from First Class is pennies. Parcel Post is almost always inexplicably higher than Priority when I'm shipping a package, too. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I suspect that the subscription rate is for people who to import shipping data from their own system and use a connected scale. Casual users can just use the USPS portal. As an aside, I almost never send things MM, because the difference in price from First Class is pennies. Parcel Post is almost always inexplicably higher than Priority when I'm shipping a package, too. :confused: Yeah, I ship a lot of books. This week alone, I shipped ten books. Sometimes, I am shipping a box of books that weighs 10 pounds. Parcel shipping would be so very much more than media. I will ship first class if the item weighs 8 ounces or less (practically never a book, but I did ship 10 DVDs through DVD swap that way), but at 9 ounces, it's cheaper to go media rate by about 50 cents and of course the savings go up from there. For a book package weighing 1-2 pounds, media rate is a little less than $3.00 while priority is more than $9.00 and parcel post around $9.00 (depending on region). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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