Switch from US post office?

[timmus]

Currently I mail out books and software CDs; my volume is about 20 packages a week. I use US Post Office flat-rate envelopes, which gives me a postage cost of 20 * $3.95 = $79.00/wk.

Does it make any sense to switch to UPS or FedEx? I'm monstly after the convenience factor. I have yet to find a post office that will pick these things up at my home office, due to the post-9/11 security garbage, though I know they will do special pickups for $10 per PACKAGE.

Unfortunately it appears UPS's charges are about $5/pkg just for Ground service alone, and then add in $20/wk pickup service fees, I'd be looking at $120/wk instead of $79/wk. Thus, more expensive and slower transit.

Is this pretty much the picture when you have low volume?

[nancyb]

I haven't tried their pick up service, but on the usps web site it says $12.50 per pickup, regardless of the number of packages. Packages must be ready to go with postage affixed.

See " Schedule a Pickup" in the red menu bar at the top of the usps site.

[Dogza]

Daily pickup from USPS is Free. It only costs $12.50 per day if you pick a specific pick-up time. We've had daily pickup from the USPS for over 2 years and we've never paid a dime.

You can print all your postage on the USPS website for free and have the packages ready to go when your postal driver gets there.

I also highly recommend a Stamps.com account, if you're willing to pay the $15.95 per month. Makes USPS shipping much faster & easier.

[timmus]

Daily pickup from USPS is Free. It only costs
$12.50 per day if you pick a specific pick-up time.

Are you in a business building? All the regular route carriers I've dealt with refuse to pick up packages over 16 ounces and international parcels, even if metered.

Some results about how messy it can be can be found here [google.com].

[corbing]

Tell your local postal carrier to stop being lazy and making stuff up. It's his job to pick up AS MANY packages as you have.

See:

[usps.com...]

Carrier Pickup™
Key Features
* Free, regardless of the number of packages you’re sending.
*Your carrier will pick up your package when your regular mail is delivered.

[Beagle]

timmus - I looked at some of the pages you linked to, and as far as I can tell the deal is that because of new security regulations you can no longer deposit those packages in drop boxes; there's nothing about mail carriers not picking them up (in fact, the info from the Federal Register specifically allows it, as long as the carrier is familiar with the sender). And metered mail shouldn't be affected at all.

The only pages I saw that said packages must be taken personally to a post office were for college mail centers, which kind of makes sense because that's often where the USPS delivers everything for the entire campus, so there wouldn't be a USPS mail carrier to give the packages to. If you have a "real" USPS mail carrier delivering mail to your office, he or she should pick up the packages (per the link in the previous post); if USPS delivers everything to your building and building staff takes it from there, they probably aren't obligated to. But it seems you should still be able to schedule a pick-up for $12.50.

[Beagle]

I'm sorry, but sometimes I just have to figure these things out. A bit obsessive, y'know? Went back and perused the USPS site a bit more.

It seems that to assure carrier pick-up at the time your mail is delivered, you do have to schedule it ahead of time - anywhere between three months and one day in the future; but it is free. It also might not apply if you use media rate or some other package rate; It's available for Express Mail, Priority Mail, and international services.

But the $12.50 "Pick-up on demand" covers package rates, so that should apply. Also has to be scheduled in advance, of course.

[DryFire]

Since you are shipping books and CD I would highly recommend that you look into using endicia.com and a Dymo lable printer to ship through usps “media mail”. The shipping rates for media items are far below what you would be able to get elsewhere… plus the endicia / Dymo lable printer combination make it extremely quick and easy.

[Leosghost]

USPS and its European partners have a nasty tendency to try to collect the entire postage charges again ..if you dont pay the carrier ..you don't get your package!( even when they have already been paid in the US ) from the European recipients ..plus they seem to use a very arbitrary customs clearance system ..sometimes the identical items pay duty ..sometimes not ..

Your European customers will not thank you for using them ..

When buying from the states I always specify .."anyone but USPS"..that way what I paid is all I pay ..

[Beagle]

Just to clarify that the new security regulations have nothing to do with carrier pick-up (unless you get a new carrier each day, so they don't know you). So if they're using that as the reason to not pick up packages, they're misinterpreting the rules (IMVHO).

--As a total aside, as someone who's usually not at home during the day, I order using USPS delivery whenever possible, because then I only have to go to the nearest post office - and not 10 (FedEx) or 15 (UPS) miles to pick up my package.

[HRoth]

"USPS and its European partners have a nasty tendency to try to collect the entire postage charges again ..if you dont pay the carrier ..you don't get your package!"

I have a lot of European customers, and not one has ever said this. They have only complained about having to pay duty.

I talked to my carrier about the $12.50 per pickup thing a little while ago when she asked why I never had her pick up my packages. She said that charge was only for pickup at a specific time. Otherwise, just put the stuff in the box and put the flag up. You can use the click-n-ship system to print the labels, pay the postage, even do delivery confirmations. All the carrier has to do is physically pick up the packages.

[Dogza]

corbing is right. You do need to schedule the pickups ahead of time on the USPS website. If your driver isn't picking up your packages after you schedule, he is either lazy or doesn't know his job very well..

When you schedule the pickup online, the carrier is given a form that he must turn in at the end of the day proving he picked up the packages..