USPS Free boxes/tape/tub mailers etc. for Priority Mail

free boxes, tape, priorty mail

[mansterfred]

USPS Free boxes/tape/tub mailers etc. for Priority Mail

I am dumb or what? I had no idea they supplied all this free & will even deliver for free. Probably cost me $10,000 or so over the last 5 years.

All you need to do is open an account. (No Cost)

The order form is a little hidden. Goto USPS and type in “boxes” in the search box. You should find it from there.

[Brett_Tabke]

It's not like they make it real obvious.

[marcs]

Or you can ask for an "order" form at any USPS branch. Most will have priority mail labels and such ready to give to you. You do need to "order" the boxes/tubes/tape.

Note that sometimes you will not get as much as you order. If you order say 100 boxes, you may only get 50. If memory serves (this is for my wife's business) you do get a printed/paper re-order form with delivery of those items also.

USPS is pretty good with priority mail. Get either delivery confirmation or (forgot the exact name but works for PO Boxes and such) signature something or other to have "proof" to work with in case of chargebacks/disputes.

[sheilarae]

we use the post office for that reason we ship about 150 packages a day tand the one thing the post office does not do is offer support for the web, i need to incop that into my site and the post office doesnt do it,

they have a new thing click & ship but still isnt advanced enought
shiela

[Birdman]

It must be hard to find because I sure can't. Could someone give me the url? Thanks!

[sun818]

1) Go to usps.com
2) All Products and Services
3) Priority Mail Supplies
4) Click on Business Products (in center)
5) Then click on 2. Priority Mail on the left nav

Here's the actual link [shop.usps.com].

Remember, if you ship packages less than or equal to 13 ounces, its cheaper to use your own brown box and First Class with delivery confirmation. Here's the link to create package labels with free delivery confirmation [usps.com] :)

[Craig_F]

it's been a while since I've done much of this myself, but back when I did the USPS would even come out and pick up Priority Mail. they used to get 10-20 per day from me at a previous job.

[edited by: Craig_F at 6:49 pm (utc) on Mar. 11, 2003]

[rogerd]

One thing not to do: Clever mailers used to turn the priority mail boxes inside-out to their brown surface to use as free parcel-post or book rate boxes. Now the PO spots them and requires priority mail postage (at least locally).

[sun818]

I have a sad story... this one guy is in line around closing time with three milk crates full of packages. Everyone behind him mumbles something under their breath. When he approaches the clerk, she notices the boxes:

"These are going Priority right?"

"No, media mail."

"These boxes are flipped. You know its against the law to use Priority supplies for other purposes?"

"Oh"

"These will all have to go Priority"

Poor guy had the longest face.

[wingslevel]

of course ups doesn't care ;)

[EliteWeb]

Too bad I do most of my shipping First Class. I can even use 37 cents stamps on them. When I have items that are over 37 cents i drive to the post office because i dont have a scale at home. Couldnt figure out how to spend 100.00 on a scale. Although I heard sometimes stamps machine that prints out labels from your desktop works pretty nice.

[Conard]

Yes,
I've been using their service for a couple of years now.
Last year we spent over 9K shipping Priority Mail and had 1 lost package and around 10 that didn’t arrive in the 2-3 day time frame.
The trick with them is using the free delivery confirmation service so it can all be scanned.
I worked out a system with a programmer last winter that ties in to the USPS API and prints the confirmation labels 4 to a page from the back end of our shopping cart.
What a time saver.

[4crests]

We have been ordering the free boxes for several years. Also, you can sometimes get what you need right from the post office. They sometimes grumble a bit when you clean them out of all their boxes and they usually just have some of the more standard sizes. However, I do often find some of the triangular tubes, and weird sizes at my local post office. Most of the time I just order from the website.

We have a Yahoo Store, and use Ship-Logic. The system is WONDERFUL. It automatically downloads all my shipping information from my Yahoo Store. All I have to do is go in an click on the box next to each order I want printed, and it sends the orders over to ENDICIA's DAZZLE software. I then print all my postage from Dazzle. I use the Zebra LP 2844 label printer (This printer also works with UPS and FED-EX).

I just printed about 300 shipping labels in about 15 minutes. The labels are self adhesive, and just stick on my packages. The labels cost me less than .02 cents each. To make it even nicer, Ship-Logic then automatically updates my yahoo store with all of the tracking numbers, and marks them shipped. Ship Logic also automatically sends an email to every customer telling them their order has been shipped and gives them their tracking number.

I can't even begin to tell you how much time this has saved me. Sorry to get off the subject of USPS, but I just love my new system.

I don't think Ship-Logic works with anything else except Yahoo Stores. However, you can still do the ENDICIA part, which is still pretty nice for printing postage.