We are going to make choosing a postal service easy. We can do this because we have tried all the options. It doesn’t take many trips to the post office to realize that efficiency is a low priority with the United States Postal Service. Long lines, grumpy clerks, and travel time are just a few of the issues that we have encountered. While it is possible to run your bookstore and ship books through the post office, it is totally inconvenient. Booksellers typically need to ship every day, and if you are planning on shipping through the post office, you will need to package your books and arrive at the post office during business hours. We did ship this way for a short time, but quickly switched over to a home computer-based postage service, allowing us to print postage online, and have never looked back.

In the home computer based postage world there are really only two reliable services. These services are Stamps.com and Endicia.com. Stamps.com is the service that we use and that we are recommending for all PC users. Unfortunately Stamps.com doesn’t work on Apple systems. We are recommending that Apple users try Endicia.com. Both of these systems are more efficient then using the post office to ship your book-stock. Both are dirt cheep and will pay for themselves in your time.

Stamps.com:

Stamps.com is the system that we have the most success with. Their software is simple to download and set up, and you can be up and running in just minutes. The Stamps.com service allows you to impute the shipping address and print out the appropriate USPS approved postage. With this system you can ship from home or drop off your books in any blue postage box at your convenience

All that you will need in order to integrate Stamps.com service into your bookselling system is a PC and a simple inkjet printer. Those who are shipping larger volumes of books will be glad to hear that the Stamps.com program interfaces with a variety of features such as integrated scales and thermal printers. Postage can be printed on a sheet of standard 5×8 printer paper and taped to your packaged book, movie or CD. We used this method for years and it was entirely satisfactory, if slightly inefficient. Our eventual upgrade to a thermal printer was one of the great “aha” moments in life.

If there is one feature above all the others that you will appreciate, it is the simplicity of Stamps.com’s postage tracking system. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can pull up the tracking number of any package that you have sent and find its shipping status. Very often your buyers will e-mail you concerned about the status of their order. With this service you can add their tracking number to your return e-mail and they will have access to up to date tracking information. This substantially lowers the risk of scammy buyers claiming not to have gotten books that you have sent.

We think that Stamps.com is the absolute best service that you can get for your money. Here are some of the perks:

• Up to twenty five dollars in free postage
• Four week, no-risk trial
• Print postage from your own home, making your life much easier
• Customize stamps and postage stickers
• Free digital scale
• Hide price of postage
• Excellent customer service to resolve issues and help set up service
• Print postage online from the comfort of your home

Here is a link to the Stamps.com website.

Endicia.com:

For those with Apple computers or anyone who wold like to try another system, Endicia.com is your best option. We have used Endicia.com on several occasions when they had particularly interesting promotions available. We certainly have nothing negative to say about the Endicia.com system. It is slightly cheaper but you get somewhat less for signing up, no scale or free postage. Like Stamps.com, Endicia.com has all of the features that the professional bookseller might need and more. They are offering a free month of service when you sign up now, so really, you can’t go wrong. We think that anyone who tries either one of these services will find that they never want to go without. Here is a link to the Endicia.com website.

Next lesson, Packaging material.