I tell you, it’s not so bad when I have labels and boxes that hold together for another mailing…but it’s still hard, and gets postponed and postponed because the post office is a real chore, the lines go on forever, and when I’ve got a stack of boxes over waist high and am trying to maneuver them through the line, plus two or three slippery smaller packages, it’s a real pita.
I have imposed a nothing over 20 lbs limit, and that at least prevents a heart attack carrying the stuff up and downstairs…
But if there’s 5 and 6 20 pound boxes of books, plus little items, that’s a lot of trips.
I like to support the bookstores, but I wish they’d mail these things in early spring, so I don’t have to do this in summer heat.
Do you have a good scale? I have a kitchen scale I use for most of my boxes, its simple to just weigh them then go on over to the USPS site and pay for postage there with a credit card. Then if its smaller stuff and priority, they pick up! Without priority they’d still have to go to the post office, but most of them have a designated drop area where you just walk in with your pre-labeled boxes and drop them and walk off… SO much easier than negotiating with the line.
Ok, it looks like it ate this the first time around, so hopefully I’m not duplicating!
Have you checked out the USPS Click-n-ship? You weigh your package, go to the site and plug in the weight, address, and sometimes box size, then pick your postage option. Pay with credit card, then all you have to do is walk into the post office and drop them in your post office’s designated drop area. Ours uses a counter station thats normally empty, so it really helps save on the time in the line. I even hear a rumor that if you have priority stuff, you can get them to pick it up, although I’ve never tried it. (something about the fact that I don’t get mail at my physical address… gets too confusing!)
I LOVE it! So much easier than standing in line with armloads of boxes all trying to skitter out of the pile!
MMM. UPS is a thought. They didn’t specify. There’s also an either-or mail service up on the main road.
OH, I’m talking about the regular post office! Here at the backside of beyond UPS is a bit of a PITA as the REAL UPS is only open to the public about 12 hours a week so you have to deal with subcontractors.
https://www.usps.com/ if it will let me post a link…
maybe you could post a notice at WSU for a Vayne-esque young man to help 😉
:rofl: LOL. That sounds better than I want to admit.
Lol. One wishes. Spokon starts tomorrow. We’ve got that to do. Plus the mailing. Plus the pond. Plus we’re trying to get several e-books out. Plus the house is a mess (can you wonder?) and I really should drain the pond and refill again, to hold this algae at bay until I can get the new filter system in.
Wah.
Just…
wah!
We have to take all packages through the line. Which means two trips through the line, or means Jane breaking off her work to go help me. I think I like the mailing service option: I can park just outside and run back and forth, no problem.
I’m assuming you are sending this at Media rates.
Might one suggest a hand cart of some kind?
:: Still amused, liking the Vanye-esque suggestion. Much lolz. ::
Sensible, but the one we have scares people…rusty, clanky, etc, and we hate to load it in our pretty new car. Rust all over the floor mats. It’ll happen, but reluctant to have it happen now.
I use a luggage cart, but that wouldn’t do the weight. They make a small flatbed that folds. Check Costco. I think I have seen them at Sams. A heavier luggage cart might be available. Mine holds up to 80 lbs.
This doesn’t belong to this discussion, but I wanted to let people know that Iain Banks’ Surface Detail is the Deal of the Day today at Amazon: $1.99.
Oops, Deal of the Day refers to Kindle orders. Should have included that information!
Do you have to go to the PO and stand in line to get postage put on? Have you thought about printing out your own postage? I did a free trial of Stamps.com. You use an ordinary printer to print postage which you buy from them. You get a free digital scale that hooks into your computer and you can buy all kinds of blank postage forms through them. You can do all sorts of postage for parcels, etc. with delivery confirmation if you want. If your boxes already had postage could you just take them and dump them in the after hours hopper? If you could do that, you could hire some kids to take them for you.
I sell stuff on Amazon, and you can buy postage from them for the things you sell through them. They subcontract Stamps.com to provide this, which is why I canceled my subscription to Stamps.com.
I bought my hand cart at either Home Depot or Lowes many years ago for the same reason. The cart I had was unwieldy and scary. This one is some sort of plastic that cleans easily and I can handle with no problem. The one I bought was on sale; I know I paid under $50.00. I can fit five boxes of clay, 250 lbs, on it with no strain. We also used it as part of our wheeled system to haul the cast iron wood stove upstairs last fall. I know some potters use a style of cart that can be either flat or upright and holds about 800 lbs. Clay is as heavy a books!
We’re supposed to take our packages to the counter and answer questions about them. There’s no place to just drop them.
No, not since 9/11, printer cartridges, and ricin tainted letters coming from Spokane, I’d guess not. 😉
“We’re supposed to take our packages to the counter and answer questions about them.”
That’s a big advantage for UPS or FedEx: not only do you not have to answer questions, they’ll pick up. You save a lot of time and a little gas, too. I’d also rather receive from them instead of the PO unless it’ll fit through a standard mail slot and no signature is required. Going to the PO is a pain; though, I hope, my PO is exceptionally rude (if they’re all that bad…!)
True: you’ll have to change your shipping rates; but still, your time is too valuable, in my opinion.
The USPO keeps advertizing printing you own postage and free pickup on TV.
It’s not us shipping, generally, except during the brief flurries of hardbound sales: almost all are bookstores shipping their stock to me to autograph, then mail back. I like to support the bookstores, but it gets to be a bit of a trial. I think I may start mandating shipment by UPS, because the UPS is a lot easier. And that’ one more customer lost for the poor USPS: our postman is an absolute doll, who goes amazingly out of his way for us, and I DO want to keep him going.
One is fortunate to have an automated postal kiosk at one’s local post office. You can bring any package that will fit into the drop bin, weigh it, and print out the postage any hour of the day or night, as long as it doesn’t require special handling. It is a real boon during the holiday season, when the hours I find convenient to mail things are not necessarily when the post office is slow, or even open! Would it be worthwhile to see if there is a kiosk within reasonable distance of you?
APCs (postal, not military) are avilable in Shadle Garland, Rosewood, and Spokane Valley; no idea if any of those are convenient for you. They certainly have de-stressed my mailing!
I don’t know if my first try at this posted or not, but I’ll try again. The post office will pick up packages mailed using priority mail, but boxes of books are so heavy that would cost the earth. I have printed postage here at the house to mail tax returns to clients using the Postal Service website; they’ll even generate a receipt for tax purposes. You’ll need an 8″ x 5.5″ label or one of the UPS windows that hold the label printed on plain paper. IIRC they changed the rules a while back to require any package weighing over a pound to be blessed by a human before mailing; you’re probably SOL all around.
Thanks so much for researching that. Unfortunately the way these bookstores send, they’re big big boxes, well-padded: I’ve broken them of sending books in bare cardboard that splits and requires me to find new boxes of the same size because they’ve thoughtfully already licked and attached the postage to the addy cards.. [head-bang] … and of packing them all in one monster box I can’t even lift without strain … but alas, now they’re big poofy boxes. And they’re still pretty heavy, especially when you have 5-6 of them.
We can tell that you need a large staff like Bren to take care of the mailings.
Finished Invitation – If Bren only knew what is in store. Very nice.