Which is the cheapest postage meter?

May 25, 2012 12:26 PM

I want a cheaper postage meter. I am tired of paying $30+ bucks a month to Pitney Bowes to rent their postage meter. What is the best/cheapest other postage solution?

We mail fewer than 50 pieces of mail per week, plus the occasional not very large package. We'd need a postal scale which I am willing to lay out for as long as it's not too pricey. Computers, printers, and phone lines are available. I've found stamps.com but it's still $15.99 per month and sounds a little too good to be true. Is there any other service I should look at?

posted by bq to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Endicia also exists.

What are your reasons for not simply buying an old-fashioned 100ct roll of stamps every couple of weeks?
posted by hattifattener at 12:51 PM on May 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have found that if I call Pitney Bowes, and explain that I simply don't need all these features, and we're really not using it enough to justify the cost, I can get the monthly rental cost down pretty low - I think 8.59/month or so. Of course, this involved a reasonable amount of time on the phone and several different departments, so I'm not sure if it's worthwhile to you or not.

You could definitely buy a postage meter, and then just print postage or use stamps.
posted by needlegrrl at 12:53 PM on May 25, 2012

Any objection to just using a PayPal account? I've used it for a variety of mailing needs.

http://pages.ebay.com/usps/shippingitems/labels.html (yes, ebay but you can do it without).

When I go here (log in to PayPal) I get an option to send something to anyone who hasn't bought anything from me.

www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

Shipping using paypal also lets you avoid the "sticking stamps on a package and hoping its enough and have to take it to the main post office because of the Unabomber" thing.

Info Paypal links (you may need to log in):

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Shipping/shipping/USPS/Popup_ShipUSPSHelp

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/shipping/Center
posted by tilde at 12:56 PM on May 25, 2012

Ack- hit post too soon.

I'd have the business create the paypal account, so things aren't mixed up with someone's personal account, and you can print out the history for your records/accounting purposes.
posted by tilde at 12:57 PM on May 25, 2012

Any reason you're not just using plain old USPS?
posted by sageleaf at 3:16 PM on May 25, 2012

Nthing USPS. No monthly fees, and we get extra benefits and lower cost by printing our postage from the office.
posted by summerstorm at 5:43 PM on May 25, 2012

Response by poster: I would love to use the USPS. I just can't figure it out. Their website is so confusing.

I can't just buy a roll of stamps, sadly - we mail a lot of large envelopes of different weights.
posted by bq at 6:56 PM on May 25, 2012

Just weigh and measure the envelope and put on enough stamps to add up to the right postage. The post office has (I'm not sure if they are free or not) poster types of things that you can just lay the envelope on and it will tell you the correct rate to use for the size.
posted by gjc at 4:48 AM on May 26, 2012