How A CEO Turned Stamps.com Into A Moneymaker

Investor's Business Daily

"While the U.S. Post Office sells stamps in retail outlets the way it has for the last 200 years, Stamps adapted to the Internet. It provides postage services through its software, mostly to small firms, big shippers and e-commerce sites.

Stamps.com's software enables its customers to send a letter, certified mail, postcards or packages, without having to trek to the local post office and wait in line."

Avoid the Post Office With This Industry Leader

The Motley Fool

"Stamps.com targets home offices, small businesses, and high-volume shippers with its PC postage service. For example, a person operating a home-based eBay or Amazon.com Marketplace business would use the service to mail out products sold to customers.

Stamps.com customers also receive discounts on postal rates, package tracking, and insurance, as well as save time by not having to drive to the post office. This allows small-business owners to focus on their business and not waste time and money."

Three Ways to Streamline Shipping for the Holiday Rush

Entrepreneur.com

"So last year, the Long Beach, Calif.-based company instituted "batching," where he dedicated one to two shipping stations to focus on the company's 20 to 30 best-selling products. His 20 employees then began pre-packaging these items so they would be ready to go with the exception of the customer's shipping information."

How to Save Money on Shipping Costs

American Express OPEN Forum

“...you can save money by buying postage online. For example, through such companies as Pitney Bowes and Stamps.com, Express Mail users get a 3% price reduction; Priority Mail customers save 3.5%. The approach is most cost-efficient if you regularly send out big mailings, since these services generally charge a monthly fee.”

The Most Trustworthy Companies

Forbes.com

Stamps.com Named to Most Trustworthy Public Company List by Forbes.com

“Stamps.com Ranked Among Fortune Small Business Magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Small Public Companies ”

Fortune Small Business magazine

“Stamps.com provides Internet–based mailing options, including U.S. Postal Service–approved electronic postage that can be printed directly onto labels and envelopes. Another service allows consumers to create valid stamps from digital photos.”

The FORTUNE Small Business 100 list ranks companies with annual revenues of less than $200 million and a stock price of more than $1 based on percentage growth in earnings, revenue and stock performance over the past three years.

“PC Postage Saves Time, Money, and Headaches”

PC World

“Stamps.com lets you prepare and print stamped labels and envelopes on your computer; it also offers a host of time-saving features such as integration with your contacts database and real-time address verification, e-mail shipping and receipt notifications for both you and your recipient, scale integration, electronic generation of custom forms, pickup scheduling, supply ordering, and usage reports. Each provides deeply discounted third-party insurance and free delivery confirmation for Priority Mail.”

“Turning your PC into a postage meter lets you avoid lines at the post office”

The Boston Globe

“The software also determines the correct ZIP code and prints the bar code over the address, which is likely to speed delivery.

Using either system is pretty simple. You start a program on your Windows-based PC, type in the address, tell the computer how much your letter or parcel weighs, and press the “print” button.

You can run an envelope straight through your inkjet or laser printer: It comes out with the destination and return addresses, plus the postage. If you want to send something bigger, you can print the postage onto a mailing label.”

“Buying Stamps Can Now Mean Just a Trip to the Computer”

New York Times

“Life just became a little bit easier for those who mail,” Pam Gibert, a Postal Service vice president, said. “With PC Postage you can purchase and print postage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

“Your Stamp Here”

BusinessWeek.com

“Besides never having to go to the post office again, there are other advantages of Internet Postage: You can print postage directly on an envelope at the same time you print the address. You can print shipping labels for bigger envelopes or parcels, and USPS gives you a discount on delivery confirmation for using the Internet. On labels, you can conceal the amount you pay for postage, a good idea for retail businesses that charge a shipping and handling fee that's more than the cost of postage alone. You can insure packages without taking them to the post office. You can reprint postage that you screw up, something you can't do with a meter. And you can print small, peel-off labels--Stamps.com calls them NetStamps--that work just like regular postage stamps.”

“How to print postage online”

MSN Money – SmartSpending Blog

“For me, the biggest draw now is in the time savings. With services like Stamps.com, you can print postage and addresses directly onto letters and labels. You can also print regular postage, so I can print my Media Mail postage at home and just drop it off at the post office.”

“The pros and cons of a home-based post office”

Yahoo! News

“It guides you through mailing just about anything from a postcard to a large, oversized box. Any type of mail (Express, Media, Parcel) are all supported, and you can compare the different rates right there. Weighing and stamping a package takes about 10 to 20 seconds, max. It's actually faster than they do it at the post office.”

“Print postage from home and avoid the lines at the post office”

WWAY TV3 (ABC Affiliate – Wilmington, NC)

“Many people would like to find a way around the lines at the post office. Stamps.com may be a helpful alternative. The website allows you to get your mail ready to send off, right from your desktop.

You can print official United States Postal Service stamps and shipping labels directly from your PC and printer. The service costs sixteen dollars a month, which includes software to create the postage and a scale to weigh your packages. That way, you know the exact amount of postage needed to send your mail. That postage amount is automatically deducted from your account. You can also personalize your stamps with a family photo or business logo.”

“Regus Group Americas counts on supplier relationship for efficiency – Purchasing postage through Stamps.com reduces costs”

Purchasing.com

“Clients use Regus offices to reduce costs, increase productivity and focus on their core business. Stamps.com helps with all three of these, Jeffrey Lipes says.

The supplier helped to reduce costs by approximately $1.2 million a year, he says, explaining that he arrives at this figure by comparing monthly cost of the service with that of leasing a postal meter. Providing the service (and getting rid of the postage meter) allows Regus to optimize the office space in provides clients. And because the service is Web-based, it also streamlines workflow and improves efficiency of the company’s billing processes.

“The integration on the billing piece is a huge step forward because in the old days we had to manually apply those postal charges to billing system,” says Lipes. “Now, it’s totally automated.”

“Websites to Help Streamline Your Shipping”

Inc.com

“Stamps.com lets customers import addresses from an online store, address book, or spreadsheet, and input package weights. The software checks the information for inaccuracies, then calculates USPS postage rates and creates labels.”

“Are You Still in the Dark Ages with Your Postage Solution?”

AllBusiness.com

“Here are some things the Stamps.com solution does that a postage meter can't do.

Print address and postage in one step, print shipping labels, track all your postage expenses, import addresses from your PC Address Book, print postage from Quickbooks or Microsoft Word, instantly compare postage rates and delivery times for all mail classes, make your mail look more professional, automated Certified Mail and Customs Forms.

That's a pretty long list! I don't do a lot of mailing (barely ever use a stamp!), but if you spend a lot of money mailing items in your business, it may be worth your while to take a look at Stamps.com to see if changing over could help your bottom line.”

“Now she can print her postage and mailing labels right from her PC.”

Internet Retailer

“Before I had to physically go to the post office,” Milstein says. “Now I can do it all from the desk.” She also likes the fact that Stamps.com can handle international orders, which account for about half of her sales of vintage and antique costume jewelry, as well as Priority Mail and standard domestic postage.

“Online Postage: Streamline Your Small Business Shipping”

StartUpNation.com

“Instead of the long-traditional postage meter, Sheila Frazier handles mailing needs online through Stamps.com, an e-commerce site that charges customers a monthly fee for the convenience of buying postage online. “I’ve had no trouble with them,” says Frazier, who has used Stamps.com since she launched her business in 2005. “For postage purposes, they’ve been perfect.”

Businesses large and small have long operated their own mailrooms to process high letter and package volumes. But with the convenience and cost benefits offered by services such as Stamps.com and the U.S. Postal Service’s own, limited pay-for-postage-online options, setting up your own post office has become a viable option for even the smallest business.”

“Cost Cutters: 6 Ways to Save on Postage and Shipping”

SMSmallBiz.com

“For $10 to $20 a month, electronic postage services such as Endicia, Pitney Bowes (PBI) and Stamps.com (STMP) offer software that enables small businesses to print U.S. Postal Service-approved postage through their personal computers, printers and Internet connections at a discount to Postal Service rates. Stamps.com, for example, claims to save customers 3% to 3.5% on first class mail fees, 5% off express mail, up to 11% off priority mail and up to 8% on international mail.”

“…Shipping Advice for Small Online Retailers”

AuctionBytes.com

“No one likes those 'monthly fees' of the postage vendors, whether it is rental on a postage meter or a monthly fee from Endicia or Stamps.com. But the fact is that these services are often cheaper than using Click-n-Ship or the PayPal shipping system. For example, if sellers purchase insurance to cover their shipments, Click-n-Ship and the PayPal system may actually cost more than using systems like Endicia and Stamps.com.”

“The PeC Review: Stamps.com is A Helpful Tool for Many Merchants”

Practicalecommerce.com

“Stamps.com’s software does a superb job of achieving its stated goal—printing proper postage from a PC. And it offers developers tools that make it possible to overcoming at least some of its shortcomings. As a postage processing tool, Stamps.com get four out of five stars in this PeC Review.”

“Stamp Of Approval? Get Postage Right From Home”

KERO23 (ABC Affiliate – Bakersfield, CA)

“As a member of Stamps.com, you can mark at least one thing off of your to-do list: making a trip to the Post Office. And running out of stamps -- which which can happen at the most inconvenient times -- would be a thing of the past.

If you have a computer, a printer and an internet connection, you can print sheets of stamps, shipping labels and international postage. You can even print postage directly onto envelopes.

Stamps.com, an approved licensed vendor of the United States Postal Service, provides convenience for more than just the individual looking to save those precious minutes of the day. Many others, such as smaller companies, entrepreneurs and online sellers, can also benefit from the service.”

“Entrepreneur’s Journal: Stamp prices rising again, so what to do?”

BloggingStocks.com

“Well, it’s a good idea to check out a mail service like Stamps.com. In fact, this company focuses on the needs of small businesses. Using the Stamps.com PC Postage software, you can calculate the exact postage – and print it on a label. There is no special hardware needed.

Keep in mind that the software will find all discounts (up to 11% on domestic Priority Mail). Stamps.com also has postage cleansing (that is, it makes sure that an address is valid). Actually, you can save more than 80% when compared to using a traditional postage meter.”

“Tips, gizmos and gadgets for the home”

Examiner.com

“In this era of Techno this and techno that, there is virtually nothing that you can not do on a computer or better yet, there is virtually nothing that you can not do WITH a computer and the internet. If you can do it on the outside world or via mail, you can usually do it from the comfort of your own home.

Forget the Post Office www.stamps.com – Print postage for letters and packages right from your home. You can even add in insurance, and other fees.”

“Stamps.com Review”

Law Office Computing magazine

“Stamps.com allows you to set up alphanumeric cost codes and then track your postage spending by using these cost codes. For law firms, this is helpful for tracking postage spent by client or case number. You then can search for the identifying cost code, print it out, view or download a list of all the postage printed for that account. This is invaluable in my appointed appellate work, as the court reimburses me for postage.

Before using Stamps.com, I had to enter the amounts into a spreadsheet, and I always forgot to enter one or two. You can get free or discounted electronic delivery confirmation of packages sent via First Class, Priority or Express Mail. You also can have package shipping and tracking information automatically sent to you, the recipient or both.”

“e-Postage”

AuctionBytes.com

Stamps.com is probably the easiest of the processes to use. It requires no extraneous equipment other than a PC and printer. According to Paula Berge of The Solace Lambs Network, “I use Stamps.com for all postage and I love it and have never had a problem.” It's software is downloaded free, and to make it's product more appealing, it currently offers $20 worth of postage free.

“Gadget Review - Stamps.com Internet Postage”

The Tech (MIT's oldest and largest newspaper)

“If you get a meter, you're limited on the dimensions of packages you can print postage for, and there's a significant rental and maintenance cost in addition to another piece of equipment you have to deal with. The Stamps.com service provides another alternative by integrating services normally provided by the post office into your computer and printer.

Whenever you want to mail something, you simply type in the recipient's address, select the type of package, and press print. You can print out on your conventional printer (directly onto the envelope or onto label sheets), standard pages for shipping labels, or onto a label printer. The software automatically corrects addresses that are wrong to ensure it will be delivered correctly.”