# Priority boxes ? and Shipping?



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I have my first internet order! So cool since I do not have an operational webpage. It was from facebook.
Seems like a silly question.. Can I have the boxes sent to my home? 
Or do you guys just pick them up at the post office? 
Do you send them out from your home or post office?
Do you use the online label system? or just write the labels?

Thanks.
PSD


----------



## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

We have the boxes delivered unless we just want a few and will pick those up from the PO. There is no charge to have them delivered but then you need a place to store them.

We send what will fit in our mail box from home. Our mailman used to pick them up at the door until our s-t-u-p-i-d dog bit him. So now he's not allowed to come to the door. Dh intends to build a larger mailbox one of these days. LOL I wanted him to just honk his horn before the incident but he never did and from the look of his vehicle I'm guessing it doesn't work. *sigh* At least we are able to stop by the po on the way to market twice a week.

We print our labels from the USPS website. Print on regular paper and tape on well (don't cover the bar code with tape though). I'd like to find a way to print them on label paper.


----------



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I am looking for the place to sign up to print labels now. 

So, you really never need to leave your home? Because the post man will pick up the priority box if the postage stamp/label is already affixed?


----------



## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Yep. Saves a lot of time and gas money.


----------



## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

USPS works great for me. Yes, they will ship the boxes right to you - for free. I use the on line label system & pay with my debit card. You can get the labels from Onlinelabels.com. They come 2 to a page. I have to take my boxes to the PO but if we time it right my hub sometimes meets our mail lady down at the hiway & she will take them for us. We don't have have home delivery altho last week she made an unauthorized detour to our house just to see my operation. 

I sort work all my product packaging around what I can get in the small flat rate box. I ship a lot of my 3 for $15 deals. Soap, cream, candle combos. They are my bread & butter.

I love USPS.


----------



## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

So how do you get your label to print on only half the page? When I print mine, half the page is the label and the other half is a summary for me to keep for my records. I go through USPS.com


----------



## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

There is a box that you can check (or uncheck?) to have them only print the label and not the summary.


----------



## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

This is the label. http://www.onlinelabels.com/OL395.htm#DownloadTemplates

It's cheaper to just use plain paper & cut & tape it to the box but if you do a lot of shipping you'll like these.

Jenny


----------



## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

USPS has there own lables you just pay on line and print it out from their site. Very easy.


----------



## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

The PO does have it's on label stock that they'll sell you - not free like the boxes. Labelsonline is cheaper & they work perfectly with USPS click n ship.


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

If you go to usps.com you can see where you can buy all your stuff you need, the flat rate boxes are free, get a case of all three of them so you can figure out how many soaps fit into each box tight, so they don't move to get damaged, then use these as price cut offs or wholesale pricing especially the large box. I give price breaks for anyone buying 36 bars that fit in the medium shirt type box (there are two medium boxes, one looks like a shirt should to in it, the other one is more like a shoe box) and 50 of my bars fit in the large flat rate box.

I just print out my labels onto plain paper, and then cut off my label, this gives me the other half of the paper printing out your postage recipet for me to keep for taxes. I then just tape it on the boxes. I have my usps account loaded with my Paypal mastercard and that way it is not attached to my bank card.

I charge just barely over shipping to cover tape and printing the label and paper...so show the customer the actual cost of shipping, because it is such a deal for all the weight they are getting....but you also have the option of hiding the cost of shipping if you like. 

They also give you an address book that you can keep your repeat customers in so you can just with one click fill in addresses. 

If you have more boxes than you have mail box space, you can also before 2am of mail day, ask for carrier pick up, you write in if you want them to come to your mail box or.....mine come to my porch and pick up boxes off my table.....for free! And get your boxes now before the Christmas rush, there are times when they are really slow on sending them and they are always out at my post offices. Vicki


----------



## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Another good thing about the USPS is that with your account you have all your shipping records (how much you paid, delivery status & address book) right there. You get an e-mail when the box is delivered, if you check the box & can send an e-mail to your customer to say their purchase is on the way. I down load all my shipping expenses to a file so don't have to print out a receipt every time. Just keeps the clutter down. To me this is just another aspect of the biz.

The labels are a little bit of a splurge but I do quite a few so finally just went for it. They are not horribly expensive. 

Jenny


----------



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Wow thanks I ordered my boxes.


----------



## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I found worldlabel.com to beat the prices I was paying for the labels I use on products.


----------



## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

When I ordered my boxes they went to the post office and I still had to pick them up. The post office lady would not bring them to my house, so I decided not to bother her to pick up full boxes either.


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Wow Anita, even in hillbilly hell she has to bring my boxes to me, hundreds and hundreds of boxes.....oh she hates me  So you are saying that they don't have to honor carrier pickup on their site either? Wow, I would go over my mail carriers head (which I have done several times now) to make sure that is correct. Vicki


----------



## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

The rural carrier is obliged to do any transaction you can do at the post office except pick up a package that already has postage and weighs over a certain amt because it might be a bomb!
 That's the law. They really are required to provide you any service you need and actually their pay is based on the level of service they provide. They get paid more to bring you stuff and to take money and bring you stamps and to post a parcel without postage and bring you change. All of that adds to their income! USE them or loose them. They are failing because people don't use them anymore. It's still the best deal around. All the other services charge a pick up fee adding to your cost and the USPS is legally bound to pick up anything you want them to post for you. They bring me cases of boxes - I can call in the morning before the carrier is loaded and it is here by noon. And if I am quick I can stuff it and she will stop on the way back and take it to the office for me and bring me the change the next day. No way to beat it. Make that person do their job!
Lee


----------



## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Yep, they bring them to my house/barn and they even give you Priority Labels too. I just order them online or call the PO. And Lee is correct, they do pick up when you call which saves me a great deal of time if I am super busy that day (which is just about every day).


----------



## Jenny M (Nov 21, 2009)

Well, this is interesting. I have been told that we do not get any service to our home. We just got mail service to cluster boxes down at the highway. For years & years we had to drive 10 miles to the little PO in Big Water to pick up our mail.

I've been ordering FR boxes for some time & have to go pick them up but last week the mail lady brought them up here to me. What a surprise. She had never been up our road & just wanted to see where we live. Shoot, a little town north of us still had mail delivery by mule till the 60s. There are lot's of little Mormon settlements scattered around out here. Inaccessible to outsiders. This is the back of beyond. But I'm going to call the PO today & ask them just what services I can really get.

Thanks for the info.

Jenny


----------



## oh2bejoy (May 20, 2010)

Thank you, Ladies! As usual, I have learned a lot from you....am going to call the USPS today to have them pick up, since my car is not working....


----------

