Postage Machine

[JRow]

We’ve always had an in-house meter/tape system for international mail or to catch errors, but since we’ve been emailing all of our invoices for a few years now, it’s rarely used. Our current usage is minimal, and we’re trying to understand what other companies do in situations like this.

We currently pay $1,200/year for the service agreement. We just received a quote for a Quadient iX5 — around $5,000 for the new machine plus a yearly contract, since our current machine is becoming obsolete.
• Do others still justify a dedicated meter machine with minimal usage?
• Does it make sense to switch to Stamps.com for meter strips or something similar?
• What solutions are others using for low-volume mail (not bulk) and international postage?

 

[bill kahny]

Meter is less for postage currently $.04 over first class stamp but they will charge you .02 each just for the ink. I hate our new meter contract.

 

[ReproElectroProspero]

What exactly is "minimal" usage in your world?

Your description makes it sound like you run maybe 1-10 letters a month. If that's the case - 100% dump the meter and just use stamps.com or pitneyship pro.

I recently started a hybrid setup, I have a PB Mailstation 3000 and have decent volume (500-2000 per day) and it rocks. But I have one mailroom employee and certified/parcels/special mail was becoming a problem. So I've been rolling out PitneyShip Pro to my organization for the last few weeks and I'm really liking it. You can just print postage/label together on standard office 20#, tape it to the envelope, and it works as postage. I think that kind of thing would work perfectly for you all if your volume is super low. You still get a lot of the discounts that way too.

 

[JRow]

This sounds perfect for us. Our volume is low but sporadic for meter strips— we might run 500 meter tapes in one day, then only 20 total over the next month. Sounds like PitneyShip Pro would handle it and save us space and money.

We just introduced the ShipStation API to streamline shipping by combining UPS and FedEx into one platform, so we’re really trying to simplify and consolidate where we can. It just feels like there’s never one perfect solution and will add in PitneyShip too. Thanks!

 

[Stickman42]

We mail single copies of books from an Excel list. Quantities vary from 20 - 700 addresses. Total monthly volume is around 500 to 1000 pieces. These are not a 1st class letter, but at least a few ounces in a padded envelope. USPS Media Mail is the least expensive service in most cases. I used stamps.com for a few years. It worked ok but became very cumbersome and slow when working with mailing lists. 6 months ago I switched to pirateship.com. Much easier at working with Excel lists of varying constructions (instead of standardizing like stamps.com needed), you get the same lowest rates, and NO fees or monthly charges. Plus you see what UPS options are for the same mail piece. International is a breeze. As an added bonus, you get corny pirate jokes while the software processes…

 

[ebu-llc]

We’ve always had an in-house meter/tape system for international mail or to catch errors, but since we’ve been emailing all of our invoices for a few years now, it’s rarely used. Our current usage is minimal, and we’re trying to understand what other companies do in situations like this.

We currently pay $1,200/year for the service agreement. We just received a quote for a Quadient iX5 — around $5,000 for the new machine plus a yearly contract, since our current machine is becoming obsolete.
• Do others still justify a dedicated meter machine with minimal usage?
• Does it make sense to switch to Stamps.com for meter strips or something similar?
• What solutions are others using for low-volume mail (not bulk) and international postage?

We have a Quadient DS-95i Mail Machine for sale if you're interested?