QUESTION: What kind of scale do you use to weigh your books? Does it connect to your computer?
ANSWER: Yes, I use a postage scale with Endicia and I love how it eliminates that chore of inputting the weight of the package.
Back when I bought my scale a few years ago, there were very few choices out there. So I paid about $120 to Endicia for a scale with a 10-pound capacity. I see they have an even better scale now that costs only $85.
By now I’d bet there’s tons of used scales for sale on eBay at cheap prices. For example, after I bought mine, Stamps.com started giving away scales to people who signed up with a new account, so I bet lots of those are now on the used market. Looks like Stamps.com is still giving away scales, but their service doesn’t equal Endicia.
But even if you had to pay $100 for a scale, it’s worth it. It does connect to your PC, so you can tell Endicia to automatically get the weight from your scale, instead of you having to input the weight of each package.
One caution: If you buy a scale on eBay or anywhere else, make sure it does connect to a PC. A USB connection is best. Some of these scales are digital and look like the cockpit of a 747 but still don’t work with online postage.
Another great thing I got used on eBay was a reconditioned Zebra/Eltron thermal printer. It prints 4 X 6 address labels like you see on UPS packages, and you can set up Endicia to use those labels. I paid $40 for mine and it works just like a brand new one that would cost $400 or more. If you buy the labels in quantity, it’s much cheaper and faster than laser-printing your labels. If you ship lots of books, the savings can pay for the cost of your thermal printer several times over, every year.
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6 Comments
For smaller sellers such as myself, a lower cost option is a scale by Pelouze. It costs about $25.00 for a 10 pound scale at Staples. It does not however connect to your computer, but it is still better than waiting online at the PO.
Scales are very important as I always get into trouble when I go to the post office. They always say that I dont have enough postage.
A couple of notes:
First, the free scales from Stamps.com do not connect to a computer, but do weigh accurately and are of reasonable quality, so they’re worth having.
Second, I like my DYMO LabelWriter 400 Turbo. They’re in the $100-$129 range new. I’ve printed thousands of labels with no malfunctions of any kind, and this printer is substantially cheaper than the other brand.
I use DYMO 30384 labels. If you use Stamps.com and this printer, you are required to use either the 30384 or 30385 labels, but I think more templates are available on Endicia, which I now use.
In any case, online postage and a thermal printer are well worth the relatively small costs.
Steve,
I haven’t had anyone spell out the advantages of Endicia over Stamps.com which I use. Would you mind?
Amber
Hi Amber,
Thanks for the suggestion. I will put that on my list to do — to list the features and do a comparison. I’ll need to check to make sure Stamps.com hasn’t added new features since the last time I checked it out.
I can tell you that the last time I compared them a couple of years ago, Endicia was light years ahead of Stamps.com, in the numbers of features and the amount of stuff you can automate. By comparison Stamps.com was an absolute joke.
I’m sure Stamps.com has added a few features since then but I’m sure they still don’t have everything Endicia has.
I have a Stamps.com scale and it works most of the time. Some times after I take an item off the scale I have to power it off and on because it does not set itself back to zero accurately. If you are in the market for a scale, I would recommend buying something of better quality and definitely don’t buy a used Stamps.com scale (oh yeah – power adapter extra, no automatic turn off). Of course mine was free and I’ve learned to compensate for its inadequacy. When it works, it is accurate. Before you buy a scale I’d recommend reading the reviews on Amazon. You can find out a lot from the various reviews about scales. The Post Office sells scales too.
Off the top of my head on the Stamps.com vs Endicia, a few years ago, using Media Mail with delivery confirmation cost extra on Stamps.com; maybe they changed that. Endicia comes with a layout program that lets you design envelopes and it also comes with pre-configured envelopes. I think Stamps.com has limited printing options. In Endicia you can tweak your printer settings for everything you want to print on. Endicia offers cheap insurance for packages.
I used Stamps.com for a 2 month trial then cancelled and tried Endicia for a 2 month trial and decided Endicia was a better package. I’m on the one year Endicia payment plan which saves quite a bit of money over the monthly plan or any plan on Stamps.com (I asked Stamps.com for their best non-publicized price but it couldn’t match the price and features of Endicia). I tried Stamps.com again late last year but decided to stick with Endicia. Endicia has pretty good customer service via phone. If you Google for Endicia coupons, you can sometimes find a code that extends the 1 month trial to 2 months.
When I need labels for Endicia, I just go to eBay and look for super cheap UPS labels (I got about 1000 for $6). Just cut off or black out the UPS text on the edge of the label. Since Endicia isn’t fussy about what label stock or envelope stock you print on, you can pretty much use anything you want – I print directly on my envelopes most of the time so it saves on buying labels (you have to trick Endicia into thinking it’s printing on a label instead of an envelope to get the delivery confirmation to work) but the post office accepts the package with no problem since it meets their requirements.
Cheers!