USPS Click-N-Ship For Business Changes

Just received this email. Is this the end of our ability to print labels and use postage stamps?

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Dear Valued Customer,

At USPS, we want to ensure that we are providing current and relevant applications, products, and services that our customers rely on to grow their business. To meet the needs of our business customers, in late April 2015 the Click-N-Ship for Business® application will be transitioning to a USPS® meter label solution. This meter label solution application will inherit most of the current capabilities and features from the Click-N-Ship for Business® application, but will no longer support creating labels unless an approved meter, permit, and/or eVS® account payment method has been identified within the application.

To minimize the impact on the daily operations for our customers, transitioning to the USPS® meter label solution will be a seamless process, requiring a minimal effort by the customer. In the upcoming weeks we will provide additional information about the transition process, as well as the application's features, functionalities.
Regards,

USPS® Click-N-Ship for Business® Team

Everyone will still be able to print labels within ebay and Paypal and will not be affected by the changes in the Click N Ship program...

If I understand this change, there will be no longer be a way to send a USPS-labeled shipment and use postage stamps to pay for it. Starting in late April, you'll have to generate your own address label (or hand address,) then apply a separate label for any additional service (tracking, signature confirmation, etc.,) then pay full retail for everything.

There's progress for you.

I find it pretty ironic that the USPS is leading the way in eliminating the use of their own products on mailings.

P.S. There's a lot of stuff shipped outside of ebay (>95% of my shipments,) and the ability to create first class parcel labels (even metered) doesn't exist on USPS.com. That was one of my more frequent uses of the Click-N-Ship software.

I agree with Ken (srailkb) -- I think this is going to cause some problems.

Most of my shipments are stamps, and 1st-class parcel (3 or 3.5 oz limit, can't recall which at the moment) is the way I send items that are valuable enough to require tracking. (I put lightweight rigid backing in the package both for protection and to get it to qualify as a package.)

It'd be a big pain, but does anyone know if the APC units would allow for this kind of sale, even if it required you to purchase the electronic postage right then?

If there's no longer a way to do this electronically, then not only would the postage be at retail prices, but then wouldn't it also require paying for the tracking, if the package has to be taken to a window to complete? That's a significant increase in costs of both time and postage.

TIA.

Yes, yes, and yes (if I'm understanding the change correctly.) Additional postage cost + additional time waiting in line + additional burden on the already overworked window clerks.

Yeah, it looks I will have to substantially change the way I ship higher-value items.

I have never raised my s&h prices -- have always absorbed every increase. This may be the scale-tipper. :-(

I just re-read your post, and maybe I misunderstood. I believe the APC's at each PO will continue to offer 1st class parcel labels. It's just the Click-N-Ship (the ability to do it from your PC, so you can use stamps) that will disappear.

Thanks, Ken -- That would at least be some small consolation, but of course, nowhere nearly as convenient as preparing it on the computer.

-- Dave

Received this response from USPS customer care after asking specifically whether there would be any ability to print labels and use postage stamps on those mailings (bold and underline theirs, not mine, LOL):

Wow, it never would've occurred to me to write them. I would've just assumed that I'd never hear back. Good for you for pursuing this.

But what's conveniently lost in their answer is, with this change, that it's no longer possible to pay by debit/credit card with this software either. I didn't always use stamps anyway, when shipping 1st-class parcels. (In fact, if I have any concerns, I deliberately don't use stamps, because I think stamps attract attention to the package.) I've had an electronic form of payment attached to my USPS account for years, but that will no longer be an option using this software.

For me, without using stamps, the problem could be fixed by the USPS enabling the 1st-class mail parcel as an option on the USPS site.

There are always third party solutions for printing paid labels with tracking, other than ebay. I believe that the SixBit Software ecommerce solution will print paid labels but I haven't tried it. If the USPS Application Program Interface (API) continues to exist, it should be possible to submit addresses and get barcoded labels, or barcodes only, back. The API does not support paying for postage. This may be an answer depending on whether or not it would be possible to get the necessary permissions to use the API. I also called Endicia, but they claim that the USPS will not allow them to print labels without postage.

Before I received the email, I had already decided to sell off excess postage on ebay. If no solution is found, I will more aggressively clean out whatever saleable postage I can find. Last week about $2,500 in postage came with a somewhat better US collection. I can only guess that the market for US postage will take yet another hit over the next few months as dealers who realize they can no longer use it start to dump it into the marketplace.

However, postage is getting so cheap that buying a tracking sticker for priority or heavy mailings may continue to be cost effective. I don't know if sending for a pad of bar codes as suggested by Foster Miller in a different SCF will work or not. If the barcode is already on the package will the cost still be the same?

Clark