General Forum

Hello RJ-

so your point seems to be that a label printer is not cost effective for a hobbyist shipping a few packages a week.

I agree.

Some that have a label printer may have one because they ship dozens per week, on a different hobby or side business..or maybe they like the quality of the label....either way, it is a personal decision that I am not going to question in a forum thread.

But I am very happy with my 12.00 scale printing plain paper labels off my laser printer.

Happy with the time it saves me from waiting in line at the PO.

On same scale I weight the PWE I send every week so I know how many stamps to put on as well.

Mark

Does PayPal charge a transaction fee when you purchase a USPS label through them?

Ah yes Mark, I live in such a rural area that I forget some people have to stand in line at the post office. I typically drop my PWE off at lunch time and get annoyed if there is another person at the window when I walk up. BTW, when my sister in law moved up this way from CA she was amazed on a major election that you didn't have to stand in line to vote. She said sometimes she would have to be in line for an hour or more to vote. I said I remembered one time I had to wait for someone to vote before me. It happened once.

You don't need a label maker for PayPal, RJ. Just plain paper and a printer.

No transaction fees.

This has turned into a good discussion on postage. It does seem to me that the best methos may depend on the volume of mailing you are doing. I will probably average about a trade once every week or two so I am fine continuing as I have been due to low volume.

Nice discussion.... For me PayPal is the best way to go.  No Fees.  It will even remember addresses for frequent trading partners.  I bought a cheap digital scale on Amazon for $8.  Best money spent.  You can even weigh PWEs to get most accurate postage, eliminating any extra postage costs.  Just look it up on the USPS website, even international trades.  You can pay for and label boxes and then just them off at the post office with no waiting in line.  PayPal gives you the tracking number.  Anything up 10-12 ounces can be just dropped in a mail box.  In the past year I've made over 300 trades.  Never had a shipment lost or returned for inadequate postage.
On a slightly side note...  please include the trade transaction number and your user name with every package.  Don't assume your trade package is the only delivery your trade partner is receiving.  I have 14 trades working at this very moment.

I struggle with the bolded Dukey. I'm trying to get better but since I am usually dealing with 1 or 2 trades at a time I miss the importance of that point.  I can't imagine doing 14 trades at once. I think it would kill the joy of trading for me. I need to move at a slow and deliberate pace.

My reply isn't just about postage. I have no intention on scrimping and saving on anything! I'm surely not interpolating what anything costs until I'm 85. This is just crazy....If I want a new scanner, I buy it!...My laptop is getting older and slower....buy a new one. My wife and I get a new car every 3 years, Miss T gets a new bat every season! I'm not a rich man but I'm definately not living my life looking for the next penny to save. Naturally, we look to save wherever or whenever, but not to the extent where we don't enjoy life, or look forward to new things and new travels. Sorry, just had to rant. 

Okay, here we go with a great example. I just completed a trade on this site. We each sent the other 301 cards. We both used a single cardboard card box to ship at a weight of nearly 2 pounds each. Everything over 14 ounces HAS to be shipped as Priority Mail anyway. How do YOU (no one in particular, but all of you) ship that box?

Here's how it went down for this trade: The newer member shipped his cards in a 500-count box directly labeled to me and shipped from his local PO. It cost $15.60 to ship and had a little Priority Mail sticker on it along with the postage sticker and the tracking sticker. I put my cards in a 400-count box and put that box inside of a Priority Mail Flat-Rate Bubble Mailer. I printed the postage/tracking label on my printer (that I also use for all of my other printing and scanning needs) from my Paypal account. My cost was $7.75!

My scale wasn't even a factor in this monster trade b/c it was going to be PM no matter what (but I did use it to verify that I had to go PM). All the materials I used are either free from the USPS (the BM), recycled from previous trades (the box) or are things I would be buying even if I wasn't trading cards (ink and paper). The only things I could count as costing me money is the packing tape and my time! I spent half the money he did without really spending any extra money on anything.

Yes, I did already have the scale and the printer/scanner. But I need the printer for lots of other things too. The scale was specifically for shipping originally, but I've found other uses for it too. As for PWE shipping, there is a hand-held balance-scale that I've had for almost 20 years now that weighs mail. It cost me $3 at the PO back in the late-90's. I STILL use it to this day to know if I need an extra stamp on something small. It can weigh up to 3 ounces. I'm not sure they still sell that in PO's now, but I'm sure you can find one online. I'm not going to nickel-and-dime my products to get an exact reading of the savings they generate, but saving over 50% of what someone else paid to ship to me on JUST ONE TRADE is proof that I'm doing things right.

BTW, I did let that trader know that he should have shipped like I did and he quickly replied that he had ordered a FREE 10-pack of the PM FL BM's. So not only did I save myself some money, I'm saving him money in the future. Helping others save money on shipping is just as satisfying as saving money myself!