A couple of years ago, I didn’t understand why a friend of mine used Stamps.com. Who wants to pay $16 a month just for the privilege of printing their own postage, when you can go to the post office for free???

I quickly realized that going to the post office isn’t really free. How much time do you take away from your real business by running to the post office? Even if I do it on the way to the office or another errand, there is still time spent parking the car, waiting in line, and having the clerk ring up my purchase. Best case scenario, I waste 10 or 15 minutes. Worst case scenario, if I have to make a special trip to the post office, I have to go downstairs, walk to my car, drive to the post office, wait in line there, drive back to my office, park the car, walk to the office building, go back upstairs. All that can easily take 30 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic and the line at the post office.

If I have to send one special package a month, I will waste 10 to 45 minutes on it, according to my calculations above. What does that cost me in terms of work that paying clients want me to do? A minimum of $50, and maybe up to a couple hundred bucks. I guess that buying postage at the post office isn’t so “free” anymore!

And with Stamps.com? I spend less than 30 seconds and I never leave my office. I just weigh my package and print a label with the right postage on it, and voila! So that $16 per month fee is recovered by sending only one package per month. And the convenience just warms my heart.