Search:

Custom Search
Photo of Marilyn Loeser

Postal Service Offers Business Online

By Marilyn Loeser

Thursday, March 26, 2009

You can have daily headlines from FedSmith.com delivered right to your desktop each business morning. The service is free and you don't get junk e-mail as the price of your subscription. Just visit our newsletter page to sign up!

Marilyn (Thorbahn) Loeser is a writer/editor for the Postal Service. Marilyn has been a journalist for more than 30 years and is currently a freelance feature writer specializing in travel.

If you have a computer and Internet access, you also have your very own Post Office right in your home or office — and its open 24/7. The Postal Service website, usps.com, offers almost as many services as your local brick-and-mortar Post Office.

To get the word out to anyone who hasn't discovered this mailing tool, the Postal Service is celebrating USPS.com Week March 23 – 27. Post Offices across the nation are holding special events in their lobbies to show customers just how easy it is to conduct postal business online.

For example, the Chicago Main Post Office is doubling as an Internet café. While customers enjoy free coffee, biscotti and music, they'll also be able to learn about how easy it is conduct postal business online at usps.com.

"We've taken the best elements of a funky, low-key neighborhood coffeehouse, and combined them with the features of a typical internet cafe," said Communications Specialist Mikal Sutherlin.

Laptop computers will be set up and postal employees will be on hand to help customers navigate the website.

So how can usps.com help residential and business customers?

You can order free eco-friendly Priority Mail and Express Mail shipping supplies, print and pay for shipping labels, and request free Carrier Pickup.

And you'll save money.

When you use Click-N-Ship, you receive free Delivery Confirmation and shipping discounts — up to 11 percent off the price you'd pay if you visited your local Post Office.

There are no fuel surcharges or other hidden fees like residential delivery or Saturday delivery.

Shipping packages is just the beginning. You can file a Change of Address, request Redelivery Service, and request your mail be held while you're away from home — all online.

You can look up a ZIP Code, calculate postage, find a nearby Post Office, rent a Post Office Box, and shop at the Postal Store for stamps, philatelic products and retail items including gifts based on stamp images — past and present.

The website is an extension of your local Post Office — actual and virtual working hand in hand to handle all your shipping needs.
 

This article is not copyrighted.

Add a Comment about this Article

** All fields are required.
Note: Your comments will not show up right away. FedSmith.com selects the most insightful comments from our readers for posting. If selected, your comments will show up in the comments section after they have been reviewed and approved. See our terms of use for more information.

Readers' Comments

  • People complain about the cost of mailing a letter -- or Christmas card -- but American postage is among the cheapest in the World. I'm an old lady, and it has risen during my lifetime considerably less than the cost of living. I can remember when a pack of cigarettes/loaf of bread was 25 cents, s...
    Posted: March 26, 2009 11:02 AM
  • If the post office didn't keep raising their rates we wouldn't have to keep finding alternative ways to communicate. It now costs $20 to mail 50 Christmas cards, in some cases more that it costs to buy the cards. It's more fun to receive a Christmas card than an email, but the Post Office is pricin...
    Posted: March 26, 2009 10:17 AM

View All Comments »

MORE BY MARILYN LOESER

Contact Marilyn Loeser or read more articles on the author's page.