posted on November 27, 2000 07:26:44 PM new
A portion of the email I received from them today:
E-Stamp will begin to phase out its Internet Postage
Effective November 27, 2000, E-Stamp will begin to phase out its Internet
Postage operations and shift the Company's focus entirely to web-based
shipping and logistics solutions...
They go on to say they will be shutting down on 12-31-00 and recommend switching to Simply Postage.
I've been a happy customer of e-stamps for over a year now, but today I found myself scrutinizing the alternatives, including stamps.com. Stamps.com has always seemed like a good choice to me - they just were not an option when I signed up with e-stamps. Simply Postage appears to be way to expensive for my modest needs.
But this is what burns me: I paid $90.00 for a digital scale from e-stamps that I have now found out is not supported by any of thier competitors. Additionally, I just ordered a big batch of Avery labels that are also doomed to become orphans before I can ever use them all. Again, these labels are not supported elsewhere.
I guess I just chalk this up to the true cost of doing business on the internet. This is not a vent - just trying to stay in touch with the way things are right now. I figure my odds of survival, business-wise, are a whole lot better than so many of these new dot.coms.
posted on November 27, 2000 08:07:45 PM new
Hi Kathy.
I've been using stamps.com and haven't had any problems yet. Well, let me rephrase. I ahven't had any major problems. They did erase my address book once, but I had a paper back up of everything anyway.
If your scale won't interface with stamps.com software, can you still use it anyway and manually input the weight to figure postage? I may be mistaken, but I think you can.
posted on November 27, 2000 08:29:20 PM new
I have to agree. Stamps.com is great internet postage. You can use any scale and input the weight manually. We use a 50 year old meat scale to weigh our packages. We have never been off by a penny. Their refund policy for misprints is expedient and generous. They also just partnered with iship.com, so I don't think they are going anywhere anytime soon. Overall, they have proven to be a real bargain and timesaver.
posted on November 27, 2000 08:33:19 PM new
I've been using Stamps.com for over a year now - they are WONDERFUL! Their tech support is excellent. I haven't had any major problems either - actually, one of the problems I had, was a computer problem - and I thought it was Stamps.com but they helped me anyways! Highly recommend Stamps.com.
posted on November 27, 2000 09:35:14 PM new
They must be related to PayPal... I assume they will have to change their name. After all, you can't get e-stamps at E-stamps.
posted on November 27, 2000 09:46:25 PM new
If your looking for someone to switch to I would recommend www.pitneyworks.com It only cost $2 service charge a month for as much postage as you want. Also as you buy postage it is stored on their server so you don't need any special postage vault device on your end.
posted on November 28, 2000 08:05:10 AM new
Thanks for the comments. I have already downloaded and installed the stamps.com software and printed some stamps. I can see this this appears to be a superior product - much faster and easier.
I am hosed on the scale once the e-stamp software stops functioning due to the fact that it can only be controlled by software and uses a non-standard physical interface that attaches to the e-stamp hardware.
Actually, this article causes me a little concern about stamps.com as well. But IMO, the convenience of these products makes it worth sticking with them.
posted on November 28, 2000 08:18:35 AM new
If the scale has a read out and can run as a manual scale unconnected to the computer you should sell it on eBay and you can recover SOMETHING for it as a manual scale.
Likewise the labels. Someone will buy them even if they are not using them for a mail program. You can sell almost anything if you try. I soldd my grubby old tennis shoes when I bought new ones.
