posted on July 14, 2001 09:06:21 AM
Well, I took the plunge and signed up for endicia. My question is this:
What labels seem to work the best, I saw they had their labels 42.00 for 500, those are big enough to get everything on one label (DC, Indica (sp?), return address, logo, etc...). Does Avery make that same size label? 500 labels would probably last me the rest of the year. Thank you,
Bev
posted on July 14, 2001 09:42:06 AM
I also just signed up and I could not find this label size anywhere so I bought a supply from Endicia. Your other option would be to buy the Avery full sheet label and then cut them, but they are pretty expensive as well. I will say the Endicia tech support has been super for the couple of things I didn't understand. They were quick to respond to tech support emails and stayed with it until I figured it out. I think I will like them, and I know packages will move faster with the verified address and the bar code, plus not having to read my handwriting!!
posted on July 14, 2001 10:51:22 AM
Try Avery #05454 Mutipurpose Labels, 4x6. A pack of 40 was $5.99 at OfficeDepot. The per-label price is higher but not as much of an initial outlay of $$, nor as many labels to be stuck with if you decide not to continue the service.
Another thought: maybe some Endicia users could get together and split the 500 pack?
posted on July 14, 2001 10:54:51 AM
I dont use this service but I just check the FAQs on there page.
One of the reasons you are haveing trouble finding the label size they recommed is that there blue arrow labels are three part labels and not a single postage label.
many who have used stamps.com and other services have found that printing postage on regular paper you would use with your printer works well just tape it on your package the PO. has no problem printing online postage for packages this way you can't print postage for envelopes this way though.
also this will help avoid many printer jam ups which they will not refund when postage is printed due to jammed up feeding..
posted on July 14, 2001 11:27:58 AM
Thank you everyone for the advice, I think I will go ahead and order the 500 labels from them. I know what I can do with them if I decide not to use the service anymore. (Sell the rest on eBay)
posted on July 14, 2001 04:26:26 PM
I use 4 x 3 1/3 size labels. These are 6 to a sheet and I buy several thousand at a time but there are good deals on this size available at many online sites. This is a common Avery shipping label size.
You can not get the DC barcode on the same label as postage, return address and the mailing address. There just isn't enough room.
I used the template for the full sheet label. I then created 3 different templates from this. With the postage and addresses printing on the right and the DC printing on the left you get two labels. Just peel them off and apply them to the mailpiece.
With the 3 possible positions I just created 3 templates for top, middle and bottom.
posted on July 15, 2001 12:19:41 AM
This is a good topic since I've been with Endicia for about 3 weeks. I didn't have the right labels - I used to use 2x4s with Stamps.com, so after signing up with Endicia I didn't have the right labels for a few days. I used envelopes and taped them on to my packages and I also used plain paper - I didn't know that it was not allowed by the PO, but they took the packages and they all got to the right destinations. I've bought some 3 1/3 x 4 labels and have discovered that they are not big enough to get all of the info on, so I'm going to try avaloncourt's trick and set up templates so that I get 3 to a page 0 that is using 2 labels per package instead of 1. Great idea. Is this against Endicia's rules BTW?
Thanks for this great topic.
posted on July 15, 2001 03:58:06 AM
I'm glad you found that information useful. I tried very hard to find a way to use 2 x 4 labels to achieve the same result and just could not make it work. Endicia has wanings built in to let you know you're falling short of the required border space around the address and postage indicia. I tried and tried and discovered I could not get items placed correctly in the 2 x 4 space.
As four your allowable question, I mentioned this quite some time back in another thread and Harry Whitehouse (Pres. of Endicia) posted a comment that it was a good idea and fell within proper guidelines. I also verified it with one of the support people to make sure.
posted on July 15, 2001 05:00:06 AM
With printing the Delivery Confirmation on one label and the address and postage on the other, you would have to make very sure that you get the right DC label on the right package! Knowing the frantic rush when I'm getting stuff ready to go I'd probably put the wrong DC label on a package. I also don't like feeding label stock back through my printer after labels have been peeled off as this can cause printer jams. You could always still use the Endicia Blue arrow labels if you stop the service. Just set up a template in Word for this size label and use it for mailing. It just wouldn't have the postage printed on it.
posted on July 15, 2001 06:12:27 AM
I signed up for Endicia a couple days ago and have a question for people who've bought the 'blue arrow' labels. I'll use these primarily for Priority mail pkgs. Is the postage part of the label a peel off part? Does the postage have to go up top on the priority box where it folds over? The label on Endicia website looks like the postage would not be peeled off.
posted on July 15, 2001 09:50:26 AM
If you are mostly printing Priority mail with delivery confirmation and using Endica..then no need to buy labels. The Priority mail labels from the Post Office will do fine, as you can fit all of the info including postage and DC on the label. I have scanned a test label I just printed up, click the following link to see it.
http://members.home.net/dell2615/priority.jpg
The only caveat is that these are the January 1999 priority mail labels. You might have to hunt a while to find a Post Office that has them, but it won't be too hard. Last month I spent three hours visiting 6 Post Offices in my area, and ended up with about 2,500 of them which is enough to last me into next year.
Endica even has the January 1999 priority lavel template, so it couldn't be easier to use once you find the labels. One word of caution, its not enough to simply drag the address and DC label around in the template to ensure a perfect print. I had to go into "printer setup" and adjust the margins. It took me about 15 test prints until I got it perfect.
I can also use the Jan 99 labels for regular media mail and other label needs as all you have to do is cut away the top and bottom parts of the label which say priority mail...and you have a perfect blank white label.
I have been using the service sine May, and its been perfect for my needs. It might be a little hard to set up at first, but its well worth it once everything is installed okay.
The only bad thing I have to say is that I have sent in 5-6 requests for postage refunds and to date have not received even ONE response. Calls to tech support asking about it are brushed off with the response that the lone person doing this is overwhelmed with requests. Since the dollar amounts of my particular refund requests were small, I am not going to continue to worry about it, but it does leave a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.
posted on July 15, 2001 10:09:05 AM
I have used stamps.com and liked it but they pissed me off and I quit them. I signed up for this service and so far do not like it. Now I have not went all the way through it yet but I can only print one label at a time and have to select row and column for it. I can put stamps on a lot faster than that. Had problem setting up printer, their setting are backwards. I used their wizzard and finally made it.
posted on July 15, 2001 01:52:23 PMrent20 -- now that is a SOLUTION. I'll definitely look into that. Makes me want to get a second inkjet printer just for this purpose!
Have you tried their CS? I am a complete PC idiot, but after talking with them, I got things down pat! I found them to be really helpful.
On postage refunds...I've only had ONE misprint () and, even though they ARE NOT REQUIRED to refund for printing mistakes (check the regs!), they refunded my money after 1 MONTH. P-B will not refund for mis-prints as they are not required to do so!
Yes, it is complicated to set-up! They are trying to support a huge selection of labels & printers! Not easy! OTOH...P-B supports 1 (ONE!) label only!
posted on July 15, 2001 05:24:38 PM
So there is no misunderstanding, let me first say that I'm the President of Endicia.
A number of good questions have been posed (and answered admirably!) in this thread. Let me try to address a few of them:
I thought you could make your own layout on ANY sized label... Is this not true???
It's true. There are dozens of standard labels (e.g. Avery label sizes) AND you can make your own custom label sizes.
Has anyone used endicia for regular envelopes? and if so, does it work well?
We support all US and foreign envelope sizes and you can create a custom sizes as well. The controlling issue is often more what your printer can reliably feed, and if the printer can meet all the USPS specifications for envelope printing especially with regard to unprintable areas near the margins.
I use 4 x 3 1/3 size labels. These are 6 to a sheet and I buy several thousand at a time but there are good deals on this size available at many online sites. This is a common Avery shipping label size.
Folks have been very creative and we encourage everyone to share information about easy and inexpensive label solutions. When you print a DC label with IBI postage (with many components having fixed sizes to meet USPS rules), it gets pretty "busy". So you either need a pretty large label format, or you can be creative and chain together several distinct labels on a sheet to create a single label (as mentioned above). Just adhere to one poster's caveat to make sure you keep each "label set" together.
We developed our Blue Arrow labels in 1991 or so, and they are really patterned on the USPS Priority Mail 228 (the very first version). In fact, we tracked down the vendor who made them for the USPS and asked them to make our Blue Arrows (sans all the USPS stuff). Ironically, we now sell Blue Arrows back to the USPS (our software is the USPS internal corporate standard for their mail). Historically, Blue Arrows have been very handy for single packages (they feed very reliably because they are long), but they also work well if you have a laser printer with an envelope feeder.
We will be having a Green Arrow label very soon to support the new Express Mail single ply label. We just mailed the very first EM pieces using this new label format (single ply -- just like a Priority Mail label) Friday and we know one made it successfully across the US in one day (Sat delivery). This new Express Mail label replaces the multi-part form that USPS has used for years.
The only bad thing I have to say is that I have sent in 5-6 requests for postage refunds and to date have not received even ONE response
Believe me, we are working on this. The entire process really needs to be re-engineered. The USPS has made this VERY awkward for you the customer and the postage vendors. We (Endicia) are supposed to refund the customer directly (which we do typically on a 2-3 week cycle), and then we apply to USPS to be refunded ourselves. We have paid out quite a number of refunds, but the USPS has NEVER issued a refund to us! They keep saying the "check's in the mail" <g>.
We have several meetings scheduled with USPS officials on this topic over the next month.
(Note that postage vendors such as Endicia, Pitney, and Stamps never see/hold your postage money. When you buy postage, the credit card transaction goes DIRECTLY AND IMMEDIATELY to a USPS bank account.)
Is the postage part of the label a peel off part?
You can configure the blue arrow label a lot of ways, but generally you can get all of the postage, address, and DC information all fit on to the one largest subsection of the label. That allows you to put other text on the smaller peel off sections (like "Fragile" or "Open Immediately". Or you can just leave those smaller sections blank.
Once again, the Blue Arrows are patterned after the USPS 228 Label which has similar small peel offs which say "Priority Mail". We keep this multi-part format because we liked the idea of having distinct sections to use for special messages. We wanted/needed to keep the label LENGTH the same as the original USPS 228 because it feeds so well through printers. And then the largest peel off section is a very convention 4 x 6" size (which in of itself is too short to feed through most printers).
You can use the Blue Arrow to create a DC in either landscape or portrait. The landscape is a "design-your-own" affair -- just drag the components around to get a configuration you want.
The portrait design we have "standardized" as a special label pick in the latest version (which everyone should have because it has the new rates). It reflects a design favored by the USPS for expedited service packages and it basically auto-positions all of the components for you.
To get this portrait format, select Media|Labels and look for
"Priority Mail Shipping Label"
as opposed to "Envelope Manager Blue Arrow".
I hope these comments are of some help!
Harry
[ edited by HarryWhitehouse on Jul 15, 2001 05:25 PM ]
[ edited by HarryWhitehouse on Jul 15, 2001 05:26 PM ]
posted on July 15, 2001 05:30:30 PMHarry: could you explain exactly how the electronic DC process works so folks will have a better understanding of it?
I've probably butchered the explanation (in thread "Zen of Shipping" over the past two days!
posted on July 15, 2001 08:46:16 PM
Harry: Definitely go over the whole DC process. It's fascinating. I really liked your previous explanation.
rent20: Unfortunately, no post office around here have the larger DC labels. For some reason they can only get the itty bitty ones in. I had been utilizing the large ones until I could no longer get them.
posted on July 16, 2001 04:02:35 AM
I learned a hard lesson this weekend. I was going to get the jump on Monday and get my postage printed up on Sunday. For some reason it would not take my pass phrase. It kept telling me it was too old and needed to be changed (I just signed up on July 6). Okay, so I go and change my pass phrase. Still doesn't work. Now down at the bottom where it shows you how much postage is left is a notice that my account has been suspended!! Something about entering my pass phrase too many times?? Have no idea why it wouldn't take the pass phrase I set up in the first place. At any rate I did not get my postage printed and now I cannot use the feature until they open their offices 7 a.m. California time. I hope this doesn't happen often!
posted on July 16, 2001 07:08:15 AM
I found the Avery 4" x 6" labels at www.atyouroffice.com for $2.87/40 (AVE30418) at the very bottom of this page http://www.atyouroffice.com/prdetail.asp?product_block_label=2003153 AYO offers free shipping on orders over $50.
posted on July 16, 2001 08:36:43 AM
paintpower: This happened to me once. It was able to be corrected as soon as I talked to customer support. Your password and pass phrase information are stored on your computer and the file that contains them has become corrupt and unreadable. It just so happened that my computer had an unrelated crash while the endicia software was running in the background. This ended up corrupting the password file.
I have instructions here for how to clear things out should it ever happen again but it involves an undocumented way to clear out the encryption file and start over. This should probably not be posted.
posted on July 16, 2001 09:01:33 AM
Super fast resolution to my problem. Endicia has great tech support - fast and knowledgeable. Was able to print everything I have to print for today except for one package. It will not verify the address, no matter what I try. I have even contacted the buyer several times to make sure she sent me the address correctly, but it won't go through the zip verification, and if it is not verified I was afraid it would not print the postage for it, so I didn't try. Has anyone had this happen, and what did you do about it? Not a new address; this person says she's lived at same address for 30 years. Guess I'll just have to let the PO stick stamps on that one!
posted on July 16, 2001 12:12:26 PMI learned a hard lesson this weekend. I was going to get the jump on Monday and get my postage printed up on Sunday. For some reason it would not take my pass phrase
This is a security precaution to prevent someone from guessing a valid Endicia user's account number and then trying pass phrases repetitively until they get one that matches. Sounds like a lot of work, but hackers can write automated scripts to do this very quickly. If we didn't track the "number of bad pass phrase" attempts on each account, it's possible that an adversary could hijack someone's account and use all the postage in it.
We give you 5 pass phrase attempts before we lock your account. If you get 3 wrong and type the correct one on the fourth attempt, your "bad pass phase count" is set back to zero.
If you lock your account, you need to call technical support and answer some typical security questions before we will issue you a new pass phrase. And you will have to change this new pass phrase immediately. (Our security model is such that even our technical support people do not know your pass phrase. They can only set it to something else, and only after following a very structured process to determine that you are who you say you are.)
Note that we use pass phrases instead of passwords. Your pass phrase can be up to 64 characters long -- lots of "entropy" to foil would-be attackers.
You can chose to type your passphrase in each time you use the program, or have the program stored it in an encrypted form on your PC (under your user account). You can choose either security model depending on your assessment of the physical security of your machine.
posted on July 16, 2001 12:16:56 PMI found the Avery 4" x 6" labels..
Just be certain that they are long enough to feed reliably through your printer. Laserprinters often have rollers which can be > 6" apart, so a relatively short media gets inside the paper feed path and will stop. Ink jets are probably better in this regard.
You can do a simple test before buying any label. Make a "test label" by cutting the appropriate size out of an 8 x 11" paper, and then try to feed that through your printer. If it feeds OK, you are in business!
Best
Harry
[ edited by HarryWhitehouse on Jul 16, 2001 12:18 PM ]
posted on July 16, 2001 12:59:33 PM ...except for one package. It will not (ZIP) verify the address, no matter what I try.
You will run into this infrequently, but it can be a real problem to resolve. The USPS requires that we only print PC Postage for a "verifiable" address.
Talking to the recipient (as this poster did) resolves the situation 90% of the time. It's usually a "Oh, yeah -- we never get mail delivered to the house -- let me give you my PO Box" or something like that.
But here are some tricks you can use to help figure out the addressing scheme in a given area.
1. Remove the street number in DAZzle and perform a ZIP+4 verification. It will return a message saying that your query is too vague, but then present you with information about the entire street. Often, by scrolling through this information, you can figure out what the right street number might be (perhaps they mean't 100 not 1100?)
You can try this by verifying
Endicia
High St
Palo Alto, CA
You will see that High Street consists of a number of blocks, and even see several firms that have their own ZIP+4 because they receive so much mail.
2. Make sure that the Street is not an Avenue or Way. Not infrequently a large city will have a High Street and High Avenue.
3. Make sure an East or West isn't causing the match to fail. Very often there is a 10 E Main St and a 10 W Main St in a given town. If you query for 10 Main St in this situation, the USPS ZIP+4 lookup logic will return no match.
4. In response to another AuctionWatch question, I coded a special lookup on our Web site which will show information about streets in a specified ZIP5 (e.g. 94301). It hasn't had much testing yet, so let me know if it hiccups on you....
Try typing in "HI" for the street name and 94301 for the ZIP5 and you will see all street names in the Palo Alto CA name beginning with "HI...".
Now try something for your local area.
You can use this to help determine if the persons street address is a "ST" or an "AVE" -- sometimes that is enough to resolve a match. Or perhaps the street name is misspelled. By using this tool, you might be able to infer what address presentation will give you a good ZIP+4 match.
. Or you can just leave those smaller sections blank.