glassgrl
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posted on April 2, 2002 10:54:37 AM new
I still need to know the answer to this question:
So how DOES the PO USUALLY handle the 12 cent media mail charge? My PO guy was totally *baffled* today when I insisted on paying the 12 cent fee for media mail Econfirmation. Finally he ended up adding 12 cents onto another stamp label and adding it to the package along with the media mail stamp label.
I told him I'd ask somewhere where they knew the answers and wanted to know how much I'd get for doing his job for him 
He said his system wasn't set up to handle that 12 cents.
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kahml
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posted on April 2, 2002 11:16:45 AM new
Basically, he did the right thing.
A long time back, I started to use the $3.50 stamps on my Priority Mail boxes. I'd buy in bulk online and avoid the wait in line.
When I used to use the scannable green thingees, they simply scanned the DC at the time and added $0.40 in postage to the box.
No harm, no foul. Your guy did good.
(Now, I just give the box to my letter carrier; he's nice enough to bring them to the PO when he's done delivering.)
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mamadutch
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posted on April 2, 2002 12:46:09 PM new
Would someone be so kind as to post the link for the USPS media mail electronic DC. I have the one for priority and use it regularly, but I have searched to no avail for the one for media mail. Thanks in advance.
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glassgrl
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posted on April 2, 2002 01:19:27 PM new
You have to download Shipping Assistant to get the media mail dc. Very nice program, easy to use. Love the address feature for standardized addresses.
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harrywhitehouse
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posted on April 3, 2002 12:37:37 PM new
You might check out our Endicia PC Postage product for the free 30 day trial. It does everything Shipping Assistant does, but also prints the live postage (including the DC charge were applicable).
http://www.endicia.com/endicia-usa/Site/shiplabels.cfm
You can then just drop your packages in the nearest USPS collection box (instead of taking them to the PO.
You can even insure your packages without going to the PO.
http://www.endicia.com/endicia-usa/Site/insurance.cfm
[email protected]
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glassgrl
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posted on April 3, 2002 12:43:14 PM new
Harry Harry Harry. Shame on you.
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harrywhitehouse
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posted on April 3, 2002 01:06:06 PM new
"Shame on you."
Hope I'm not in too much trouble!<g>
My point here was that a lot of "costing confusion" at the retail counter can be completely avoided if
a) you have a way to compute and apply your own postage. For the time being, folks using these more modern postage evidencing systems often know more about the rules/costs than the USPS retail folks.
b) can completely avoid going to the PO to have these discussions in the first place.
Sorry if things came off a bit too "commericial".
[email protected]
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lanefamily
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posted on April 3, 2002 05:31:21 PM new
But if the printer messes up or something happens and you do not have a peioce of paper with postage on it to destroy you are out. So when the 3.95+.40 for the DC does not print, just cry for a moment and move on.
Solve taht problem and I would buy $3000.00 of postage per month on your sustem. I tried it once and could not get it to work.
Jim
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tomwiii
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posted on April 3, 2002 09:00:53 PM new
Jim: that's not exactly correct -- Harry should explain better than I, but, if your printer prints nothing, you CAN get a refund from Endicia. You have to immediately print an exact duplicate to the same person at the same address for the same amount & class.
As far as printing...I'm a complete PC dummy & I can print easy. I use the "2-UP" labels from GFLABEL.COM and they are very inexpensive.
Use the test print function until you're confortable with it, or, better still, give Endicia CS a call & let them walk ya thru it -- they did for me & I can't imagine doing without this program!
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harrywhitehouse
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posted on April 4, 2002 11:21:53 AM new
lanefamily
Tomwiii is correct. The USPS recently granted us a new refund protocol in addition to the one historically offered by USPS (physical evidence of the failure).
We pointed out to them that if folks are using integral Delivery Confirmation with their postage, it would be easy fo the USPS to detect fraud by monitoring the DC scans. Any label claimed for refund had better not appear on the delivery scans!
After much lobbying, USPS finally permitted us to do this. It was really a necessity in our mind as our customers are mostly package shippers so the average "stamp" value is high (like $3.10). Folks just can't afford losses like that when their printer malfunctions!
With this new refund policy, you are covered if you completely "lose" a postage label provide you are a) using DC b) create a successful label to the same destination for the same postage amount on the same day. In that case you simply attach a copy of your printed postage log to your refund form (available on our Web site) and highlight the failed prints. You can even have more than one failed print -- just as long as you eventually get a good one to the same address.
If you want to try to get this working again, feel free to contact me directly and give me your phone number. I'll be glad to walk you through things on the phone.
[email protected]
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intercraft
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posted on April 4, 2002 04:04:15 PM new
Kind of a shipping newbie here...
What is a DC, how much does it cost, and what is it used for?
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kahml
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posted on April 4, 2002 04:13:11 PM new
In a nutshell, DC is Delivery Confirmation. The USPS says:
Confirm delivery with Delivery Confirmation. Our low cost Delivery Confirmation service gives you the date and ZIP Code, as well as the time your article was delivered. If delivery was attempted you will get the date and time of attempted delivery. You can easily access this information on our Track & Confirm Web site. Delivery Confirmation service is available for Priority MailŪ, Package Services and Standard Mail parcels.
You can read this and find out more here:
http://www.usps.com/shipping/deliver.htm
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glassgrl
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posted on April 4, 2002 04:14:00 PM new
http://www.usps.com/cgi-bin/api/shipping_label.htm
or
http://www.uspswebtools.com/ShippingAssistant/SA_splash.htm
Delivery Confirmation....DC for when we get tired of typing it out. The first one is just for Priority Mail. The second one is not much harder but you do have to download the PO (post office) program and you get to use Media Mail 12 cent option. That is, for 12 cents (that you pay at the time of mailing) you can put DC on media mail. The first link for Priority Mail is free, nothing to download. Some of us have laser printers (they say you have to have one but I don't, I use very thin packing tape and tape over the label, being careful not to overlap anything). The PO people love it. I love it.
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harrywhitehouse
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posted on April 4, 2002 04:16:05 PM new
Delivery confirmation is a USPS package service which assigns a barcode PIC number to a package. This number is scanned when the package is delivered by the carrier, noting the date/time and ZIP5 of delivery. You can get the status by visiting the USPS Web site and inputting the DC number.
For Priority Mail, DC is free if you use an electronic means to print the DC yourself, or 40 cents if you buy it a the Post Office.
Package services (e.g. media mail) has a charge of about 50 cents retail and 12 cents electronically.
You can get the electronic DC in three ways:
1. USPS Shipping Assistant software (Free)on the USPS site.
2. A USPS Web page which will produce only Priority Mail labels in your Web browers.
3. Endicia PC Postage ($9.95/month). This does the free DC and applies digital postage.
[email protected]
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intercraft
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posted on April 4, 2002 06:51:33 PM new
cool. Thank you very much for all of your information...
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mrssantaclaus
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posted on April 4, 2002 07:45:48 PM new
Harry or anyone ...
How does one pay for the postage fees? Ahead of time? At the PO? Monthly billing?
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lanefamily
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posted on April 5, 2002 12:32:20 AM new
Now if endicia would interface to my Auction Software so I do not have to type it twice or print blind postage so I do not have to enter an address I would try it again.
You got a text file import or some kind of flat file import to labels? Maybe an access Database interface?
That is the next hill to overcome.
Jim
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harrywhitehouse
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posted on April 5, 2002 11:51:30 AM new
MrSantaClaus -- You prepay the postage, just like with any postage meter. However, you can keep your account balance quite low and purchase transactions are free (conventional meters often charge you each time you buy more postage).
You can buy as little as $10 of postage at a time and the purchase takes about 5-10 seconds. Because of all of this, our customers tend to keep their account balances low even through they might be spending $5000/month in postage.
[email protected]
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harrywhitehouse
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posted on April 5, 2002 11:57:42 AM new
LaneFamily -- We have been working with Seller's Assistant and SAP. They have already built in a clipboard feature to interface with our postage client. You can also bulk export/import addresses from SA/SAP to Endicia.
Endicia will import a variety of file types including tab/comma delimited, fixed record, DBF files and others.
[email protected]
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