Small Business Owners Use Online Postage Discounts to Cut Costs.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, on a far-off planet for the past couple of years, you know that the world economy is in turmoil. Daily stories of mortgage bailouts, auto company loans and slowing sales in the retail sector have hit the news wires in a never-ending drumbeat. 

Small business owners have been feeling the pinch as money dries up, spending slows and lines of credit are no longer extended. Cutting costs and saving money has never been as important as it is now.

One place that a small business owner can shave the budget is in postage. In May 2008, the US Postal Service authorized the leading online postage retailers (Stamps.com and Endicia) to make hefty discounts on the price of certain classes of postage, leading to sizable savings for you!

With the leading online postage providers, you can get exclusive online postage discounts that cannot be found at the local post office or through a postage meter.

Shipping through the online postage software providers can save you up to 15% on Priority Mail – one of the most popular and flexible mail classes for online retail shipping.

For businesses needing to ship overnight, you can save up to 21% off all USPS Express Mail shipments by using an online postage software provider.

Save on international shipping, with a 5% discount on Express Mail and 8% on Priority Mail International postage using Stamps.com.

If FedEx is your delivery partner of choice, you will be interested to know that Stamps.com has partnered with FedEx and offers subscribers 15% off FedEx Ground service, and 21% on FedEx Express.  However, you must be a customer of their Premier Plan ($24.95 per month vs. regular fee of $15.99 per month) to get the Fed Ex discount.

Long lines at the post office or shipping store can take your important time away from other tasks. You can avoid the lines by using online postage software. Most onoline mailing services, including Stamps.com and Endicia, will allow you to arrange for a mail carrier to pickup mail or packages from your home or business at no extra charge.

Both online postage software providers offer discounted package insurance compared to USPS. Plus, there are no forms to complete and no Post Office drop off required.

The USPS charges 70-80 cents for their Delivery Confirmation service. With Stamps.com or Endicia, Electronic Delivery Confirmation is FREE for Priority Mail and Express Mail shipments. For all other mail classes it’s only 19 cents.

In these troubling economic times, small business owners can lower their shipping and mailing costs dramatically by utilizing these exclusive online postage discounts provided by Stamps.com or Endicia.

Patrick Payne has been employed with Stamps.com since 2005, focusing his attention on postage solutions and small business productivity. Stamps.com is online postage software that allows you to buy and print USPS-approved postage straight from your computer and printer.