By now I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials “Never go to the post office again”. The website touts “Don’t go to the post office. We’ll bring it to you”. The first site ever to sell postage online, Stamps.com Inc. launched the Stamps.com website back in 1999 where customers can buy stamps, metered postage and other services online. The site still operates on a monthly fee basis, so there is no inflation on the price of the postage you are buying – that money goes directly from you to the USPS.
This summer I am seeing Stamps.com commercials almost every time I turn on the TV. I’m sure they are spending a fortune on the marketing campaign, but why not? I think it will be quite effective. Nobody likes going to the post office and while most of us don’t go there to buy stamps anymore, there are other services that the USPS offers through Stamps.com that will keep customers from having to make that dreaded trip.
When I started looking around on the site I was a little surprised to learn that Stamps.com was actually launched by a company in California. I guess this was a little naive, but I thought that the USPS (United States Postal Service) was the site proprietor, however, upon visiting the site you see that it’s just an approved licensed vendor of the USPS and not owned or operated by it. That explains the commercials running right now that remind you how awful the post office lines are.
 |
Excellent article. As hundreds more post offices close some folks will have to go to a whole other town for stamps unless of course the download them from online.
Just FYI the a domain name – http://www.DownloadStamps.com is actually for sale. Because of huge demand for online stamps, I don’t think it will be available for long.
Hi,
Also, Unless they discontinued the program, or I am thinking of another site…
They had a really cool program, where you could customize your own personal stamps…you could put most anything on them. Your kid(s), your dog or cat, your domain name 😉 whateve.
Nice article, very well written.
Best,
Dan
Hi Dan, Thanks for the comment! I had not heard of that program but it seems that Stamps.com could create all kinds of neat postage options. Actually, I’m surprised they are not doing something more creative with the huge ad campaign they have going on right now.