R :

Sorry, but I just came across this site. I was a team member at Compaq Computers that developed all of the behind the scenes web services for Click-N-Ship in the late 1990′s. The stuff is damn impressive at the back end. At that time I recall that many USPS officials (and union members) were very much concerned about how allowing end users to generate indicium (the printed postage) would alter and impact USPS operations, such as measuring the effectiveness of delivery times (hey, since you may be generating an Express Mail label outside of the USPS control, we don’t want your lack of following postal instructions to cause the package delivery to take longer than the Express Mail guarantees – gee that might affect how the unionize employees at that facility get scored and affect their salary raises and bonuses). Also, the recipient can claim a refund if delvery was not prompt enough. Get the point? You are screwing with some blue collar’s job and livelihood and the profitability of the USPS. Maybe we should not go through with this Click-N-Ship brainstorm and make you stand in the postal line every day Mr. Internet Salesman.
Also, you may be giving false hopes to your package recipient, who thinks you already mailed the package when you really have not yet done so. There is not always an acceptance scan done when you drop off your package. This varies upon your venue.
Also, to sweeten the public acceptance of printing their own postage, the USPS throws in discounted delivery confirmation, etc. So you do have an incentive to follow the instructions (i.e. save a few cents and your convenience of not standing in the long customer line at a post office). Are the few rules in place too hard for you to follow.
And for the record – there ARE many metropolitan Post Offices that do process and sort mail in the back rooms on SUNDAYS (Saturdays too, actually 24×7 in a few regional sorting centers), so if you dropped off your package or put it into the slot on Sunday, it may actually begin movement for delivery on Sunday. While I feel your pain, is it too much trouble to select the actual ship date when you print your postage labels (especially when you know you will not go by the Post Office on Sunday). If this is beyond your capacity, then may I suggest you print the label without postage, and buy a big sheet on stamps and lick away when you are in the mood to enter the packages into the mail stream.
Sorry, this is not rocket science, but it is also not “Shipping For Dummies” either. Using a computer and sophisticated software that interfaces with the second largest business in the world (behind Walmart) requires a bit more understanding on your part than that of the Walmart greeter.
For those that have gotten away with sloppy procedures in the past, please do not complain that it took awhile for some savvy postal employee to recognize the game you are playing. (I.e. hey I will sell you this item on eBay and although I will charge you Express Mail postage, I will generate the label but mail it several days later and you can complain at your local post office and get your shipping costs refunded, thus saving you money and making me one of the folks on eBay that you will love to purchase from because my total costs beat my competitors, all because we are taking advantage of the dumb ole dinosaur USPS which should have gone outta business years ago, blah, blah, blah).
Sorry for the rant, but there are two sides to this story, and while I have some (but not much) sympathy for you printing the wrong ship date on a label, it really takes no effort for you to do things right the first time. Get with the program or go stand in line.

I’m sure there are plenty of reasons for why it is the way it is but it is not a user friendly system. And the user is who you should ultimately be trying to satisfy….

When I am mailing 20 packages it’s a PITA to have to check and double-check each and every little box to make sure the info is correct. Time is money and spending all that time on something that should be straightforward is ridiculous. At least EBay automatically changes the shipping date to the next day when it detects that it is past 4:00 in your time zone. No such thing on the USPS site. You could print a label at 11:59 PM and it would still have a ship date of that same day.

Tim Johns

Also, you may be giving false hopes to your package recipient, who thinks you already mailed the package when you really have not yet done so. There is not always an acceptance scan done when you drop off your package. This varies upon your venue.

Also, to sweeten the public acceptance of printing their own postage, the USPS throws in discounted delivery confirmation, etc. So you do have an incentive to follow the instructions (i.e. save a few cents and your convenience of not standing in the long customer line at a post office). Are the few rules in place too hard for you to follow.

And for the record – there ARE many metropolitan Post Offices that do process and sort mail in the back rooms on SUNDAYS (Saturdays too, actually 24×7 in a few regional sorting centers), so if you dropped off your package or put it into the slot on Sunday, it may actually begin movement for delivery on Sunday. While I feel your pain, is it too much trouble to select the actual ship date when you print your postage labels (especially when you know you will not go by the Post Office on Sunday). If this is beyond your capacity, then may I suggest you print the label without postage, and buy a big sheet on stamps and lick away when you are in the mood to enter the packages into the mail stream.

Sorry, this is not rocket science, but it is also not “Shipping For Dummies” either. Using a computer and sophisticated software that interfaces with the second largest business in the world (behind Walmart) requires a bit more understanding on your part than that of the Walmart greeter.

For those that have gotten away with sloppy procedures in the past, please do not complain that it took awhile for some savvy postal employee to recognize the game you are playing. (I.e. hey I will sell you this item on eBay and although I will charge you Express Mail postage, I will generate the label but mail it several days later and you can complain at your local post office and get your shipping costs refunded, thus saving you money and making me one of the folks on eBay that you will love to purchase from because my total costs beat my competitors, all because we are taking advantage of the dumb ole dinosaur USPS which should have gone outta business years ago, blah, blah, blah).

Sorry for the rant, but there are two sides to this story, and while I have some (but not much) sympathy for you printing the wrong ship date on a label, it really takes no effort for you to do things right the first time. Get with the program or go stand in line.

Russian Post has launched a lottery initiative which could see participants win a new apartment.

The lottery – a part of the country’s ‘Affordable Housing’ project – will award up to 15,000 apartments over a five year period, it was announced.

Tickets went on sale across Russian post offices this week.

Each ticket is valid for four months, increasing participants’ chances of winning an apartment.

Apartments are valued at approximately 2.5m rubles, and located in different cities around Russia.

Russian Post is the largest lottery distributor in the country. Last year, sales of lottery tickets grew by about 9% compared to 2009 levels.

On average, sales of lottery tickets at post offices are growing at 10% annually.

Overall, Volly reminds us very strongly of zumbox and more sinister minds may now rise the chicken and egg question.

http://www.zumbox.xom
http://www.volly.com/

To the best of our knowledge the lawsuit against zumbox is still pending. in May 2010 a court has granted zumbox a Motion to Stay in the patent infringement suit brought against the firm by Pitney Bowes.