Stamps.com Blog

Lauren Andersen, owner of TheChainMailleLady^TM shares her small business success story – How she got started, what challenges she overcame and how Stamps.com helped her along the way!

Stamps.com: Tell us about your business? How did you start?  
I retired due to an injury and was at home watching a jewelry program on television when I saw the chainmaille technique being demonstrated by a jewelry artist. I thought that her project was beautiful, so I taught myself how to create chainmaille jewelry. Once I got started, I created so many pieces that I ran out of friends and family to give them to! So my husband and I would sell my jewelry creations every week at our local farmers market. I eventually met the owner of Beadalon. At the time, Beadalon had just bought Artistic Wire and were looking for a designer to help them design a line of chainmaille products, and I became that designer. I have since written two booklets and one book and am in the process of writing my second book! I have also designed pliers that are used in chainmaille along with a travel kit, which are all produced and sold by Beadalon.

Stamps.com: What challenges did you face as a small business owner?  How did you overcome these? 
The logistics of running a small business can be extremely challenging and time consuming. I had to find a software package that could help me with the accounting and inventory functions of running my business. I also had to find a way to maximize the time I was spending on “office” or administrative type duties. My business is to design and create gorgeous jewelry, not spend it on the computer or at the Post Office!

Stamps.com: How did you find out about Stamps.com?
While searching for an effective postage solution, I came across Stamps.com online.

Stamps.com: What did use prior to using online postage? 
I used a different online shipping service but I was unable to accurately weigh my packages. Moreover, the options for shipping costs outside the United States were very limited and did not include all of the options that you can get by going to the Post Office. This service also did not offer the ability to order shipping or labeling supplies.

Stamps.com: What made you choose Stamps.com? 
Just for the day-to-day operations of my small business, I need to be able to package and ship items of various sizes all over the world. To be able to do this proficiently and accurately, I looked into several packaging and shipping options. Since being a small business owner does not afford me the luxury of hiring either an outside company or extra staff to perform these tasks, I had to find a way to do it myself. Originally, I went to the Post Office daily and had to stand in line, which was costing me valuable designing time. I found I could use Stamps.com at home and save myself the daily trips to the Post Office. I could order my packaging supplies, mailing labels, and accurately weigh my packages and print shipping labels, all using one program thus saving me time and money!  

Stamps.com: Did you have any challenges with Stamps.com, when you first started to use the software? 
I actually found the software quite easy to use. Setting up the scale for the automatic weight options was a bit of a learning curve, but once I set it up, I never had to worry about the accuracy of the weight of my packages any more!

Stamps.com: What types of packages do you mail out with Stamps.com? 
All sorts of packages! The most common ones though are First Class, Priority Mail, and International packages.

Stamps.com: Besides printing postage, are there other Stamps.com features that have helped your business?
Yes, absolutely! I love that I can order packaging supplies, mailing labels, print postage and print customs forms, all from right within the software.

Stamps.com: What features of Stamps.com do you use the most and how have these helped streamline your shipping process? 
I use the Address Book feature quite frequently – Saving customers addresses so I can recall them as needed is a great help! Also, being able to see the status of my packages and when they were shipped, along with the Reports section to check trends of my shipping services are all extremely beneficial features. I also use the Stamps.com Store to order shipping materials and labels. 

Stamps.com: What’s next for TheChainMailleLady? 
I will continue to design and teach classes in chainmaille.  I am also in the process of writing my second book. Finally, I hope to make additional appearances on Jewelry Television’s Jewel School and Beads, Baubles & Jewels.

To learn more about TheChainMailleLady, visit TheChainMailleLady.

Shipping Alert:  Delivery Service to Ukraine Has Been Suspended!

USPS delivery service of letters and packages to Crimea and Sevastopol in Ukraine has been suspended.

Effective April 11, 2014, the United States Postal Service® has temporarily suspended mail service to Crimea and Sevastopol in Ukraine (postal codes 95000-99999).

Until further notice, all Post Office™ and other acceptance locations will not accept any mail destined to Crimea, Ukraine. The temporary suspension affects Global Express Guaranteed® (GXG), Priority Mail Express International®, Priority Mail International®, and First-Class Mail International®, First-Class Package International Service™, International Priority Airmail™ (IPA®) International Surface Air Lift® (ISAL®), and M-Bag items.

For already deposited items addressed to these destinations, Postal Service employees will endorse them “Mail Service Temporarily Suspended – Return to Sender” and then place them in the mailstream for return.

Upon request, the Postal Service will refund postage and fees on mail returned due to the temporary suspension of service, if the package was mailed prior to April 17, 2014.

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes and will update our customers as soon as delivery service has resumed.

If you have any questions please call Stamps.com Customer Care at 1-855-860-7867.  Or please visit the USPS Delivery Service Alert page located at http://about.usps.com/news/service-alerts/welcome.htm

Last week (April 7, 2014) a serious security vulnerability called Heartbleed (http://heartbleed.com) was announced regarding OpenSSL which is software widely used to support secure Internet services.

In response to notification of the vulnerability, Stamps.com reviewed all of our sites and applications and found NONE of our systems are vulnerable to this security issue.

Very few of our sites use the OpenSSL software and those that do are not running versions of the software vulnerable to Heartbleed.

Need more info? Get it at http://heartbleed.com/

Stamps.com recently compiled an infographic revealing new data on how UPS, FedEx and the USPS compare in package tracking events, delivery times and overall costs. Stamps.com staff shipped 144 packages to all eight shipping zones across the U.S. from three separate locations.

Below is the full infographic. Learn more about carrier tracking scans, speed of delivery and total shipping costs (including surcharges) by downloading the free Who’s Winning the Shipping War? white paper.

Can’t see the UPS vs. FedEx vs. the USPS infographic? View it here (use your browser zoom to enlarge).

If you’re looking for more interesting e-commerce shipping insight and data, Download the FREE white paper – Who’s Winning the Shipping War?

Download this infographic.

As two-day delivery becomes more common with the growth of Amazon Prime, online retailers are being forced to speed up their package delivery and provide free or low-cost shipping to satisfy buyers. And with new prices and products being introduced from the top U.S. shipping carriers each year, optimizing your shipping program is more important than ever in order to keep costs low.

Stamps.com decided to run a head-to-head competition with FedEx, UPS and USPS.  We looked at criteria that e-commerce business owners use to evaluate their shipping programs: reliability, delivery time and cost. Using FedEx Home Delivery, UPS Ground and USPS Priority Mail, we shipped 144 total packages to each shipping zone from three separate locations. Here’s what we found:

FREE! DOWNLOAD the Who’s Winning the Shipping War? white paper

FINDING #1 – PACKAGE TRACKING

• The study measured package scans, the information transmitted back to customers to keep them informed of the whereabouts of their packages.  The total number of package scans were almost identical among all carriers with the USPS at 9.42 scans, FedEx at 10.38 scans and UPS at 9.79 scans.

FINDING #2 – DELIVERY SPEED

• For packages shipped on a Monday, USPS Priority Mail (1.79 days on average) delivered packages almost one full day faster than UPS Ground (2.75 days on average), and about a half day faster than FedEx Home Delivery (2.21 days on average).

FINDING #3 – SHIPPING COSTS

• The average cost to ship a 2 lb. package across all zones is $7.34 for USPS Priority Mail, $10.45 for UPS Ground and $10.40 for FedEx Home Delivery.

• For packages weighing 3 lbs. to 7 lbs. and traveling to Zones 1 to 4, the USPS offered cost savings between $1.37 and $4.29, compared to UPS Ground and FedEx Home Delivery.

• For packages weighing 5 lbs. to 10 lbs. and traveling longer distances (Zones 5 and higher), UPS Ground and FedEx Home Delivery offered cost savings between $0.75 and $17.36 compared to USPS Priority Mail.

METHODOLOGY

The study was based on 144 packages shipped using the USPS, FedEx and UPS. Packages were sent on two different days (Monday and Thursday) to all eight shipping zones from three separate locations (Los Angeles, Chicago and Virginia). For each package, the number of scans, delivery time in transit and total delivery days were tracked. For shipping costs, “earned discounts” of 15% were added and a $2.80 residential surcharge and fuel surcharge for FedEx and UPS were incorporated.  For the USPS shipping costs, Commercial Base (online postage discounts) rates were used.

FREE! DOWNLOAD the Who’s Winning the Shipping War? white paper