USPS Free Package Pickup and Online Postage Payment
October 15, 2012 by Jason Montero
Very proud of the United States Postal Service for thinking ‘in-the-box’ and rolling out some great new services that have particular appeal to anyone working in The Anywhere Office.
By now you have probably seen the USPS ad campaign for their new flat rate boxes and envelopes: ‘if it fits it ships’. Well, taking measuring and weighing packages out of the equation and making the shipping fee a flat rate has allowed the post office to make some great strides in door-to-door service offerings. I mean, think about it – they already visit your house and/or office every day.
A friend told me that I could now pay for my postage online and have a package picked up at my door. I went to the USPS website to see for myself and sure enough they were encouraging me to ‘schedule a pickup.’ I saw the possibility to reduce the time suck of yet another dull errand: trips to the post office.
I tested the process and it worked near flawlessly. I entered my address, told them which type of flat rate package I had, chose a day and time for the package to be picked up by my carrier during their regular route, and even got to choose if I wanted to leave the package by the dorr, in the mailbox, or have the carrier knock.
I paid for my shipping right there by credit card and I received a confirmation email immediately after ordering. My mail carrier came right to the door at the scheduled time (I think you could schedule pickup for even the next day on the previous afternoon) and I handed off the package. Sweet, right?
After my successful shipment I was fully on-board with this idea and set up a free user account on USPS.com to make doing this easier in the future. While browsing the site I also realized that the store offers FREE flat rate shipping supplies to make it simpler and more convenient to use the new post office pickup service. 
I ordered a few sizes that I thought I would use the most frequently and when my order came today I was stoked to be prepared to take care of any modest shipping need at a moment’s notice without even leaving the house. Nice work USPS.
Has anyone else tried this service yet? Or do the other major delivery services offer something similar?
