Stamps.Com: Forget it - This is the Way to Print Postage at Home

This is not an attempt to talk bad about stamps.com, however, I am a former customer of theirs and knew there had to be a better way to print postage at home and avoid the high fees of their "service." I have found it and with a small investment on your part, you can have home printing of postage at your fingertips, in any amount of postage, with zero monthly fees from an online postage source!

I was paying $15.99 a month for the stamps.com service. This fee was eating up any benefit because I am not a commercial enterprise, just a guy trying to make postage purchases easier. After being a member for almost a year, spending a total of close to $180.00 for "fees", I decided to leave stamps.com behind.

I purchased the Dymo Labelwriter Twin Turbo - a very nice and versatile label printer. I found one on sale at OfficeMax for $179.00. I purchased this printer because of its ability to have twin rolls of label stock. On one side I have postage stamp stock for printing postage in any denomination (available from Endicia.com - see rest of article for details on this service) and I have a shipping address label stock on the other side.

The Labelwriter series of printers comes with the Dymo Label software. There are many different label machines available, all will work perfectly to print your own postage. All come with the software to make it happen - free of charge! The following printers are available, both online and at your favorite office supply house:

LabelWriter 400 Turbo - single roll printer, 55 label per minute print speed; USB Connection. Street price $130.00

LabelWriter Twin Turbo - my personal choice - double roll printer - holds any two label rolls for added efficiency; Perfect for printing DYMO Stamps™ postage; print directly from your favorite software offering PC/Mac connection via USB. Street price $179.00

LabelWriter Duo - this model makes it easy to print diecut paper labels in dozens of "office" label styles, no monthly fee DYMO Stamps™ postage labels; plus plastic, nylon and permanent polyester DYMO D1 tapes in 1/4" - 1" widths; handles triple duty, dozens of die-cut office labels, and over 30 durable, colorful tapes; print directly from your favorite software, offering PC/Mac connection via USB. Street price $209

LabelWriter 400 - Print labels for anything in seconds, right from your computer. Uses direct thermal printing, so no need for ink toners or other expensive cartridges; 40 label per minute print speed; USB connection. Street price: $109.00

LabelWriter SE300 - High speed thermal printer for UNIX, DOS and other serial (RS-232) enabled systems. Connects to any device capable of providing output to a standard ASCII printer. For labels up to 2.5 wide; 23 built-in bar code symbologies including Codabar, Code 3 of 9, Code 129-Auto, EAN-8/13, Interleaved 2 of 5, POSTNET, UPC-A/E, ITF-14 and many others; user-definable height, density, positioning and orientation. Street price: $375.00

Dymo is a very well supported with a huge array of label stock available anywhere, online or around the corner at your favorite store. This, after the initial investment, is the best alternative to printing postage at home. I am a small time eBay and Amazon seller, and use a variety of shipping costs and rates for my packages. This system allows me to cater to any size or weight of package that falls in the United States Postal Service fee schedule.

I purchase my postage from Endicia.com. This company is like stamps.com, but they do not charge a monthly fee for their service. You can also download DymoStamps from Dymo or Endicia, use your Endicia account and print postage FREE. You pay only for the postage (available for sale in $10 increments from Endicia.com), with no service charge or fee. The Dymo Stamps interface is not as sexy as the stamps.com interface, but for $15.99 less a month, I can deal with the interface from Dymo, which is a great interface, friendly and easy to use.

Endicia.com allows you to setup an account - free of charge and purchase only the amount of postage you will need - $10 minimum. Their website is secure and the DymoStamps interface is also secure and connects directly to the Endicia website for control of your account, account balance, etc. This is a win-win situation, I have been using it for about three months now and I have had zero problems. I love to have the ability to print postage, in any denomination, free of service charges. I also can use my "free" stamps.com postage meter, via a normal USB connection. The Endicia interface recognizes the scale and allows me to weigh each package and select the correct postage each time - print the postage from my Dymo LabelWriter and voila - free postage, on USPS approved sticker stock, right at my desk.

I simply LOVE this setup. There is nothing better and you will quickly recoup your investment in the LabelWriter and its an awesome tool to have around for other label needs in your home or office.

The Dymo label stock available for these printers is as follows, this information from the Dymo website, but here also for the purpose of this article:

Address Labels: DYMO offers a variety of labels for envelopes and packages, including return address labels.

Shipping Labels: DYMO also has a variety of shipping labels for all your larger mail items and packages.

Holiday Labels: These seasonal labels will surely help you spread holiday cheer.

File Folder Labels: fits all standard file folders. Great for home or office filing. High Capacity 2-up, Red and Blue stripe file folder labels also available.

DYMO Stamps: The USPS has restricted distribution of the blank DYMO Stamps postage rolls to Endicia, the DYMO Stamps postage partner.

Name Badge Supplies: includes adhesive and non-adhesive name badges, both standard and time expiring, plus name badge clips.

Clear Plastic Labels: LabelWriter paper and plastic labels bring laser-like quality to the desktop. Print a single label or the entire roll with ease because the thermo-direct printing process requires no ink. Ten versatile formats cater to almost any application.

Document Management Labels: specifically designed to work exclusively with the DYMO File document management system. Print barcodes with your LabelWriter and stay organized.

Price Tags: application specific die-cut labels for pricing tagging, including ones specifically designed for jewelry.

Business Cards: ideal for printing business cards on the fly or any time you want to print a text or message on a non-adhesive die-cut card.

This is THE solution you have been looking for. I waited to write this article to see if there was a downside, but there is not. I am very impressed with the interface, the software, the versatility and the NO FEE service.