(300) )USPS Pitney Bowes 888 Tracking Labels.

Trackable USPS shipments from home using regular postage stamps!

"But who uses physical postage stamps to ship things?" ANSWER: Quite a few people actually.

Because USPS has a NO REFUNDS policy, there is a huge glut of unwanted unused U.S. postage stamps overhanging the market. Also, hoardes of stamps continue to pour forth from the estates of stamp accumulators who bought into the notion (as far back as the 1930s!) that stamps would make for a "great investment." Yikes! Now these stamps go begging for a buyer at whatever small fraction of face value the seller can get (i.e., usually less than 50%). While this "buy-and-hold" strategy proved to be an UNMITTIGATED INVESTMENT DISASTER for original purchasers, it can be a SWEET DEAL now at current market pricing.

The dirty little "secret" is that the Postal Service has promoted stamp collecting big-time because they are only too happy to sell you stamps at face value (produced for the cost of paper and ink), AND NEVER HAVE TO DELIVER ANY SERVICE IN EXCHANGE. Additionally, inflation has rendered long-held low denomination stamps nearly useless. (Note: It takes TWENTY-FOUR+ three-cent stamps to equal today's current seventy-three cent rate!)

So, when USPS discontinued its Form 400 tracking labels several years ago, it left many shippers high and dry. Instead of being able to SHIP FROM HOME USING REGULAR POSTAGE STAMPS, one was now being forced to stand in line at the post office (if your package required tracking).

NO THANKS TO THAT!

The old Form 400 labels were once readily available at no charge from USPS. The new Form 888 labels are not. And Form 400 labels continued to work (for quite a while) after they were discontinued. Now, however, your shipments with Form 400 labels affixed are routinely mishandled or go "lost." I know this from firsthand experience.

OBVIOUSLY, THAT SITUATION IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.

So, how does one get the new 888 labels? Generally speaking, you get 888 labels ONLY by taking your package to a USPS Retail counter, OR by signing up for a Pitney Bowes commercial account with monthly fees. I have a "stamps.com" account (stamps.com is owned by Pitney Bowes). But 888 labels are not available at stamps.com. And my shipping volume does not warrant a P-B monthly commercial account. So, what to do?

Fortunately, I located a P-B commercial subscriber willing to SELL me a substantial quantity of genuine 888 tracking labels and I've been successfully using them for months. Some of those labels are being offered here in manageable lots of 50. That number of labels should be IDEAL for shippers whose sales volume is just a few packages a month.