Please read about "Click and Ship" and how we use it
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Click the box below and go to the USPS.com and the "Click and Ship" page to register for an account or start to using it
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Many of my customers have started using "Click and Ship", an online postage and shipping service offered by the U.S. Postal Service.
"Click and Ship" isn't new, its been around a very long time. This service enables you to get postage for your shipment from the convenience of your computer. If you can get an approximated weight, or use a "Flat Rate" box where no weight is needed, you can get the postage you need in 2 minutes or less to ship your box of sharpening to us.
Here is how simple it is:
1. Pack your box as always and weight it, no weight needed for Flat Rate Boxes.
2. Get on your computer and log into "Click and Ship" and get your postage label.
3. Take your box to work where the mailperson can pick it up.
4. In 7 to 10 days your mailperson will deliver your box back to you.
*** No more trying to figure a way to get to the Post Office, they come to YOU ***
Below are instructions on signing up for "Click and Ship" for the first time, there are also tutorials on their website on how to do it.
Once you experience "Click and Ship" you'll wonder why you never used it before!!
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Do You Feel That You Don't Have Time To Run To The Post Office And Mail Out Your Sharpening?
The U.S. Post Office offers the answer for groomers and vets who just can't take time out of their busy day to run to the Post Office.
"CLICK & SHIP" is the answer and it's done right from the convenience of your home or shop computer. I use this service exclusively because I don't have the extra time either. All you need is a computer with internet, a printer, a credit card, and a way to get the approximated weight of your package.
To start, go to www.usps.comand up at the top click on "Print A Shipping Label". At the next screen go to the box that says " Register Now" and click on the "Sign Up" icon. You'll be setting up an account with the US Post Office to get postage for your box. Once this is established most of the work is done.
The Post Office has free boxes to ship your equipment in, all you have to do is go there one time and ask for them (get a bunch). They are usually in the lobby stacked in a display, or you can get them by the bundle right on the USPS website delivered to your location for FREE! They have an assortment of Priority or Flat Rate boxes.
PROCEDURE
In one of your free Post Office boxes (or another box of your choice), pack your stuff good. Use a "Blade Box" for your blades if you have one, and wrap your shears up good. Put your information on a piece of paper (or my Inventory Sheet), and make sure you put this inside the box. Fill in the spaces of the box around your equipment with paper or foam peanuts, then seal it up with good packing tape.
Next get the weight of the box, this can be done two ways. If you have a good postal scale, or another scale that reads the weight when you place your package on it that's great! If you don't have one you can use a bathroom scale. Stand on the scale holding the box and see what the weight is. Then set the box down and get that weight. The difference in the weights is the weight of your box. Take this weight and enter it in the place provided in the Click & Ship label section. Note: If your using a "Flat-Rate" box just enter 5 pounds for the weight, this way you don't have to weight anything. The postage for Flat-Rate boxes is the same whether your box weighs 5 pounds or 70 pounds. If you have 2 or 3 pounds of weight and you live 1000 miles from Mobile AL, the flat rate box is the way to go.
You can add Insurance and Confirmation Delivery right here as well. The website is very easy to use and you shouldn't have any problems at all so don't be scared. The whole process is two screens and I have many groomers using "Click & Ship" now because of the no hassles.There's also a tutorial or call me if you need to.
Once you've paid your postage on-line and printed off your label, attach it to your box with clear tape so they can scan through it. You can get "peel & stick" labels but plain paper works just as good. When your Postal Carrier comes to your home or shop they will pick it up right there. Your Done!! You've mailed out your sharpening and you haven't wasted your time taking it anyplace. Don't feel bad about giving the Postal Carrier a box, they have a small vehicle parked within a half block and will take the box to it immediately.
THE 2nd TIME YOU USE "CLICK & SHIP" PROCEDURE
You only have to register and set up your account one time. The next time you want to ship a box to me, its simple. Go towww.usps.com and click on "Print a Shipping Label". Sign in with your user name and password, and when the label entry page comes up click on "Address Book". My address will already be in there so select it and click on "Submit". This will populate the address label entirely and all you have to do is enter the weight of the box and print out the label with the postage already on it like before. Its a two minute job now, and if you have a supply of FREE boxes from the Post Office you'll never go there again to mail a box!!!!!
If you have time to go to the Post Office that's great, if not you can use "Click & Ship" from the convenience of your home or shop. The Post Office is the fastest way to ship equipment to me unless you spend $50 with another carrier for 2nd Day or Overnight. The "Medium" Flat Rate Box is the most popular shipment box used. You can put up to 70# of equipment in there and ship to any state for a set price. In my experience, the Post office has never lost a box or damaged one in the Priority Mail service. Never ship packages First Class or Parcel Post.
Here is the price structure for shipping using a Flat Rate Box. The prices are for getting postage "online" , rates for these same boxes are slightly higher if you get the postage at the post office. Pictures of the boxes are below.
Small Flat Rate Box
Medium Flat Rate Box
Large Flat Rate Box
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The Small Flate Rate Box
The Small Flat Rate Box was not intended to jam as many blades and shears inside and ship like the TV commercial says "If it fits-It Ships". WRONG. Let me say from experience that your not saving any money what so ever if equipment gets damaged or lost. We have received 24 blades and two pair of shears in a very over packed SFRB, and they were upset that I wasn't going to ship back to them that way. It's insane trying to save a couple bucks by risking all your equipment.
When you pack blades into any box you have to have the proper "packing" to make sure blades are safe. They can't bang into each other, or they can't bang against a pair of shears during shipment either. The SFRB is small enough where the postal worker is going to throw it into a bin rather than placing it there. If your SFRB is filled and heavy with all that metal, it may burst open when it hits the back of the bin because of the lack of proper packing. The SFRB is constructed of very thin cardboard, its not as thick as the bigger boxes. This alone will invite cracks and splits if its overpacked and dropped or thrown. Remember this, if your box bursts open during shipment, it will probably just get swept up and forgotten. It will not be forwarded in that condition.
To head off any dissappointment, pack your equipment properly in a shipping box thats the appropriate size to hold the amount of stuff your sending properly packed. So its not a flat rate box, if you jam everything you can into a SFRB to save a couple dollars, you stand to loose alot more than just the savings on the shipping. Breaking one tooth on a blade during shipment will cost you $20 to replace that blade, you didn't save anything. Getting the right box, or even a blade box to secure those blades will save you money in the long run.
Use this as a guide. Use a SFRB when you have 6 blades or less, wrap them real good in bubble wrap and they may be good. Fill in any spaces with packing media so you hear nothing moving when you shake the box. A couple small pair of 6 inch shears is good as well (8" shears are too long). Wrap them in bubble wrap and make sure they are small enough not to poke out the sides. They see that, the box will go no further. Fill in any spaces with packing media as well. Blade boxes are $4.00, and the extra postage to your shipping cost is about a dollar. Unless you indicate differently, if you shipped to us in a SFRB we will ship back to you in the same way.
The SFRB is a very needed mode of shipping for something small, without costing alot of money. Please don't missuse the SFRB by over packing it, it's just not worth it. Use the right size box.
Note: We charge 50 cents a blade to wrap blades and place them in a box. Even though they were wrapped by you, we still have to take extra time to save the wrapping, wrap them again, and try and place them securely the best we can in this SFRB. Get shipping insurance, we are not responsible for breakage occuring during the shipment, the shipping company is responsible
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Having trouble entering our address into "Click-N-Ship"?
Here is the way to enter our address so it will go through.
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*** The New U.S. Postal Service ***
Here is a list of changes that have happened so far and changes about to happen by the end of the year
1. The sorting center does not work weekends anymore. If you mail on Friday it may get sorted Monday. 2. No mail moves "city to city" anymore on weekends. 3. No Postal employees work weekends except for the Saturday delivery workers and the workers selling stamps until noon on Saturday. They will be doing away with Saturday work entirely soon. 4. Two day Priority Mail has been increased to three days. 5. There is a hiring freeze, jobs are not being refilled if someone retires, quits, or gets fired. 6. Rates will increase. Even though the Post Office is funded with federal funds, the funds it gets from Washington are very minimal. Most of the operating expenses comes from the Postal rates. 7. UPS and FedEX follow this same operating senario. Both are not an alternative to the Post Office because they take longer for ground service, and are $40 for 2nd day delivery, and $60 for overnight.
The best optimun days to mail to us are Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll get the box by Thursday or Friday, and we will get them back out on Monday. You'll get your box back by Wednesday of the following week which is 7 days after you mailed it, the fastest turnaround time ever. Any day is good to mail if that is the only day you have, we'll still get the box back to you as soon as we can.
Please don't look around to find the fastest return service, because what may have been fast for one person may not be fast for you. The customers that send their sharpening to us, just want us to sharpen it. They know we'll get it back the fastest way we can, and still take the time to do a perfect job.
The US Post Office is still the most reliable, inexpensive, and dependable way to ship your stuff!!
Things to know about shipping boxes
1. Pack your box securely, nothing loose or moving around inside.
2. Always put your information INSIDE the box. Don't rely on a return address for identification, if the label comes off and they deliver to Northern Tails Sharpening, it will sit until you call looking for it.
3. Always ship PRIORITY MAIL, and get DELIVERY CONFIRMATION at the least.
4. If you have your box insured on the return shipment from us, make sure its delivered to an address where someone can sign for it. Insurance requires a signature. If the post office trys to deliver, and no one is there to sign for it, they will leave a note and take the box back to your post office.
5. Northern Tails Sharpening is responsible for your equipment while in our posession, and up until the US Post Office scans the box when its mailed. At that time the US Post Office takes responsibility of your equipment, its condition, and the entire trip back to you until its delivered on your end.
6. Northern Tails Sharpening is not responsible for lost, damaged, or any undeliverable mail AFTER it has been scanned by the US Post Office.
7. If your box is lost, damaged, or deemed undeliverable AFTER it was scanned by the US Post Office, Northern Tails Sharpening will not make any inquiries, file claimes, or make phone calls. We will provide the tracking number for the customer so they can if the tracking number was not received by email.
