12. Dymo Desktop Mailing Solution

by Barry Gerber

With email replacing postal mail at a rapid pace, you might be wondering why someone would want all the paraphernalia required to prepare letters and packages for US Postal Service mailing. Well, large and small businesses still send one-off and volume letters, brochures and booklets, as well as packages of varying sizes. All those ecommerce entrepreneurs, whether on eBay or not, send tons of packages to their customers. And I'll bet that even your dad or grad could come up with lots of ways to use Dymo's Desktop Mailing Solution.

Hardware includes both a scale and a combination stamp and mailing label thermal printer. Both connect to a PC or Mac via USB 2.0. The scale uses a 9 volt battery. The label printer is AC powered. Also included in the package are a roll of 200 stamp labels and a roll of address labels. Software supports the scale and printer. One program lets you buy and print stamps for various classes of postage, with weight coming from the scale. Another application supports label printing. I found jumping between the two a bit annoying, but when I saw my first label and stamp, it all seemed worth the effort.

Part of the reason for the separate applications is that a company called

Endicia provides all support for purchasing postage and printing stamps. This necessitates a separate program for printing labels.

There is a cost for printing stamps. Endicia has several pricing levels. None of these includes the cost of postage itself. The Windows PC standard plan costs $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year. Premium plans for PCs or Macs run $15.95 per month or $174.95 per year. There is a Windows Professional plan that goes for $34.95. Each plan level provides more services. For example, the premium plans provide such things as detailed statistics on your use of postage and customizable email messages to recipients. The Windows Professional plan supports the use of data from your own database in preparing mailings and a range of bulk mailing options.

Though other manufacturers sell packages similar to Dymo's, the company has the kind of experience in the label business that inspires confidence. In my experience, Dymo products seem to last and keep printing quality labels forever. Think of this gift as being somewhat like a smartphone. You not only have to buy hardware and software, but you have to shell out for monthly service costs. As with a cell phone, if you use the Dymo Desktop Mailing Solution enough, service costs will seem less important as your perception of the value of the product and what it can do for you increases.