Oh. Just trying to help.
I know that in the 2 Post Offices I’ve dealt with regularly, there was about a 2-month gap between the removal of the vending machine and the installation of the APC. Would it have made more sense to install the APC and then remove the vending machine? Well, duh. We’re dealing with the Post Office here.
What I was trying to say it that (based on my limited experience) it seems likely that an APC will magically appear in your local P.O. sometime in the near future.
There’s an automated postal thingy at the P.O. here but it doesn’t seem to sell stamps. It’s been there ever since I moved here in 2003.
They put the stamp vending machine in in late 2004/early 2005, and took it out in late 2007/early 2008. I enjoyed being able to buy the 2 or 3 books of stamps I bought from the machine in that period of time.
I, also, don’t mail a lot … but I do correspond with my grandparents, who appreciate things by mail. Taxes and a few other things, and I probably use a book a year. These are Forever stamps, so I’m probably good for 2 years. I’m already dreading the next visit though…
Oh yeah, maybe I can leave an envelope with money in 2 years hehe.
I avoid the post office like the plague anymore, except to drop off letters at the outside boxes. When I go inside, I always end up in in line behind lots of people who are trying to mail 30 packages at once. The PO doesn’t seem to understand the concept of “express line.” There are a couple of “Post Office Express” outlets around here, especially in supermarkets, but they’re just as busy.
I’ll be damned, you’re right. For some reason I thought there was a premium on them so that the USPS wouldn’t lose money as soon as they announced a rate hike. I mean, if it costs $8.40 for a book of 20 Forever stamps and $8.40 for a book of regular 42 cent stamps, why would you ever get the regular ones?
And rates are going up again May 11th, so if you’re running low you might want to stock up now.
Apparently, the USPS did the math and figured out that they save money this way. Effectively, people who stock up at the cheaper rate are loaning money to the post office until they use the stamps. By the time they use the stamps, the money has appreciated to more or less the same value as the new rate.
Plus, there are fewer new stamp/“make-up” stamps hassles, which I’m sure saves some money, too.
That’s a great point. Every one less person standing in line for $0.03 cent stamps to use up the rest of their last batch is … well, one less person in line at the Post Office.
I figure competent Postal customers will use the Automated Postal Console. Everyone else gets in line. With the people who need stamps. Which means people who need stamps are now in line with incompetent postal customers. How sad.
One problem with the APCs is that you have to purchase a minimum of $1.00 in postage with your first transaction. This means that if you’re mailing (as I was last week) several letters to Canada at the same time the machine forces you to buy a single stamp along with the first letter before it will let you buy postage for the rest of the letters (which it will now process fine, since your total purchase is now over $1.00). It’s easier to just get in line and hand the stack of letters to the clerk.
I think you guys haven’t fully explored the possibilities of the APC. They do dispense stamps, including the forever stamps. You can also ask it for a stamp for any arbitrary amount - I use this for media mail, which costs $2.58 for two pounds.
I agree that the “first transaction must be above $1” rule can be annoying, but what I would have done in that situation is figure out what the price per letter is, and then ask the APC to give me 3 stamps of that amount, which probably totals over a dollar. This takes a little finagling, since you have to go through all of the screens to figure out what the price-per-letter is, then cancel the process, return to the homescreen, and ask it to simply print postage. It’s totally worth it when the line is a mile long, or you’re at the post office at 2:00am.
I will check again the next time I go for stamps (in 1.5-2 years), but the previous three visits I made to the Post Office, the APC there did not dispense stamps.
As stated in a previous post of mine, the APC in this particular PO existed before they ever had a stamp machine. It did not dispense stamps, it just dispensed one-time postage for particular parcels. This was handy, and I used it often because I shipped a lot of stuff on eBay and Craig’s List for a while, mainly books and stuff.
When they added the stamp machine, I was happy that I no longer had to stand in line for stamps.
Then they took the stamp machine out. My first visit for stamps after they removed it, I tried the APC and it would not dispense books of stamps. So I stood in line for 20 minutes, and asked at the counter. They told someone in line in front of me that they removed the stamp machine. I bought stamps and left.
I haven’t had occasion to use the APC in a while, so I can’t remember if the one at my PO actually dispenses books of stamps. I know that the first time I tried mailing letters to Canada what I got instead of stamps were stickers with the postage amounts printed on them.
Oh, and SeanArenas’ assumption that competent postal customers will use the APC is not necessarily true. I was once stuck at the APC behind an elderly gentleman trying to mail several packages who could not figure out how to use it, despite the assistance of the two people between him and me in the line. He finally gave up and went to the counter, but not until he had delayed the line so long that I missed my bus.
Oh yeah… arbitrage possibility. Gonna make me a killin’. Let’s see… if I invest $10,000 in 42cent stamps and the price goes up to 44cents each, then I move them on the black market at 43cents each cause I’m slick that way, I’ll be, uh, well… you do the math. I don’t have time. I’m more of an idea man, my minions will do the dirty work.
pssssst… stamps
yo yo yo… stamps here
The APC is great. It does dispense booklets of stamps (actually strips) as well as individual stamps, including for foreign postage. Individual stamps are actually stickers with the postage marked on them, as you found, but the strips of stamps are real forever stamps.
I’ve saved a tremendous amount of time at the post office since discovering it.
Of course once in a while you’ll have the situation you mentioned, but generally those kind of people avoid the APC.
Ed
I love the self checkout idea. ATMs were awesome. I thought of ticket vending machines at movie theaters years before they happened, and they’re awesome now that they’re here. Buying stamps and other things in an automated purchase fashion rocks.
I like going to Lowes or Home Despot and getting in the autocheckout line. Except, as you mention, when someone in front of me takes 10 minutes to check out 2 items. That’s why it’s good when there’s multiple automated lines - do they seriously think they encourage the use by putting ONE device there?
When you go to an ATM, usually there’s 2 next to each other at banks, sometimes one around the corner. And. Yet. Sometimes I still end up behind people who take 6 minutes each at the ATM. 2 ATMs, 5 people in front of me … it’s a longer visit than it should be.
Sorry if I sound impatient, but I don’t get it it always seems like it’s people’s first time at the machine. I actually try hard to not pay attention to what they’re doing - I don’t want to even seem suspicious at an ATM, and I keep my distance. But after 2 or 3 minutes, out of the corner of the eye, you see them re-inserting their card for the third time. 3 minutes later, they seem no closer to completing their transaction, and there’s still 4 more people in line. One of them has a handful of checks and random notes. The person at the ATM is looking through their wallet/purse. Pulling out a pen and some paper. Timing out with the ATM, and reinserting the card again. It’s like … uhm, can you let me do my 40-second $80 withdrawal, by which time you’ll be done getting your stuff in order and can re-engage the machine?
It’s far worse at the post office for some reason.
The post office offers great service when you don’t actually have to interact with a human being.
I loved my PO’s vending machines. Because they were accessible round-the-clock, & I’m a night owl. Because they took pennies & gave back dollar coins.
They’ve been gone for months. I don’t mail anything.
Ours does have a clue about this, fortunately. Almost every time I’m in there and the line’s too much, a PO employee opens up the register off to the side where you buy special stamps, packaging, pretty paper, etc. They never open one of the regular stations, though; maybe they’re assigned to specific persons.
They did take out the stamp machines. They never gave a coherent answer when askedwhat the deal was; now I know to ask about APC’s.