Stamps.com review

No pictures or nails - this is for those of you who, like me, have received the little "Try our service free with a five dollar postage on us" kit break down of stamps.com. I went ahead and gave it a go - I got a TON of swagbucks for signing up so I thought why not.

1. Getting started is super easy. You pop the disc in or use the download link they email you to get it setup on your computer. You are, literally, ready to go within minutes. For me the 5.00 was instantly loaded so getting going was hassle free. That's about all that was hassle free though.

2. Getting ready to print. It's like usps.com except you can actually print first class mail through this which is why it could have been a totally amazing answer to all the nail mail I do. It also saves you 15% on postage AND gives you free confirmation as well. Simply put the information in, select your options (you DO need a scale to weigh your package), print out the label....wait. It won't print! Well that's ok there has to be a reprint button here somewhere...oh history! Yay easy button to find this HAS to be it. Well there the label is so I'll just go ahead and click on that. Nothing happens. THE ONLY BUTTON OPTION IS AN E-REFUND. Whaaaaa....?!?!? After about an hour of fooling around with the interface and the online site I finally call in to figure this out. Guess what - if it doesn't print the first time you have to ask for a refund and then do it all over again. Well that can't be too bad. We live in the modern day. Nope...refund takes 4-6 weeks. Well now I have to go buy more postage but you HAVE to buy in 10 dollar increments. You don't get to pay exact amount. So I buy 10.00 since it ate my free postage but I have more stuff going out next week and I'm sure 4-6 weeks is just a precautionary time frame. It is not. It literally takes 4-6 weeks for that refund. I get that refund, load up a new label for another package and it won't print again *facepalm*

3. Calling to cancel. So you are probably surprised to hear I decided not to keep this golden service. At 15.95 a month just to use I really wasn't feeling the free confirmation (which I get on the regular usps.com site on priority ANYHOW) or the 15% discount. I call to cancel and the chick pretty much won't let me. She's pushy and prying and horrid and tells me she gave me another free month to use that 5.00 postage.and.hung.up. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Well fine, sure...but you see what happened with that refund...more postage bought, more time wasted, and I still had to go to the post office. I call in to cancel this month and got another gal who tries to do the same thing. I tell her I've wasted my time and money. I tell her I'm frustrated. I do all of this calmly and she keeps going on and on about the savings in time and money. I tell her to cancel or else.Well stamps.com this is my or else.

Bottomline: A large business with a ton of mail on a daily basis may get a lot of use out of this but I can pretty much guarantee you that the free swagbucks and supposedly free 5.00 postage are not worth it. It will eat your time and your sanity.