USPS.Com--A Little Holiday Blessing

And while I'm on the subject of holiday cards...

I notice that I'm almost out of stamps, but I'm hesitant to get more, because the price is going up to $.39 next month, and I hate fiddling with 2-cent stamps. I don't even use that many stamps most of the time, because I do a lot of online banking, and most of my personal correspondence occurs electronically (birthday cards being a notable exception).

But whatever I decide, re: stamp purchasing, I will use the wonderful U.S. Postal Service site. You can choose from every available stamp, not just what's at your local P.O. You can choose by format--rolls! sheets! first-day covers!--or by subject matter, newness of issue, or amount of postage. It's a wonderland of stamps, even for those of us whose depth of knowledge about philately extends to, "Um--what pretty stamps do you have today?"

Your whole order costs just a dollar to ship, and it arrives in your home mailbox after a couple of days. Beats a trip to the post office (which seems silly just to buy stamps), and it's only 50 cents more than my bank charges for buying stamps through the ATM. Plus, you don't get the pretty stamps from the ATM. Flags, usually. Boring flags.

I've also begun printing postage-paid priority mail labels for my holiday packages. You just enter the info, print it out on plain paper (comes with barcodes and everything), and stick it on with that clear mailing tape that you probably already have lying around anyway. (Doesn't everyone at this time of year?) Then, toss it any any postal box (or, in my case, the office outgoing mail bin). Again, no trips to the P.O. Last year, when I had some big boxes to ship, I even used that service where you request a postal pickup, leave your packages on the porch (or wherever) and they'll come and get 'em.

Convenience, thy name is Internet. Ironic that it's so helpful for snail-mail, too.