Endicia for the Mac
Everytime stamp prices go up, people are on lookout for not just less expensive, but easier options for mailing. Businesses that make large mailings are particularly susceptible to mailing cost increases as those pennies really add up. Tack on charges of postage meter and your bottom line takes a big hit. Worse yet, postage meters still require you to create mailing labels and type addresses on envelopes. There is a better solution for small business and home users–printing real life postage at home.
Windows computers have a variety of options to print postage. Macintoshes have very few. The Postal Service lets you print some mailing labels via their website, but the website often is incompatible with the Mac and won’t print the things people use the most of: envelopes and stamps.
Endicia is the only software for the Mac currently that allows you to print labels, envelopes and stamps on your Mac. The USPS website allows labels, the Dymo label printer will print stamps and nothing but Endicia allows you to print labels, stamps and envelopes.
Endicia could rest on it’s laurels, realizing that you basically have no choice but to use their product However, Endicia is a great product in and of itself. Personally, before I used Endicia, I used Stamps.com on Windows. While the Windows Stamps.com was great it was…well, a Windows program and that says it in a nutshell.
Being your own post office requires a bit of paperwork. This isn’t like setting up a word processing program. You need to sign up with an Endicia account, fill out some online paperwork, give them a credit card to print postage, and then you actually download and install the software. It takes about 15 minutes to set up the paperwork and you have to have a Internet connection anytime you want to print stamps. The cost of the service is $15.95 per month or $174.95 a year, not including the one month free trial. You are not locked into a long term commitment when you pay the $15.95 a month. To print postage, you must keep money in your Endicia account. The money doesn’t expire so long as you are a subscriber, but you must contribute a minimum of $10 at any one time.
The software will print on standard envelopes at no additional charge, but to print stamps you need to purchase the paper from them. A pack of 125 stamps is $3.95 plus shipping. You can print one stamp at a time, a whole sheet of of 25 or anything in between. What the software does not allow you to do is print stamps for a particular amount. For example, I have some old 23-cent stamps I sued for a postcard mailing. I can’t print 16 cent stamps so that I can combine the two stamps to print a letter. The software generally only allows you to print postage in denominations commonly used for mailing. It’s an annoyance, but I suspect it has something to do with postal regulations.
Setting up printing addresses and postage on envelopes was a bit tricky. It was hard to get my printer (HP Laserjet 5m) to align right, but I had the same problem when I try to print envelopes in Word. Fortunately, you can run test prints and not be charged. If you do make an error, you sometimes have to ship the actual envelope back to the post office for credit. Again, that’s postal rules not Endicia. When printing labels for packages going Priority Mail or Parcel Post you get a discount on the tracking number…a savings of about a dollar.
The universal binary software was easy to use and conformed to key Mac user interface guidelines.. It integrates 100% with the OS X Address Book allowing you to print a envelope or label to anyone in the book. Users of Entourage or Palm will have to import their contacts into the OS X Address Book in order to find them within Endicia, though you could always cut and paste individual contacts from your alternative personal information manager. In addition, a search function is integrates into most functions of the program allowing you to easily find an address or determine when you mailed something.
In addition, the software can be programed to integrate with Filemaker Pro and is scriptable via Applescript or XML. Not being a programmer, I have no idea what that means, but it sure sounds good.
Due to the monthly cost, the program is not for an occasional home user. The target market is obviously an Ebay user or small businesses that do shipping every week. Because I run a computer consulting firm from my home being able to quickly send invoices, pay bills and send in rebate forms saves me money because it saves me time. I don’t understand why anyone would pay for a postage meter when this is so easy to use.
Endicia makes printing labels, envelopes and stamps as easy as printing your emails while taking advantage of the Mac user interface and features
Pros: Easy to use and works great, just like your Mac
Cons: Have to purchase blank stamps from Endicia, can’t print custom postage amounts
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March 26th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Incase it is of any interest to you, a while back I had a great deal from a British labels company who were selling off all their plain labels at really low costs. I don’t know what their prices are like now but could be worth taking a look.
March 29th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I like that you can print stealth labels for both domestic and international shipments through Endicia. Plus you can brand your company by customizing your labels. I picked up a label printer at http://www.discountlabelprinters.com and love it!
May 16th, 2008 at 12:04 am
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