Silk Road forums

Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: weok83r8fd on July 04, 2013, 10:06 pm

Title: Paying For Postage
Post by: weok83r8fd on July 04, 2013, 10:06 pm
I've spent an hour looking with no helpful information.  I'm willing to pay a vendor even if that helps.  And if they have a lot of knowledge I'll pay them a lot for a continual stream of questions as I get them.  If someone does want this relationship I require very good english, high feedback rating, intelligence, etc.

My understanding is:
Print labels using a laser or thermal printer.  High quality envelopes or packages.  Return addresses to legitimate businesses in the area.  The whole putting the letter/package together thing from here I understand perfectly.

What I don't understand is how to pay for the shipping.  Are stamps fine for single letters?  What about larger letters?  Small-medium packages?  Internationally?  Special techniques for larger shipments?
If you shouldn't be using stamps, how do you pay for postage that aren't sent/traced back to you? Stamps.com/paypal etc all require your info not to mention it will all come from your location in spite of VPN, tor or what have you.  Is this just all printed via shell accounts with prepaid cards?  Is the location its printed at relevant?  What about the clients information being stored indefinitely on these sites?

Is there a somewhat arbitrary line where stamps fail and printed postage prevails?
Title: Re: Paying For Postage
Post by: P2P on July 04, 2013, 10:12 pm
You buy postage at a PO or another private vendor (grocery stores, drug stores) that offers them (usually just 45 cent stamps, though). The PO should (sometimes doesn't) have other stamps too, such as $1 and $5.60 stamps (not sure what express costs these days). Look up the rates on the USPS website for how much postage is required to send a given type of package with a given service (first class, priority, express) to a given state/country. There's a calculator that spits out a number for you. Get as close to that number as you can with your postage, but never less than is required. The calculator on the USPS will also require that you weigh your packages. Make sure you are accurate with the weights (get a spring scale or cheap jewelry scale).
Title: Re: Paying For Postage
Post by: weok83r8fd on July 04, 2013, 10:28 pm
So using stamps in the correct amount is an OK solution for almost all shipping situations?