Learn how to schedule a USPS pickup at your house or business.
When I'm talking about WooCommerce, Shopify, or some other eCommerce platform one of the most challenging aspects is fulfillment. Store owners always want to know how you can efficiently and affordably ship products.
USPS is one of cheaper options, and with both WooCommerce & Shopify you can get live shipping rates during checkout. And you can print out the shipping labels on your home printer. This automates a lot of the boring work.
The last step is scheduling USPS to come by to your house (or business) to pickup the packages. And the best news is that it's easy, free, & you don't even have to get out of your PJs.
Schedule USPS Pickup
The first step is to go to: https://www.usps.com/pickup/
That will route you to one of their online tools to schedule the pickup.
Next enter your address.
Let them know if you have a dog. This is simply a courtesy. It doesn't affect your pickup.
Tell them where to look for packages. You can select where they'll be located and even leave a note. You could put them in your garage and tell them the keycode if you wanted. Or tell them to ring the front doorbell. Totally up to you.
You can choose what sort of pickup you want. If you schedule it during their regular mail delivery hours it's entirely free. Yup. $0.
If you want them to come at a specific time then you can schedule it for $22.
Schedule a date to pick up the packages.
And now count up & note which packages they'll be picking up.
And when you're done click “Schedule a Pickup” at the bottom of the page. Pretty easy right?
You can create an account and save a lot of this information for easier repeat pickups.
Pick Up Shipping & Packing Materials
If you don't have shipping materials like boxes, envelopes, tape, or bubble wrap I recommend going to the USPS office for the first shipment or two.
That way you know how to pack items and what boxes you'll need. Once you get that set you can pack your boxes at home, print out the labels, schedule the pickup and you're done. You don't even have to be there for the pickup if you don't want.
You could spend that time selling more products. Pretty awesome right?
There's a lot of things a new store owner should invest in. Standing in line at USPS is not one of them. Do it once or twice to get all of the packaging you need and then start scheduling pickups and getting more out of your day.