It's funny how much money is thrown out the window without any second look. What am I talking about? Wasted boxes, labels, tape, wrapping, packaging, etc. Why buy it when you can get it all for free? Actually it's better than free, you can even have it delivered to your door for absolutely no cost! hmmm got your attention now don't I?

How much money do you spend annually on packaging supplies? I guarantee if you do any kind of mail order it's a very large chunk of change. Your dumping money down the drain unless your like the hundreds of thousands of other people that know how to take advantage of the US postal service and are saving money daily.

Did you know that you can call the US postal service to receive an order form for supplies? You can have the same exact postal supplies that the post office uses themselves delivered right to your door. All this for absolutely no cost. They will even pick up your outgoing mail for a very modest fee.

But wait there's more than meets the eye.

About three years ago I needed to ship a number of books out to customers rather quickly and I was having problems using FED EX (one big problem was the price) I called my local post office and inquired about using their priority mail services. After a very helpful 15 minutes on the phone I set up a free meeting with the local VP of marketing. If you ever had a problem with UPS or Fed Ex, don't walk... RUN to your local post office! They will bend over backwards to help you.

To my delight the meeting lasted about 3 hours! I hit it off well with the guy and we started talking about how the post office is run and the types of materials they use. We were talking about different business needs and how the post office creates custom packages for just about anything you need. He showed me samples of packaging for books, videos, CD's, cassettes, dual videos, binders, they even have tubes for shipping drafting sheets, posters, etc. I have seen the price on similar packaging and believe me it's a far cry from free! They can even print your labels for you using your business name, etc. How much do you spend on packing tape? If you do a large amount of shipping it's definitely more then you should be spending! Stop right now and get it free from your uncle..... Uncle Sam that is.

Give the US postal service a call at 1-800-222-1811 and ask them to send you a supply order form. They will ask for your business name but you can have it sent under just your name. Better yet, order everything on-line with the click of your mouse http://supplies.usps.gov/ If you need to see the different types of supplies in person call your local office to make an appointment with the person in charge of mail-order.

Although you will still have to pay postage on anything you are mailing, you won't feel so bad with all the money you are now saving on supplies. I don't know about you but shipping a couple pounds anywhere in the country for just over 3 bucks sounds good to me. A free package and delivery in one to three days clearly makes it a winner in my book!

Worried about leaving your current provider because of delivery confirmation? Good news! Uncle Sam now has package delivery confirmation services for only 35 cents. Below is the paragraph clip about this new service.

• Retail customers will have access to the date and time of delivery, and the ZIP Code where their shipment was delivered.
• They will also hear about any attempted deliveries, and forwarded or returned shipments.
• Customers access their information by calling 1-800-222-1811 or by logging onto the Postal Service's Web site at http://www.usps.com/cttgate.
• All delivery information in the Postal Service Delivery Confirmation database will be updated each evening.

I hope you take advantage of everything the USPS has to offer and drop the money magnets you are now using!

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David Seitz is a Graphic/Web design specialist out of the Wilkes Barre/Scranton area of northeast, PA. Specializing in web graphics, navigation and Internet marketing. Publisher of the free Helping Hand Internet Marketing Newsletter, committed to helping you succeed online with little or no cost. If you would like to learn more about David you may visit a custom online digital portfolio at http://www.wyomingvalley.com/webdesign/.