I've finally achieved my lifelong dream of owning a postal scale

Since everyone is—reasonably, correctly!—talking about the post office right now (and buying lots of stamps), it seems like a good time to mention a recentish purchase of mine that has been very wonderful: my USPS postal scale.

I have wanted a postal scale basically since I’ve known what they are, but have never had a super compelling reason to get one. But a couple months ago — wanting/needing to send small packages but not willing to go inside a closet-sized UPS store to do so — I decided to buy one. And let me tell you, it’s been worth its weight in gold.

Basically, a postal scale allows you to precisely calculate the weight of a package, so you can then create a shipping label from home. (This postal scale can connect to your computer/the USPS website via USB, but that feature only works with PCs. Fortunately, that’s not actually necessary — you can simply type the weight in on the USPS website when you’re preparing the label.)

It’s been really helpful to have the scale in a few instances where I’ve needed to make a return and the company doesn’t cover return shipping/provide a label; without it, I would be sort of screwed. It also allows the possibility of sending out care packages and gifts!

To make the postal scale work, you’ll also need access to a printer for the labels you’re creating, which I feel like might actually be the higher barrier to entry…but I got a printer this summer too, and can say that having both in my home has made me feel very powerful! Not having a working printer is a hassle fairly regularly, so having one has been a true relief, and made it easier to stay at home/inside.

Buy it from USPS for $35.99. 📫

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