USPS Mobile App Finally Features A Postage Price Calculator
January 10, 2011
The official USPS Mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch recently received an update that added the oft-requested postage price calculator, and having been available in the App Store for well over a year now, it's safe to say this update was long overdue.
USPS Mobile's postage price calculator can be found under the 'Prices' tab at the bottom of the screen. It allows you to view prices for flat rate products as well as calculate prices based on specific attributes.
To calculate prices for a package you will need to enter some basic information, such as to and from zip codes, the type of package, the weight of the package, and if it's over 12" in any dimension, the size of the package. Once completed, the app will display prices based on the mailing date of your package. Prices are listed based on shipping time, and can be saved for later viewing.
The price calculator does offer a couple of handy features, like the ability to find a zip code based on an address or weight comparisons using households items in case you don't have a scale handy, but it somehow lacks one very important piece of information, which is first class shipping prices.
For whatever reason, the app fails to display first class shipping prices in the results even when the criteria has been met -- basically anything under 13 ounces -- so if you are looking up prices for a simple postcard, the results will display nothing less than the $4.95 priority rate. We're not sure if this is an error or if it was intentional, but hopefully we don't have to wait another whole year for the issue to be resolved.
USPS Mobile v2.0 is now available in the App Store for free. It does a lot more than just calculate postage, so even if you are feeling let down over the lack of first class prices, you may still want to check it out.
To calculate prices for a package you will need to enter some basic information, such as to and from zip codes, the type of package, the weight of the package, and if it's over 12" in any dimension, the size of the package. Once completed, the app will display prices based on the mailing date of your package. Prices are listed based on shipping time, and can be saved for later viewing.
The price calculator does offer a couple of handy features, like the ability to find a zip code based on an address or weight comparisons using households items in case you don't have a scale handy, but it somehow lacks one very important piece of information, which is first class shipping prices.
For whatever reason, the app fails to display first class shipping prices in the results even when the criteria has been met -- basically anything under 13 ounces -- so if you are looking up prices for a simple postcard, the results will display nothing less than the $4.95 priority rate. We're not sure if this is an error or if it was intentional, but hopefully we don't have to wait another whole year for the issue to be resolved.
USPS Mobile v2.0 is now available in the App Store for free. It does a lot more than just calculate postage, so even if you are feeling let down over the lack of first class prices, you may still want to check it out.
