Click-N-Ship® — Have You Used It? | USPS Office of Inspector General

Mar 09 2009

OIG Blog Category: Products & Services 105 Comments

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) independently audits the efficiency and effectiveness of Postal Service programs such as the online shipping solution Click-N-Ship®. However, OIG employees are also customers of the Postal Service, with their own experiences. Tara, a member of the OIG’s Communication team, tried Click-N-Ship® over the holidays and volunteered to write about her experience.

I knew Click-N-Ship® existed through promotions and obviously being an employee of the USPS OIG. And even though I pride myself on being very tech-savvy, I was hesitant to use it. To me there was just something comforting about making the time consuming trip to the post office to pay a real person to take and ship my package. Then I thought to myself, “I shop online, why not give this a shot?” Now I am a raving fan.

With a simple digital kitchen scale, my computer, and credit card, I shipped approximately 50 packages out during the holidays from the comfort of my own home. Most were letter-sized, so I first placed an online order for the free Priority Mail envelopes the Postal Service provides online. They were delivered to my door within a few days. It was fairly easy to set up the account, enter addresses, print the shipping labels, and complete transactions. For no additional charge, I scheduled a carrier pick-up and confirmed delivery of my packages online. In fact, the carrier even left a notification that he picked up my packages.

The only problem I encountered was not being able to ship anything for a day or so during the Postal Service’s technical glitch in the system in mid-December. Though mildly inconvenient, it wasn’t that big of deal to wait until the next day when the system was fixed. So now whenever someone tells me they are going to the Post Office to ship something, I tell them to give Click-N-Ship® a try.

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Have you ever used Click-N-Ship® and what was your experience? Was your experience similar to Tara’s? If not, what happened? What ideas do you have for the Postal Service to promote or improve this service?

Comments (105)

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Thank you for your comments on this OIG blog from 2009. For issues with the Postal Service's website, we ask you contact USPS Tech Support by sending an email to uspstechnicalsupport@mailps.custhelp.com. The message should include your name, telephone number, and your USPS.com account email address, and a summary of the problem. For more information on where to file complaints with our agency or USPS, visit the “Contact Us” page on this website. To view our most recent work, visit our home page. Thank you again, OIG Blog Moderator

Feb 12, 2018

Chris

Still doesn't work.

Feb 12, 2018

rebecca

Just spent a frustrating couple hours trying to get this Click and Ship to work! After 2 credit cards and Paypal all saying declined and yet showing as processed through the payers I give up! What is the point of a service if you cannot use it?

Feb 10, 2018

Kate

I'm trying to order stamps online and continue to get an error message regardless of whether I use a credit card (have tried 2) or use PayPal. I just sent a package January 28th with no issues. This happened before and when I e-mailed customer service, all they said is that it could be that my billing/shipping address is not being typed in exactly as it is on my credit card statement (WRONG). I'm getting extremely frustrated. I need these stamps for thank you cards for a funeral, and the weather has been quite bad lately - the last thing I want to do right now is drive to the post office to find that they don't have any of the stamps that I'm looking for. FIX YOUR SITE!!

Feb 07, 2018

Kayla

Glad to see I’m not the only one with this problem. The USPS website has been giving me an error code since the beginning of December when trying to ship my mom Christmas gifts! Thought they would have gotten the issue fixed. Nope! Trying to send a care package to my boyfriend, who is deployed to the Middle East, and is STILL giving me an error code. Wish USPS was the one to tell him he’ll be getting it late!

Feb 02, 2018

Matt

Click n ship still not working for APO AE attempts from USG location in Middle East. All CCs and PayPal attempts work with other websites and PayPal even says the payment is good, but again declined on USPS website! Come on, please fix this for those deployed to Middle East!

Jan 31, 2018

Marie

Dear Click and Ship, From all of your overseas customers who are serving our wonderful country, shippers are unable to go to the post office to mail packages as they often mail them from the APO and don't have US currency on hand to pay in cash. As such, we like to use click and ship except IT NEVER WORKS BECAUSE IT ALWAYS DECLINES PAYMENT! This has been a problem since at least 2013. Please, please can someone fix this!? Does the post service care that this is an ongoing problem. Oh and if someone has a solution can you please share it :) Thank you.

Jan 30, 2018

Anonymous

Add me to the list of grievances. Click and ship is garbage. Says payment declined every single time. Doesn't matter whether by credit card or paypal. Been like this for a year. And you have the nerve to do postage rate increases, when I can't even pay and print a single label. This is why the post office is losing money. Because of all the pensions, the scam deal you gave to Amazon, and your own incompetence.

Jan 30, 2018

Scott hoffman

Now that your charging more for postage ,I hope you have the decency to put some of that money to fix the click and ship payment problem. I have spent countless hours trying to pay for the postage labels with no success. All this time I thought it was me until I have read these posts. Now I have to keep spending money on lyft to get to the postoffice. This is not the way to treat your long time customers. It should be illegal for your site to advertise click and ship to its customers when it doesn't even work and it's wasting our time and money.

Jan 24, 2018

Deployed Servic...

Click n ship still not working, attempted with multiple cards and browswers. As a deployed service member, this is the only way I have to send things home - please fix!

Jan 21, 2018

Pat

Stupid customs form doesn't work today. Keep getting the following error message - An unexpected error has occurred. Please try refreshing the page. Since online is the only option for the form now, I'm SOL. The USPS sux.

Jan 21, 2018

Scott Kawahara

I love the USPS, but I keep having problems with my click and ship. I keep getting "Sorry, your transaction has been declined. Your transaction cannot be processed at this time with this payment type". I don't have time to go to the post office, so I use this method. This isn't the first time that I have had this error. What is going on with the post office?

Jan 20, 2018

Rochelle HOWARD

I have been trying to purchase a label for my dad for 2 weeks now and the payment declined comes up no matter what payment method I use. I go to the Post Office, they have no clue how to do it. Extremely frustrating and a waste if time, same thing when I call customer service/tech support. Useless!!

Dec 31, 2017

James T Spradlin

I've had the same problem since mid-December 2017. I have tried using 3 different credit cards and PayPal, and each time I receive a message that payment has been declined. Yet, the payments post to my accounts, and then are backed out the next day. I have contacted customer service on 3 occasions, and no one has an answer. So, I have to buy postage in person at a higher rate.

Jan 16, 2018

KAREN

Why do you continue to advertise the click n ship service when it is so broken? And why does the post Office not inform customers buying insurance for their packages that they must have a receipt for items enclosed for the insurance to pay out for delivery error? Thereby not covering the value of some precious handmade item?

Dec 22, 2017

Dina K

UGH. MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER. Successfully printed one label. Try another and every form of payment denied. WTF USPS???? I can see from the comments I am not the only one. I spent an hour on this. Complete waste of my time

Dec 16, 2017

Joan

Would like the OIG to cease the release of systems that effect usps.com during the month of December. This year it is Chatbot which is causing huge System Issues with click and ship and other systems for our customers and the employees trying to assist.

Dec 16, 2017

Michael Pottorff

WHEN are you going to fix Click N Ship? It WILL NOT allow me to complete the process for a large flat rate box shipment! It is Christmas season, you idiots! FIX THE PROBLEM!!!

Dec 14, 2017

Rong Gui

Also have this payment processing issue for a month. And apparently nothing has been done.

Nov 30, 2017

UM

I am also receiving the "Problem with your payment issue" this has been an ongoing problem since July Aug and it amazes me that the USPS hasn't fixed the problem.

Nov 22, 2017

J.A.Tortas

I have used click and ship for 4 years ..now all of sudden in the last 2 weeks it is not working..and it looks like no one is taking care of the problem.. I will use another shipping option... will not wait in line

Nov 11, 2017

Jean

I repeatedly get the “Sorry there was a problem with your payment. Please verify the information and try again”. My credit card and personal billing information are all correct. I also tied payin with my Pay Pal account and that also generated a “try again” error. Very frustrating. I am now forced to stand in line at the understaffed local post office.

Nov 01, 2017

Mathias Berry

I am a small business owner that does quite well this is going to hurt my business I have over 2000.00 dollars in unused stamps and my customers are used to seeing my logo on my packages I have also tried to use the clip and ship with no success now I will have to hire a secretary that I cannot afford this is the worst news that I have ever heard from the US Postal Service

Oct 30, 2017

Colleen

Like many commenters below I am posted overseas with USPS Click and Ship as my absolute only option. I have been trying to mail my mother's 8 oz birthday present for three weeks and for three weeks I have been absolutely unable to get Click and Ship to work. Her birthday is tomorrow. I am somewhere between heartbroken and ready to tear my hair out. I'm not even expecting a solution at this point, just venting.

Oct 24, 2017

CPT Ian B

I am a service member that is currently deployed in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. We have 0 other way to ship things home to our loved ones other than using USPS. The only way we have been told to use clicknship and the flatrate shipping boxes. Myself and upwards of 50 personnel have all tried to use this service and most of us have 0 access. I get all the way to purchase the service and my card is told that the action cant be performed...I have done this with three different cards to the same result. We are having to get spouses or parents to attempt to access these accounts and many of them are getting denied. If you are going to be the sole provider of mail service here, you need to help and have a more reliable system for service members.

Oct 23, 2017

Amber

My husband is also deployed , we are having same issues and I have been searching forums this issue has been non stop and unresolved since 2002. That is unacceptable and wholly wrong. Hope the USPS actually does something soon! but since it has been happening for 15 years and no attempt at resolution on their side , I am not hopeful...

Nov 09, 2017

Cindy Grumbles

tried 6 different times to print a shipping label for priority mail, with either PayPal or cc, kept denying my payment. both types of payment are good, not problem with my accounts. This is not the first time I've had problems. whenever I call for assistance they are no help.

Oct 20, 2017

Matt

As an American working for the USG overseas, I am limited to using USPS to send/receive anything. Unfortunately, any time I try to create a label using "Click and Ship", I am presented with the following - "Sorry, your transaction has been declined. Your transaction cannot be processed at this time with this payment type" I see there are plenty of other comments that echo mine, but not a single response from USPS offering any sort of solution. Click and ship is a poor product with even worse customer service. Fix this.

Oct 11, 2017

Jonathan

I have deployed to Afghanistan for the second time. Delivery options for goods are, shall we say, limited. When I was here the first time, I would use click n ship to create customs and postage labels for friends and family back home. It was a pretty sweet system. Give me the package contents, dimensions, and weight, and I would pay postage and fill out the customs declaration. All the sender would have to do is tape the label to the box and drop it at the post office. No lines, no hassle. Easy peasy. Now, I'm getting the message that says, "Sorry, your transaction has been declined. Your transaction cannot be processed at this time with this payment type". I've tried Paypal, credit cards, clearing cookies, VPN, different browsers, different computers - all to no avail. Most of the comments below say something about dropping USPS for UPS or another competitor. Unfortunately, this is not an option for me. It's USPS or bust. For now, the only workaround I have is to complete a customs form, but subject my dear senders to the glory that is standing in line at the post office (after which I use Paypal to reimburse postage). I'd really like to go back to the system I was using, but I simply cannot find a way to make it work. I know the system is touchy, but it worked for me just fine before I left the US three weeks ago. I called tech support a couple of days ago. There weren't any glaring issues. The kind woman on the other end of the line said that Military inquiries get priority, so I'm hoping that there is some kind of resolution soon. And yes, I was on hold for about 45-50 minutes. Incident number 171006-001381 I know that USPS is losing ground in the marketplace, rates are going up, and I'm sure that system development and maintenance stretches the budget beyond thin. I appreciate that there are shortcomings, and I am willing to deal with an overly complex, difficult, or non-intuitive system. However, this system is broken, and I have no other options. If you, Inspector General, read these comments, please assist.

Oct 08, 2017

Scott Marshburn

"Sorry, your transaction has been declined. Your transaction cannot be processed at this time with this payment type" No, plenty of $$$ in accounts... your systems are very broken. Poor online services.

Sep 27, 2017

Alan Felder

I use click n ship for some packages that I send out. It is absolutely STUPID that you cannot send a simple first class package using this service. There cannot be any rational reason for this!

Sep 24, 2017

Jon Levy

Keep getting messages that my account is unavailable but have been using it for years

Sep 20, 2017

Scott Pelak

I CANT PROCESS MY PURCHASE!!!!! 3 days in a row!!! U GUYS ARE FAR FROM TERRIBLE

Sep 18, 2017

Ryan G

The past few months, whenever I need to purchase a return label it comes back "your transaction has been delined, your transaction cannot be processed at this time." Does not matter which card I use or whether I use Paypal which has enough in the balance to cover the purchase. Seems to happen to a lot of users, as google auto suggested "usps transaction declined constantly". Is it a ploy to push customers in to the store to pay more? Or just aggravate them enough to move to competitors? Either way I can't believe the payment cannot be processed, it has been this way for a long time.

Sep 14, 2017

Rob

Have used it before without problems, but today I tried using the click-N-ship to send the following- From zip- 33948 To Zip- 54902 Weight 5 Lbs Dim's 19x15x10 USPS shows retail cost $13.97 for retail ground large box, but click-N-ship only allows- Priority Mail $41.00 or Priority Mail Express $50.50 Tried calling support and was told over 1 hr wait! Why??????

Sep 13, 2017

Alyssa

Same! I run band merchandise and shipping a tank top the weighs 4 oz for $7 priority is not cost efficient for a band.

Oct 22, 2017

Faith Thomas

There are serious problems with the technical end of USPS, Click n Ship and Click n Ship Business Pro. Also, the wait for customer service is never less than 40 mins and most likely leads to no resolution. This system is in dire need of reform! You people are loosing millions on a non-functioning "machine" and soon will not be able to support your union; leading to a catastrophic crash of a once great historical institution founded on its exemplary reputation for service to the United States. Those who are chiefs at USPS should be absolutely ashamed of themselves - they need to be replaced with people who actually care.

Sep 06, 2017

Van

This service has worked one time for me in the last 5 years. I come back to use it forgetting that it doesn't work! I can log on fine, but it dies while trying to enter the address. And also, it only sends priority mail which I rarely, if ever use. So me too, back to UPS because it is convenient. I don't know why they keep this service up, its useless.

Aug 31, 2017

Anonymous

"Your transaction has been declined. Your transaction cannot be processed at this time with this payment type". I tried Master, Visa and PayPal. Nothing works! CC & PayPay accounts have a hold/pre-authorization for the payments. I have tried Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera browsers with Click & Shift and non of them works. Nothing new from USPS. Thank you for service! Moving to DHL or FedEx or UPS or pigeon mail

Aug 30, 2017

Steven Wolfert

It is broken. "We are unable to find any available service options for this label, please review your label and try again." on a valid address

Aug 21, 2017

Anonymous

I'm unable to get into my click n ship account because I've forgotten either my logon name or password; maybe both. their system said I have to create an account. It tried to do that, but their system says, "it looks like you already have an account." but they won't provide me my password or my logon name. So, now it seems that I am completely locked out of ever having this click n ship convenience again, unless I can find my original logon name and password. this isn't helpful.

Aug 14, 2017

E L Cobb

USPS is good at the ole bait-and-switch routine. Once upon a time one could print mailing labels without postage online. Then that disappeared. Then was the awesome click-n-ship tool, with a variety of options for mailing. Now all but the most expensive shipping options have disappeared from the online menu. I will no longer be using usps.com. I am very disappointed in the inexorable decrease of service and concomitant price increase.

Aug 07, 2017

Ben Clay

I have a click & ship account with usps. I am trying to ship a small package(35lbs) via GROUND. Can I print out a Label for Ground shipment in Click & Ship? If Not, do I have to take the package to the Post Office? Thanks!!

Jul 31, 2017

ac

click and ship does not work. repeated error messages: You have made changes to your label information that require rates to be recalculated, please click the button below once all of your changes are completed; and An unexpected error has occurred. Please try refreshing the page. tried many times over last couple weeks with same result. very frustrating. heading over to ups.

Jul 08, 2017

Keith Gutierrez

This is regarding Click & Ship The newly upgraded USPS home page no longer accepts my login on my XP based system. It provides a cryptic response: "We’ve upgraded our Login Page. You will need to clear your browser cache to take advantage of the features on the new page....... We have encountered an error. Please try again." Don't bother clearing the cache - it has nothing to do with the problem. This started on June 29. It is now July 5 and still it doesn't work. After several emails and phone calls (accompanied by long waits) , the tech-support story today, July 5, is that you can no longer use a computer running Windows XP to log in to USPS. (sic) Also, sometime during this long weekend, I got a response to my original email help request that included the notice that my password has been reset. They are sending a separate email with instructions and a new password. Of course I did not ask for a password reset. And of course, I never got their email with the instructions and secret reset password. So, today, after another phone call and long wait, I was told an email was coming to allow me to reset my password. And you guessed it - 5 hours later, no email has been received. So here I go again, trying to get my password reset because of something I didn't ask for. The inability to use XP may be the last nail in the USPS coffin that finally forces me to use FEDEX for 100% of my domestic package shipping. Too bad somebody didn't think to give us small businesses advance notice this was going to happen.

Jul 05, 2017

CP

I have not had the same experience as Tara. My experience was trying to ship a priority small USPS envelope domestically. I get thru the process and enter my card information to pay and it was not accepted. Thinking I made an error in the entry, tried several more times, each time was the same result. It was a visa card and does not have trouble anywhere else. I thought I would give this a shot, heading to FedX now.

Jun 28, 2017

Karen

I used to love and use usps click and ship weekly. Now I'm stuck with UPS or fedex because USPS cannot seem to figure out payments. I've tried to pay for labels with 3 different cards, and even paypal. I get an error every single time and zero help from customer service.

Jun 16, 2017

MJ

Used Click-N-Ship for the first time ever today. Extremely frustrating. Printed two labels. Payment processed and bank account charged. But then, only one of the labels showed up in "activity history". Dropped off the package at a post office. But tracking says: "label not recognized" and it's still not showing up in history. Yet, paid for. So ridiculous! Any suggestions?

Jun 14, 2017

DPO Customer

Click-N-Ship website seems to be having a lot of problems processing credit/debit cards that aren't being addressed. As a DPO Customer, I don't have an option to pay at the post office. Please try to address this! The site has not been working for weeks!

Jun 11, 2017

K Cho

Have spent the last 45 min trying to purchase a shipping label online using click n ship and having issues with cc processing errors. Looking at the long chain of comments going back months and seeing the same issue is absolutely outrageous. Please join the 21st century and fix your payments processing.

Jun 05, 2017

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