EP101: Stop Overpaying at the Post Office Counter

Shipping labels, blankets, and fabric across the country adds up fast for an all-volunteer nonprofit. In this short episode, Susan Finch shares the tools Binky Patrol uses to keep everyday operating costs down. She talks about switching to Pirate Ship for the labels Donna sends to chapters, how much it has saved, and why a post office clerk calling it a scam isn't worth worrying about. Susan also covers TechSoup for discounted Microsoft software, hardware, and QuickBooks, Google Workspace for branded volunteer email at no cost, and how Rania sets up forwarding for volunteers who live in Yahoo or AOL. She wraps up with her take on GoDaddy and why Binky Patrol hosts its WordPress site on Rocket.net instead. If your nonprofit is paying full price for things it could get for almost nothing, start here.

Key Points

Pirate Ship cuts postage costs. Binky Patrol saves about half on shipping by buying postage through pirateship.com instead of paying at the counter.

Weigh and measure first. You need a scale and a tape measure, and it pays to round the weight up a little.

Ignore the counter pushback. Pirate Ship is legitimate and approved, even if a post office clerk tells you otherwise.

Register with TechSoup. Any 501(c)(3) can get discounted Microsoft software, hardware, phones, and services like QuickBooks.

Brand every volunteer email. Google Workspace is free for 501(c)(3)s, so chapter leaders can use their name @binkypatrol.org and forward it to the inbox they already check.

Skip GoDaddy for hosting. Rocket.net includes SSL and backups, and its support team is all human.