Pitney Bowes Alternative: Parcel Labels, No Meter

Pitney Bowes vs I'd Ship That, Feature by Feature

Cost anatomy

What You Pay Pitney Bowes For, and What You Pay the Carrier For

A postage meter is a fixed cost, separate from postage. Pitney Bowes lists its SendPro meters on a monthly plan after a free trial, with postage and supplies not included.

Add up the meter plan and supplies from your own invoices and you have the fixed cost you carry before you print a single label. Pitney Bowes also sells PitneyShip software without a meter, including a pay-as-you-go plan with no monthly fee and a usage fee on labels. On a phone, there is no hardware cost at all.

The second cost worth checking is postage itself. Pitney Bowes says its postage meters come with access to shipping software with discounted USPS label rates, so before you compare anything, confirm which rate your own parcel labels print at: USPS commercial pricing and Post Office retail differ, and the gap compounds across volume.

Work a real example at 2026 rates: a 1 lb USPS Ground Advantage parcel runs $10.05-$13.65 at Post Office retail depending on zone versus $8.01-$11.22 at USPS commercial pricing, so commercial lands around $2 under retail on a single 1 lb parcel and the gap widens as weight and zone climb.

A 5 lb parcel runs from $10.35 at the nearest zone up to $20.24 at the farthest commercially, so distance drives the number. I'd Ship That shows the full price before you buy and rate-shops USPS against UPS on every order. Pitney Bowes still makes sense for a large mailroom running certified mail, presort, and high-volume letter metering.

The bottom line

For sellers who mostly print parcels, the question is whether the meter is doing work a label printer would not.

What Moving Off Pitney Bowes Actually Changes

• No postage meter, no meter plan, no meter supplies: parcel labels print on a thermal printer or plain paper
• Print from the phone in your pocket, a label ready in about 30 seconds, no hardware to install
• USPS and UPS rate-shopped side by side on every order
• Sign up and print now, with nothing to ship or install
• USPS's own published commercial rate is already about $2 under Post Office retail on a 1 lb Ground Advantage parcel, so check which one your meter prints at
• Add package insurance in $100 increments at checkout, only when a shipment needs it

Switching from Pitney Bowes: Best Path

1. You are mid-term on a meter agreement, then Move parcels now, let the agreement run out
2. You mostly print parcels, not letter mail, then The meter solves a problem you do not have
3. You are not sure which rate your meter prints, then Check that before comparing anything
4. You run a large mailroom, then Keep the meter

1You are mid-term on a meter agreement

Move parcels now, let the agreement run out

Check your own meter agreement for its term and cancellation conditions. The low-risk migration is to move parcel labels to an app immediately and let the hardware term expire on its own schedule.

• Nothing about printing a parcel label requires the meter to be idle.
• There is no hardware to install or ship on the app side.
• Sign up and print now.

2You mostly print parcels, not letter mail

The meter solves a problem you do not have

A postage meter prints postage for letter mail. A parcel only needs a printed shipping label, which needs no meter.

• A parcel label needs a printer, or a phone and a label printer, and nothing else.
• There is no meter plan or meter supplies on a label you print from an app.
• USPS and UPS are rate-shopped side by side rather than picked manually.

3You are not sure which rate your meter prints

Check that before comparing anything

Confirm whether your metered parcel labels print at USPS commercial pricing or at Post Office retail. The two differ, the gap compounds across volume, and every other comparison depends on the answer.

• A 1 lb Ground Advantage parcel runs $10.05 to $13.65 retail depending on zone.
• The same parcel is $8.01 to $11.22 at USPS commercial pricing.
• The gap widens as weight and zone climb, so a 1 lb test understates it.

4You run a large mailroom

Keep the meter

Certified mail, presort, and high-volume letter metering are what a Pitney Bowes setup is genuinely good at. If that is the daily work, the hardware is doing a job an app does not do.

• The parcel half can still move without touching the letter-mail workflow.
• Splitting the two is a normal arrangement, not an all-or-nothing switch.
• Decide from what your mailroom actually processes, not from the plan sheet.

Moving Off Pitney Bowes: Key Takeaways

• A postage meter prints postage for letter mail; a parcel only needs a printed shipping label, which needs no meter.
• A SendPro meter is a fixed cost: Pitney Bowes lists it on a monthly plan after a free trial, with postage and supplies not included.
• Check whether your metered parcels print at commercial or Post Office retail pricing; commercial runs about $2 under retail on a 1 lb Ground Advantage package in 2026 and the gap widens with weight and zone.
• Total cost is the meter plan plus postage, so count both when you compare.
• USPS raised shipping prices about 6.6% to 7.8% on January 18, 2026 and UPS an average of 5.9% in December 2025, so the gap between Post Office retail and commercial pricing is worth re-checking at current prices.
• Migration risk is low: move parcel labels to the app now and let the meter agreement expire on its own term.

How to Price a Postage Meter Against a Phone

Comparing Pitney Bowes to a label app is not a feature-grid exercise, it is an accounting one. Two costs deserve separate attention: the recurring meter plan, and the postage level your parcels actually print at, which may be commercial or may be closer to Post Office retail depending on your setup. Separate those two before you decide.

Start with the fixed cost. Add your meter plan and meter supplies into one annual number. Then take that number and divide by how many parcels you actually shipped last year. That is the meter's fixed cost per package. A free I'd Ship That account has no fixed cost: you pay per label, with a platform fee on Starter, and Pro is an optional paid plan.

• Total your last 12 months of Pitney Bowes invoices: meter plan, supplies, and any other fees combined.
• Pull one real 1 lb and one real 5 lb parcel from your history and compare the rate you paid to 2026 commercial pricing ($8.01-$11.22 for a 1 lb Ground Advantage parcel depending on zone).
• Divide your annual meter fixed cost by your parcel count to get the meter's fixed cost per package before postage.
• Run the same package mix through Ship Intelligence to see the cheapest valid USPS-or-UPS rate per order, then compare all-in against the meter total.
• Confirm you can see the full label price up front.

Leaving SendPro Without Breaking the Meter Agreement Early

You do not have to fight the meter contract to start moving parcels. The clean move is to stop sending new parcel volume to it while it runs out its term, and route those labels to the app immediately. Fixed meter payments continue either way, so compare each off-meter label on postage alone from day one.

Keep it concrete during the transition. Pick your busiest parcel channel, print a real day of its orders in I'd Ship That, and confirm the barcodes scan and tracking lands before you move the next channel. If your meter still handles letter mail or certified mail, leave it on that lane and let it retire naturally.

• Route all new parcel labels to the app now; leave letter and certified mail on the meter until the agreement expires.
• Print one busy channel's full day of orders end to end, confirm scans and tracking, then move the next channel.
• Set a rollback line, for example more than 2 label errors in a day pauses that channel until the preset is fixed.
• Once volume is steady, load orders into The Workbench and batch-print the day in one pass instead of one label at a time.
• Diary the agreement end date so you can decide on the meter before the term closes.

Common Mistakes When Switching From Pitney Bowes

Step by step

Migration Checklist from Pitney Bowes

1. 1
   Total your last 12 months of Pitney Bowes cost: meter plan, supplies, and any other fees.
2. 2
   Divide that annual fixed cost by your parcel count to see the meter's fixed cost per package before postage.
3. 3
   Compare one real 1 lb and one real 5 lb shipment against 2026 commercial USPS pricing.
4. 4
   Open a free I'd Ship That account and confirm you see the full label price before you buy.
5. 5
   Route new parcel labels to the app now and leave letter or certified mail on the meter until the agreement ends.
6. 6
   For batch days, load orders into The Workbench and let Ship Intelligence pick the cheapest valid rate.
7. 7
   Diary the agreement end date and decide on the meter before the term closes.

Switching From Pitney Bowes: Questions People Ask

What is the best Pitney Bowes SendPro alternative?

I'd Ship That is a Pitney Bowes SendPro alternative for shippers who mostly print parcel labels: USPS and UPS rate-shopped on every order, native iOS and Android apps, and no meter. Pitney Bowes still fits a large mailroom running certified mail, presort, and high-volume letter metering, which a label app does not replace.

Do I really not need a postage meter to print shipping labels?

Correct. A postage meter prints postage onto letters, large envelopes, and labels. For parcels, all you need is a shipping label, which is just a barcode and address on paper. I'd Ship That generates USPS and UPS labels you print on a thermal printer or a standard inkjet on plain paper. There is no meter involved. A meter earns its place on a letter mail stream; a parcel label does not need one.

How much does a Pitney Bowes SendPro setup actually cost per year?

It depends on the meter and plan you chose, so the reliable number is your own. Pitney Bowes lists its SendPro meters on a monthly plan after a free trial, with postage and supplies not included. Total your last 12 months of invoices to get the real annual figure, all of it fixed cost before postage. On a free I'd Ship That account there is no fixed cost and you pay per label you print, the postage plus a platform fee of about 10% of the postage ($0.50 to $2.50) on the Starter plan.

Am I getting commercial or retail postage on my metered parcels?

Worth checking, because it depends on how your meter and plan are configured. Pitney Bowes says its postage meters come with access to shipping software with discounted USPS label rates. Commercial and retail pricing differ: a 1 lb Ground Advantage parcel runs $10.05-$13.65 at Post Office retail depending on zone versus $8.01-$11.22 at USPS commercial pricing in 2026, so commercial sits around $2 under retail on a 1 lb parcel and the gap grows with weight and distance. Pull a recent metered parcel label and compare what you paid to those numbers. I'd Ship That prints below commercial on almost every label, under USPS retail, with the full price shown before you buy.

What should I do about my Pitney Bowes meter agreement?

The term and any cancellation conditions are in your own agreement, so check that contract before you cancel. You do not have to wait to start, though. Open a free I'd Ship That account, move your parcel labels over now, and let the agreement run out its term while you stop feeding it new volume. Many sellers keep the meter for any residual letter mail and route all package shipping to the app.

Does I'd Ship That handle high-volume or batch shipping?

Yes, without the mailroom hardware. The Workbench (a Pro feature) lets you bulk import orders, rate-shop them together, and print a whole batch of labels in one pass. Ship Intelligence then picks the cheapest valid rate on each order automatically and shows savings analytics. That covers the batch workflow for parcel labels without a meter.