I dropped the envelope in the mail later that morning, and it arrived Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, I didn't print the postage until after midnight. That's important because postal regulations require that the piece be mailed on the date that appears on the label. Still, these programs don't mean you'll never face the post office again. If you need insurance through the post office, you can pay for it online, but you have to go to a post office to finalize it.
Registered mail requires a trip to a post office.
These two programs are not necessarily aimed at individual consumers, although neither offers bulk mail, an important business tool. That doesn't mean the services won't work for individuals. Within an hour, I had chosen a user name and password and applied for a postal license, the latter an easy process that took only a few minutes. The license arrived at my home in a few days. On a Sunday afternoon, I was once again thwarted getting on to the site.