Unlike the earlier reviewer, I've had a great experience with this postal scale and have given it as a gift to friends as well. -- No problems.

When you first turn it on, it's supposed to show "Cal" (i.e., calibrating) for about three seconds -- this allows you to use what's called the "tare" feature which is very handy. I was clueless as to what "tare" means until I looked it up. It means that you can set a small empty container on the scale and then turn it on. When the scale comes on, it will take into account the weight of the container in all future measurements during that session -- until you turn it off and back on. For example, let's say you wanted to weigh some marbles, but they would just roll off the stand, or some flour, but you don't want to just pile it on the stand. So you can put a cup (say any measuring cup from your kitchen) on the stand and then turn on the machine. In a few seconds it will calibrate to zero. Then you can add the marbles or the flour to the cup and it will way just the marbles or flour, not the cup. Hope this makes sense. Actually, I believe this feature is available in most electronic scales so it's nothing special here. Also, if you don't use this feature, you can just ignore it -- you won't even know it's there. It sounds like the previous reviewer's machine got stuck in the "Cal" cycle. Normally, Cal should only show for a few seconds when you turn it on. It's a bad sign that the reviewer had the exact same problem for two different scales. I can only report that I never had this problem in a couple years of frequent use. Nor have several friends who I gave this to as presents had that problem.

Here's why I like this scale:
- Best price in the "electronic" category (at least it was the best price when I purchased mine a couple years ago -- don't know if that's changed)
- Stylish - normally I don't consider this for something that's basically on office tool, but it sits out on my desk at home so it's nice that it looks good.
- Super easy to use. You just press the On button and then set whatever you're weighing on the stand.
- Big, easy-to-read LCD.

This scale doesn't have the feature where you can enter in the current postal rates and the zip code to where you're sending and have the readout give you the amount of postage. But I'm still giving it a 5 out of 5 because this feature is normally only found in much more expensive scales. So I still think this scale is "best-in-class". Besides, that feature can get really complicated to figure out and maintain. It's more appropriate for a scale that's used in a working mail room. For my scale, I printed out a little chart of how many ounces equals how much postage and taped it to the bottom. Then after I weigh something, I just pick up the scale, glance at the bottom, and I know how much postage to put on the letter or package. In retrospect it might be nice if Pelouze provided a clear sleeve on the bottom where you could slide in a chart -- and provided a template for the chart as well -- something like that integrated into the product might be nice. But, hey, this little scale is really cool and works great so I can forgive a minor design deficiency which is easily overcome by a piece of paper and some scotch tape.

Note that my scale says "Sunbeam" on the front, not "Pelouze". I'm not sure if it's made by a company called Pelouze and then branded by Sunbeam or what, but if you see the same looking scale with Sunbeam on it, this is it.

BTW, this works great as a kitchen scale as well. Even though it's in my office, I sometimes bring it in to use in the kitchen when I'm baking.

After only a few months of very light use (less than once a week), this scale essentially quit working. I called the company and they mailed me a replacement, but that unit had exactly the same problem. The scale ostensibly offers the ability to weigh in ounces and grams; however, the problem I had was that the electronic display showed the letters "Cal" and no amount of button-pushing, turning off-and-on, replacing batteries made any difference. These units have gone to The Great Electronics Recycling Bin in the Sky, and I'm shopping for something RELIABLE.

Excellent. I really like the switch between ounces and grams. Makes weighing certain items more practicable. So much nicer than that old swing arm scale I used to use.

I use this scale to manage my home-based business and I've not been disappointed. 99% of what I ship is under 5 lbs. and (in concert with the USPS' stamps.com) I'm able to mail nearly everything from the comfort of my home. No more trips to the post office! Yippee!