Easy

I was shipping a Blu-ray and the postal employee asked if it was a DVD. I was dumb enough to answer truthfully. I was then informed it did not qualify for media mail because the post office has now decided DVDs/CDs/Blu-Rays are not media. I had to send it first class.
Someone should tell Microsoft they have to change the name of their MEDIA player.

TheBigDave

That's the first time I've heard that DVD/CD/Blu aren't eligible. I know that Video Games and Hard Drives are excluded. The USPS website says:

Josh-da-man

I know that comic books and magazines can't be shipped media mail because they contain advertising, even if the ads are in-house or years expired.

Since most DVDs contain advertising (trailers for upcoming releases, etc.) I wonder if they USPS could disallow them for that.

adrenaline78

Sorry about them telling you that, because it is in fact, media.

But, a single DVD/blu ray is actually cheaper to ship first class than Media.

TerryW

From USPS.com

zyzzle

Splitting hairs, one could argue that DVDs aren't media within that definition quoted above because they're not strictly computer-readable without DeCSS.

However, I've mailed 100s of DVDs and never had a problem with any post office accepting them as media. Media Mail only makes economic sense for > 3 or so DVDs per parcel. For 1 or 2 DVDs / CDs, first class is indeed cheaper.

kd5

...and DVDs/BDs shipping as Media Mail may contain incidental movie announcements.

I think the postal employee was making his own unique interpretation of the rules, which sounds like BS to me.

movieguru

I would think "ad-free" comicbooks qualify as media mail since it does not contain advertising.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, I would think that, too, unless they would categorize them as magazines or periodicals.

I also wonder how they would classify graphic novels, which don't contain any advertising, or are limited to the kinds of ads they allow in books.

Probably comes down to how the person doing the inspection chooses to interpret the rules.

I can sort of understand the reasoning behind not wanting to allow advertising to be shipped media mail if it's a company using it to mail out catalogs or publishers using it for magazine subscriptions, but when it's a private individual shipping items out to another private individual, especially if it's a box of old magazines or periodicals, then I would think that the "educational" exemption should apply.

rjh_54

I know this thread is a few years old, but I had a baffling experience at USPS the other day.

I brought in a box with CDs and DVDs to send out to SecondSpin.com. The line was wrapped around the queue and all the way to the door. I told the worker I would like to send it via Media Mail. She asked me if it was media, and I replied yes. She then looked at me puzzled, as if she was waiting for me to elaborate. I told her there were CDs and DVDs in the box, to which she told me "No, and just so you know, this package will be subject to inspection".

I was infuriated. I have been sending stuff out to SecondSpin.com for years and have never had a problem. I'm aware that all packages are subject to inspection so that didn't bother me, it was the fact that she was speaking to me as if I was lying or trying to pull off some sort of crazy scam. She then pulled out a packet with a chart of qualifications for each shipping rate. I replied, "Seriously? CDs and DVDs aren't considered media?" I tried to keep my cool. I told her I had other things I needed to take care of and that if she really needed to double check I could come back. She then accepted the package but I was pissed. Not only was she the reason the line was moving so slowly (the woman next to her was actually pleasant and taking care of people at a reasonable rate), but she had no excuse to get like that. It's not my regular post office (there's one in the next town over that's easier and faster to get to), but I've been there enough times to know that she's been working there for years, so it's not like she was new and didn't know better.

TheBang

Yeesh. Why bother with the counter? Just print your own postage, including Media Mail. Then you don't have to deal with that crap:

https://www.paypal.com/shipnow

Graphic novels are considered books and can be shipped via Media Mail.

milo bloom

I started having this issue a few years ago with the local post office, when my wife and I were selling lots of stuff on eBay or Half.com. We would sell off extra DVDs and videogames and we always used media mail, which is how the websites were listing it.

We just started printing our own labels or using the machine at the office.

I always thought it odd that the USPS couldn't figure out a unified rule .

jjcool

Sounds like there is a unified rule. Some post office employees just choose to ignore it.

movieguru

you could go to four different post office locations and ask the same question and you may get four different answers. You may ask four different employyes the same question at the same location and get just about as many different answers.

Texan26

Their website shows that CDs and DVDs qualify but my post office once told me that they have to be educational. The top sentence on their website does mention educational material.

https://about.usps.com/notices/not121/not121_tech.htm

rjh_54

What's even better about this whole thing is I tweeted them about it to get ahold of their customer service and they replied with "Sometimes verification of items are needed," to which I told them it wasn't a problem and that the issue was in the fact that she acted like I was lying to her. They replied with a link to guidelines as to what qualifies for Media Mail. What a joke. Sounds like there isn't a single brain cell among all of their employees.

jjcool

Because the employees choose to ignore the unified rule.

Viper187

I despise cheapskates who still ship media mail. Spend the extra few cents and go first class. It's the 21st fucking century.

milo bloom

Not sure how it is now, but places like Half.com used to default to Media Mail for shipping prices. You didn't have a choice.

Viper187

Plenty of sellers on half.com offered expedited shipping (Priority) AND a lot of them started putting in comments that they'd ship first class anyway for the media mail price. You see that on Amazon's marketplace too.

rjh_54

The problem is, anything over 16 ounces doesn't qualify for First Class and is automatically upgraded to priority, and since companies like to cut costs, no matter how small, so it's no surprise they still use media mail.

As for me, if I'm selling something to a place like SecondSpin, who only reimburse for shipping based on MM rates, I'm going to ship MM. When I sell a single movie or CD somewhere like eBay I always offer free shipping and the item always gets sent first class, but if it weighs more than 16 ounces (like a complete series set or something like that) it gets sent Media Mail, unless they want to pay extra for Priority shipping.

milo bloom

Yeah, having to deal with fixed shipping rates is one reason my wife and I don't do much anymore. If we have a high-value item, we do eBay and we pick Priority Mail from the start so our costs are covered.

Otherwise I take stuff to Half Price Books so they can give me $5 for three crates of books and DVDs.

TheBang

For shipping 1 or 2 titles, that's true. But for anything over that, there can be substantial cost savings to using Media Mail. I recently sold and shipped a Sopranos box set. It cost $5.57 to ship it via Media Mail. If I'd sent it Priority instead, it would've been $26.25. I'm sure my buyer appreciated the lower shipping costs, and they received it only a few days later than they would have with Priority.

Viper187

1. most box sets would likely fit in a flat rate box.

2. I don't really give a fuck. Any shipping option that's not guaranteed within a week at this point needs to fuck off and die. Like I said, it's the 21st century.

Why So Blu?

Fuck that. If I'm offering free shipping, discounted shipping, etc., then you'll take whatever I fucking give you and like it. Fuck your entitlement bullshit. You want extra, you pay extra. That includes expedited shipping services.