eau

Amazon shipped my Ben-Hur and the Rock CC by USPS Media Mail. What the heck is Media Mail? They used to ship by USPS First Class or Priority Mail. What's the difference? It does have a tracking number though, but so does Priority Mail with delivery confirmation.

Just wondering how long this Media Mail takes!

Calistoga

Media Mail is the same as "Book rate" and is much cheaper. It also definitely takes longer. I just received my Ben Hur package from them via UPS. They've always used either UPS or USPS First Class for me in the past. Hope your incident isn't a sign of things to come!

[Edited by Calistoga on 03-13-01 at 12:57 PM]

marty888

I sometimes use media mail for shiping items I've sold on eBay. It can take anywhere from 4-25 days within the continental U.S.!! Most usually arrive 5-10 days after mailing, but it's hit or miss!

silentbob007

I believe Media Mail is 4th class mail. FYI

matchpenalty

It's very cheap mail.. Gotta save money and make those earnings.

Sparrow

Hmmm...Media Mail. I ship single DVDs that I have sold at Half.com via this method and it's only $1.30. I guess they
need to make a profit somehow.

That's all I need for my pre-orders to take an additional few days.

Since I have no coupons, B&M stores are getting more of my business - instant gratification.

renaldow

I just received a media mail package from Amazon, and it took all of 3 days.

eau

Did they use padded envelope or small carton to ship it?

renaldow

Small carton. Like Columbia House, and many other shippers use. Just the right size to hold a DVD, a window cut into it that shows your address as printed on the mailing invoice they always send.

No fuss, no muss, good packaging.

Oh, and BTW, it does offer tracking, but their tracking is horrible. I got my package the other day, and just thought to see what it said for tracking. Apparently it's been accepted at Amazon's local post office and is still enroute.

[Edited by renaldow on 03-16-01 at 01:03 PM]

eau

My packages took 3 days to arrive as well, considering Oregon is not too far from Seattle where they were shipped from. Mailing by First Class would have taken about the same amount of time or possibly a day less but it would not offer tracking though.

I think Amazon now goes for Media Mail more often in order to track delivery. Anyone got their packages by UPS or Priority Mail /w delivery confirmation when they only selected standard shipping?

kahuna

Had three separate orders shipped from Amazon.com.

1. Order #1, one dvd shipped first class mail on monday arrived on thursday.

2. Order #2, one dvd shipped first class mail on monday arrived on friday.

3. Order #3, three dvds shipped Priority Mail on monday and that arrived on wednesday.

Kahuna

MrBEAViS

My order(The Killing Fields, The Rock: Criterion) was shipped UPS Ground. Hopefully I'll have it by the end of the year...

[Edited by MrBEAViS on 03-18-01 at 03:52 AM]

coconinocat

media mail is the new name for 4th class/bookrate shipping. new name, same old slow service. i used this for c. 50 auctions recently and gave up after most emailed complaining of how long it took to get items. i find that most buyers don't mind paying for priority mail if it means getting the item(even 4.00 items) in a respectable and somewhat predictable timeframe.

-coco

"Dodge this!"

eau

I wonder if Amazon would decide differently how to ship orders to a PO Box or a street address. So far it looks random.

eau

Amazon got to be kidding. I got my Charlie's Angels shipped today (which is good when it's Amazon) but the confirmation email says:

I don't know what's worst than Media Mail, that can be upgraded from!!!

Can't complain when shipping is free

murpm3

Here is whats worse then media mail:

They feed the DVD to a very hungry monkey....They send the little bastard to your house where he then drinks a bottle of Ex-Lax and craps it out on your doorstep. Usually takes 4-6 weeks for delivery.

*Note* No monkeys were harmed in this shipping process.

MrBEAViS

F-u-c-k amazon. I just cancelled everything I had ordered there, and switched over to DVD Empire. I feel so much better.

eau

Are you saying Amazon employs ass to ship orders?

darkside

I stopped buying from 800.com for this reason. Stuff that goes through media mail can be lost forever. 4th class mail does not exactly get the best treatment. It took over 2 weeks to get my shipment from 800.com and it looked like they ran over the box with the truck. Luckily only one case was cracked and the DVDs were unbroken. I guess Amazon is off my list as well.

Wolfchild

1. Sorry to hear that so many have had bad luck with media mail shipping. While it is processed last, there really isn't any reason that a shipment should be damaged any moreso than if it was shipped at an upgraded rate. Also, it really shouldn't take more than 10 days. When selling things on eBay, I usually give buyers a choice between mm and priority and really haven't had any trouble yet. Takes 2-7 days most of the time. Heck, BMG and Columbia House almost exclusively use bulk rate which is handled essentially in the same manner - I've received hundreds of CDs, LPs, and DVDs over the years and can't remember one damaged shipment.

2. That being said, Amazon really shouldn't be using media mail shipping. Sorry if I sound hypocritical, but when I send things by media mail I am at the same time giving my customers a much lower shipping rate. At Amazon, $2.95 + .95 per additional DVD is plenty to send it 1st class, Priority or UPS. Fortunately for me, they have not tried to send me anything by media mail yet. Most of the time I order several discs per week, so it's usually sent UPS. They could ship 15 DVDs to you for $2 by media rate. You are really paying for a better rate than this. I realize that it is Amazon's choice to send their merchandise any way they please when you agree to standard shipping, but I'd encourage everyone to gripe if their DVDs are being sent this way....maybe we can discourage them. I know I'll do this the first time and each additional time they try it.

renaldow

I just received 2 more media mail packages from them, all within in 3-4 days of shipping. The odd thing is, I'm waiting for a 3rd that for some reason was shipped 1st class, and I'm still waiting for it.

benedict

CDs shipped by Amazon (and CDNow) are charged at about $8. From personal experience I know that airmail postage was $2-60 (may now be $3-20) and arrives faster than Amazon packages. So, as suggested, they are making money on the postage side of the deal.

But, so long as I can find the odd coupon and they have a good site with plenty of stock I guess I will carry on using them. (Unless they contrive to go bust and are bought out by some oldschool B&M outfit!)

Mike Myers

As far as I can tell, they keep on using either USPS First Class (2 days since one of their shipping hub is only about 200 miles from here) or UPS Ground (at least 4 days). Never had any package going MediaMail. But I use it sometimes, it takes about 10 days to most areas.

eau

For some reasons Amazon has consistently been sending my DVDs by Media Mail. They so far always showed up at my end in 2-3 days

For the record they were sending from Seattle which is less than 300 miles away.

Eeyore

the way UPS ground is lately, i'd almost prefer media mail i think the worst is that i find myself checking the tracking status of UPS ground packages to see if they'll be delivered, and usually they reschedule delivery each day, saying it'll be scheduled for delivery the next day... so it usually estimates it'll be a 2 day delivery and ends up 5,6,7 or 8 days later at my door. and i don't think a package from kentucky to a big city like atlanta should take nearly that long!