Xaxaxe wrote:Badmike wrote:I can say from experience that from hundreds and hundreds of mailings, I've never had the contents of a box opened although I have been asked on numerous occassions "What is the contents?" or "Are there books inside?" when requesting media mail over parcel post.
I've actually been experiencing a surge of media mail resentment with some postal employees lately, including a number of packages being opened and inspected. Also, has anyone else seen new media mail signage in their local post offices? I've seen a number of signs lately that say [paraphrasing]: "We reserve the right to inspect ANY media mail package." The signs I'm talking about have red lettering on a white background.
Also, does anyone else sell comic books? Now, THAT is always an interesting discussion to have with a bored P.O. employee. Are they or aren't they media mail? What about if they're from the '70s and all of the advertising is obviously totally outdated? I've gotten MULTIPLE answers to these questions; it depends on who I'm talking to ...
I actually don't mean to sound down on media mail. It's a wonderful (and cheap!) service, provided both buyer and seller are in agreement about using it. It just seems that some of my local
USPS employees are beginning to suspect that a lot of eBay sellers are S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G the boundaries of what is an acceptable item. Has anyone else noticed any backlash ... ?
Hoo boy, let me get up on my soapbox, thanks X for giving me the forum!!!!!
(
BTW, technically comics are not media mail, but the distinction is very slim, so I'd argue the point...)
There is a ton of resentment to media mail by both employees and management of the
USPS, all of it the
USPS fault and all a result of idiotic policies they implemented a few years ago. As someone who has been selling online since 1994 and mailing out packages about that long, I've seen the stupid pricing and shipping policies come and go. The rise in media mail is a direct result of the
USPS losing money, having some moron decide he knew how to get the money back, the method failing miserably, and then backtracking to what they used to do anyway.
Several years ago, priority mail was standardized across the country. This really made it the best method for mailing the books and D&D stuff I sold online, because I could quote a flat rate price (I believe in the ancient days of the 90's it was $3.50 an envelope or box), then stuff the said envelope or box full and as long as it was under 2-3 lbs ( I forget the weight requirement) it went anywhere in the US for the same price. Texas to New York; Texas to Seattle; Texas to Florida; Texas to Los Angeles..you get the picture. $3.50 a pop. And the best part? All priority shipping supplies are FREE from the
USPS, and they even deliver them to your door!
During the late 90's the government began to crack down on the
USPS, mainly because this overburdened, understaffed, manned by crack adicts and morons, supervised by mental midgets that I wouldn't have teaching my cat how to use kitty litter, no-good-idea "business" was (and had been) losing millions of dollars every year of the 90s. It seems that something called "The Internet" was pulling more and more people away from this industry every year as it became easier and less expensive to pay bills, talk to inlaws, and communicate around the world rather than put up with long lines and surly counter help on a daily basis.
The order went out, the
USPS had to start making money instead of burning it on great ideas such as sponsering the American Tour De France team for millions a year. On the surface, it seemed like it might be a good idea: start charging more for priority packages mailed further distances. Thus, it takes more time and trouble to get a priority package from Texas to Maine than from Texas to Oklahoma. The
USPS created a price structure to cover this. Unfortunately, it required a set of charts that had to be consulted each time you mailed something priority, and you had to know the zip code, and weight, before hand. The problem was, for someone like me selling on ebay, it is impossible to list a set price on items I sold because the buyer could have been from Oregon or Louisiana, and prices vaired several dollars depending on location, not to mention a buyer might pop for two or three other items and you couldn't predict shipping weight. Shipping prices are very important in online auctions, letting your buyers know upfront what they are paying to have the item shipped let's them decide who to buy from and what the final cost would be.
While envelopes were still able to be used as "Flat Rate" (eventually ALL priority envelopes became flat rate), all priority boxes would be different prices depending on weight and distance. So the
USPS rolled out their new pricing structure, rubbed their hands together, and greedily waited for the money to fly in.
It failed miserably. I, and many other Ebay sellers, immediately stopped using priority boxes. My output went from 10+ boxes a week to literally zero. Times that by, oh, maybe a million or more sellers? Rather than worry about having to calculate each and every Ebay purchase seperately, I went to an alternative method suggested by some helpful postal employees at my local PO, who noted "I mostly shipped books, just start sending them book rate" (later to become media mail a few years later). When I looked it up, luckily most of the items I shipped fell under the definition of media mail. So instead of shipping 10+ priority boxes a week, I was shipping 10+ media mail boxes a week and saving tons of money, not to mention cutting the
USPS out of tons of money. So the packages got there 14 days instead of 3-5, most buyers didn't care, they saved money also. Plus, customers quickly figured out that they could sometimes save as much as $10 bucks by buying their own box or finding a box or heck covering a priority box in brown paper and declaring the contents "media mail". Particularly those of us making a living mailing this stuff.
I go to the Post office nearly every single day, and have for the last 5 or more years. I very, very, very rarely see priority boxes shipping out unless it's something that has to get there soon, or the guy in line forgot his box and has to put his fruitcake in something, or the customer just doesn't realize how much it's going to cost. Everyone now mails their books and such media mail and saves tons of money, even if they have to buy their own padded envelope or box (I get my stuff free or buy bulk so the cost is neglible)
This isn't just speculation. I spend upwards of 5 grand a year mailing at the local PO and I've become friends with a lot of the employees over the years, and the "Charge by the distance" change to priority boxes helped them LOSE more money the last few years, with nearly everyone just shipping to media mail because it was cheaper and less hassle. And the funny thing is, the huge increase in media mail meant they
USPS had to buy more trucks to haul it in, since they were shipping lots of mail by plane and train before then, and media mail increased ten fold, and it can only go by truck. Then, the directive that media mail is the last of the last in regards to shipping (that is, if you have a ton of priority mail going out and a ton of media mail going out, such as around the holidays, the priority mail always goes out first) led to piles and piles of the stuff stacking up in the back with nowhere to go all during the months of December (which accounts for much of the hatred towards media mail most postal employees have, they've all had the pleasure of being barely able to move as the boxes pile up every Christmas in the back).
So, after years of thus, FINALLY, this year a brilliant postal employee management member somehow comes up with the great idea to start making FLAT RATE PRIORITY BOXES this year...JUST LIKE THEY USED TO FRIGGIN DO 10 YEARS AGO!!!!!!! Everything you can cram into a box for $7.70 up to something like 25 lbs. WHAT A FUCKING CONCEPT GUYS! Early reviews show that lots of people are using these boxes because, oh, I dont' know, you can predict the amount it's going to be to send without having to know the distance or weight?
Unfrickinbelievable.
Anyway, thanks for letting me rant, as a loyal
USPS customer for many years (Even though their policies make no sense and their supervisors are the worst for any business I've ever dealt with), and friend of many of the overworked and underpayed counter help, I felt I had to get that off my chance and illuminate why the postal cops are starting to finally open media mail packages and enforce the restrictions, it took them years to realize how much money they were losing with their dumb priority policies.
And as a post script, I've been using the "new" flat rate boxes and advertising their rates in my auctions, I've gotten lots of buyers of the heavier or bulkier items that don't mind paying a few bucks extra to have their items shipped in these. (I charge $8.50 plus free delivery confirmation to use a box when a priority envelope won't work). Of course, I have no doubt that the postal genius that decided they needed to go back to flat rate boxes will be fired soon....smarts like that cannot be tolerated in the
USPS for long.
Mike B.
