posted on January 1, 2001 03:34:46 AM new
It is now MEDIA MAIL (covers books, LPs, CDs, DVDs, and tapes).
1 lb = $1.30 and add 45 cents for each pound after that.
7 pounds is $4.00, and you add 30 cents for each pound over 7.
Do not try to use LIBRARY mail unless you are a library or are sending TO a library.
BOUND PRINTED MATTER is the proper rate for magazines, catalogs, and other commercial things ... although there is a fuzzy area when you get to books made of several issues of a magazine, or really old magazines
posted on January 1, 2001 07:56:16 AM new
$64K ?: Can videogame *cartridges* (e.g. Atari, Sega, Nintendo) be sent via Media Mail?
Last time I tried a couple years ago, my local PO opened the package and said that they wern't a book, audio tape, computer disk, cd or videotape, and therefore I could not sent it via this rate, and that I would be proscecuted if I attempted to do this again. (Obiously I never tried again!)
But I've had many buyers request it and say other sellers are doing it all the time (and a search of the auctions show this).
So, is this just a crap-shoot, and you might have a local PO that accepts them, while others won't, or are they for sure excluded or included from this rate?
posted on January 1, 2001 08:19:35 AM new
The game cartridges ARE computer software because they contain the recorded instructions that make the computer inside the game unit do its thing. It's a type of computer program, whether they like it or not.
BTW, you can also send computer programs on punched cards, paper tape, or even the code printout on paper under this rate.
Edited to add:
"computer-readable media" is the definition on the USPS site. And the thing doing the reading in a SEGA is definitely a computer.
posted on January 1, 2001 08:52:19 AM new
Ok all Just to clear something up here.
Asked at the Po to make things clear to me since I sell mostly LPs CD and so on .
Media rate will work just like book rate if your package is under 13.5oz it will still be sent frist class.
Frist class for 12 or 13oz is $2.97 This is still a cut because the way the old rate was set up for my packages under 13oz we were charge the frist class flat rate of 3.20.
So the more sets and lots you can sell your media rate items in the lower your shipping will be.
Im pretty sure video carts, VHS tapes,computer programs on CD or floopys would be included in media rate.
And this is what some here have been talking about when they were saying there was going to be a discount rate for not useing free priority boxes.
Media rate 1 lbs this is 13.5 up to 1 bs $1.30
frist class 12.4 to 13.4 will be $2.97
Parcel post 13oz up to 2 lbs will also be $2.97 and .33 for each additional pound
$3.95 is the flat priority rate every thing over 16oz is rounded to 2 lbs and 1.25 per additional pound.
So you are paying $1.03 for each so called free box and the free box goes up in price .36 for each addition pound you put in it.
posted on January 2, 2001 06:43:02 AM newDMAN claims his PO says "Media rate will work just like book rate if your package is under 13.5oz it will still be sent frist class." and he concludes "Media rate 1 lbs this is 13.5 up to 1 bs $1.30 "
Dman ... I suggest that you download the new rates from the USPS website and actually read them. You could save a lot of money if you do. and if you would check your facts before typing, you would save a lot of waear and tear on your keyboard.
That "under 13.5 ox has to go first class" is PURE BS on the part of your post office staff ... Media Rate specifically includes a category "Not Over 1 pound" (which in English, means "weighing less than 15.99 OZ but more than 0.0 OZ) ... which can be sent to all postal zones for $1.30 and not the $2.97 you have apparently been paying.
There is no 13.5 OZ lower limit for media mail ... just a practical one at FIVE ounces where first class becomes cheaper than media mail. 6 ounces 1st class will be more expensive than media mail.
If they try to charge you first class rates for a 12-oz package with a book or other media, show them the ratefold and ask what about the "not over one pound rate" line in media mail ... I think they are padding their revenues from ignorant and docile customers.
And Computer readable media is just that ... anything a computer can read to get information or programming instructions, including floppies, punched tape, removable hard drives, mag tape, and punch cards. You can make a good argument for game cartridges, because the only thing that CAN read them is a computer.
******
Edited to add:
DMAN also claims "Parcel post 13oz up to 2 lbs will also be $2.97 and .33 for each additional pound"
Also more bad information from someone (apparently the PO clerks) who have not read ther rate charts. There is also a NOT OVER ONE POUND rate for parcel post too, and it's $3.34-$3.45 for either 1 or 2 pounds for all the zones. That's a pretty good deal.
[ edited by abacaxi on Jan 2, 2001 06:54 AM ]
posted on January 2, 2001 06:58:06 AM new
IMLDS2 - You CAN'T send a calendar "media mail" rates because it is not a book, audio, video, movie (anything but 35mm film), or computer readible media.
If you do, the recipient can be hit with postage due on the other end.
posted on January 2, 2001 09:03:26 AM new
My post office said that a calender CAN go media rate because it is technically (sp?) a book of sorts. And a game cart also can.
My post office guys are great. They have always been honest. I trust them.
[ edited by luvmy2bears on Jan 2, 2001 09:04 AM ]
posted on January 2, 2001 12:35:16 PM new
FYI, anyone with a computer can get the new postal rates and print them for future reference by going to usps.com (together with what items fit in which rate category). I just hate that I have to redo all my lauctions now to include these new rates!
posted on January 2, 2001 12:51:01 PM new
If an item is under 13 oz and sent Special Standard Mail, it is processed as if it were First Class and it usually takes less than a week to arrive.
Carole
can get the new postal rates and print them for future reference by going to usps.com (together with what items fit in which rate category). I just hate that I have to redo all my lauctions now to include these new rates!