Do CGC comics not qualify for Media Mail now?

[Darkowl]

As others have said, If the books contain ads, then it doesn't qualify for media mail. Aside from that, postal workers become suspicious when they see "Fragile" stamped on the box. Not saying that's what you did, but it's just one more limitation to media mail, and I like to have them put a fragile stamp on all of my boxes. I really wish they weren't so picky about the ads rule though.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

 

I'm currently having a problem with adding insurance to an international package. They keep claiming that they have to charge full price if I do ANYTHING at the window, but the USPS and eBay have set it up so that you MUST go to the window. Why, then, have the discount at all?

 

I self insure about 97% of all packages I send out. However there are a few, international packages that I consider high risk and the value is such that I prefer to pay for insurance. In cases where I am shipping via ebay, I use the ebay Shipsaver app.

For an off ebay transaction I use shipsurance or Upic.

 

I can not comment on claims, as I have not had to file one.

[jools&jim]

 

The other thing to consider is that when most of us are mailing comic books, they are the end result of a transaction for collectible merchandise, and in that sense are really no different from baseball cards, antique watches, or toy cars...none of which, obviously, would qualify for Media Mail rates.

 

In very broad, very general terms, Media Mail was simply NOT designed as a cheap way for people to mail items which they've sold to other people (this is the standard line from my postmaster).

 

The one glaring--and unfair, in my view--violation of Media Mail's "educational" mandate are vinyl LPs: vintage vinyl dealers have been using Media Mail for years, even though they're still shipping profitable merchandise in the form of a collectible item which just happens to qualify as a "sound recording"...

 

 

[Kevin76]

Should of wrote back to the Postmaster and say "Next time, I'll just ship UPS"

 

I've sent tons of slabs through media mail. They all get handled the same way as priority mail...dumped from a barrel on a conveyer belt.

 

I have had heard comics being rejected from media mail. The only other cheap way to send a slab is Parcel which is around $6.50 to ship a slab, media mail is about $3.50. Post Office doesn't x-ray every package, they will x-ray them randomly or if the weight is over the limit i.e paid for a 2 lbs package and actually weighs 5 lbs.

 

The called it a "Spiderman Plaque" cause all they see is a picture of Spiderman in a frame.

 

You only have 3 options to mail a CGC slab, Parcel, Priority or Express.

 

Parcel and Media has the same 2-9 day estimated shipping time.

[Park]

 

...expired advertising, by definition, is NOT advertising. If what it advertises is no longer available or is in the past, it no longer serves its function, and can therefore no longer be called advertising.

 

I could easily argue your assertion from either side, however the important thing to consider is, while your argument might convince the majority of postal workers you personally interact with to acquiesce, it will be the ones that you do NOT interact with, that will open your package along the way and hit your recipient with upcharges to Priority rates.

 

The USPS makes no distinction between expired and current advertising, nor should they. It simply is not logical nor efficient for the millions of packages that ARE inspected, for the inspector to be forced to make a determination of "Is this advertising still valid?" Slippery slope and what not.

 

The interpretation from employee to employee is what is gonna be the kicker. It would be much simpler for the Post Office to just make a blanket statement regarding comic books. Yes or no and be done with it.

 

I just wouldn't use MM for a slab or anything valuable.

[Kevin76]

 

...expired advertising, by definition, is NOT advertising. If what it advertises is no longer available or is in the past, it no longer serves its function, and can therefore no longer be called advertising.

 

I could easily argue your assertion from either side, however the important thing to consider is, while your argument might convince the majority of postal workers you personally interact with to acquiesce, it will be the ones that you do NOT interact with, that will open your package along the way and hit your recipient with upcharges to Priority rates.

 

The USPS makes no distinction between expired and current advertising, nor should they. It simply is not logical nor efficient for the millions of packages that ARE inspected, for the inspector to be forced to make a determination of "Is this advertising still valid?" Slippery slope and what not.

 

 

The interpretation from employee to employee is what is gonna be the kicker. It would be much simpler for the Post Office to just make a blanket statement regarding comic books. Yes or no and be done with it.

 

I just wouldn't use MM for a slab or anything valuable.

 

Official Comic Book Media Mail Notice From The USPS.

 

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

[faster friends]

Well, that's that...

[Park]

 

...expired advertising, by definition, is NOT advertising. If what it advertises is no longer available or is in the past, it no longer serves its function, and can therefore no longer be called advertising.

 

I could easily argue your assertion from either side, however the important thing to consider is, while your argument might convince the majority of postal workers you personally interact with to acquiesce, it will be the ones that you do NOT interact with, that will open your package along the way and hit your recipient with upcharges to Priority rates.

 

The USPS makes no distinction between expired and current advertising, nor should they. It simply is not logical nor efficient for the millions of packages that ARE inspected, for the inspector to be forced to make a determination of "Is this advertising still valid?" Slippery slope and what not.

 

 

The interpretation from employee to employee is what is gonna be the kicker. It would be much simpler for the Post Office to just make a blanket statement regarding comic books. Yes or no and be done with it.

 

I just wouldn't use MM for a slab or anything valuable.

 

Official Comic Book Media Mail Notice From The USPS.

 

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

 

Then I would say we are back to the original point about comic books not being allowed. I do see RMA's point as valid regarding advertising but that seems pretty black and white.

 

Thanks for the link.

[Buzzetta]

 

...expired advertising, by definition, is NOT advertising. If what it advertises is no longer available or is in the past, it no longer serves its function, and can therefore no longer be called advertising.

 

I could easily argue your assertion from either side, however the important thing to consider is, while your argument might convince the majority of postal workers you personally interact with to acquiesce, it will be the ones that you do NOT interact with, that will open your package along the way and hit your recipient with upcharges to Priority rates.

 

The USPS makes no distinction between expired and current advertising, nor should they. It simply is not logical nor efficient for the millions of packages that ARE inspected, for the inspector to be forced to make a determination of "Is this advertising still valid?" Slippery slope and what not.

 

 

The interpretation from employee to employee is what is gonna be the kicker. It would be much simpler for the Post Office to just make a blanket statement regarding comic books. Yes or no and be done with it.

 

I just wouldn't use MM for a slab or anything valuable.

 

Official Comic Book Media Mail Notice From The USPS.

 

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

 

Then I would say we are back to the original point about comic books not being allowed. I do see RMA's point as valid regarding advertising but that seems pretty black and white.

 

Thanks for the link.

 

Well then, that is that. Thanks to those who shopped in my 25¢ - $1 sales this past year at $6 unlimited shipping. That is pretty much done. For now on it will be sent standard / parcel cheap-o whatever but obviously far more expensive than Media.

[jools&jim]

 

 

Like I said a few pages back, this statement is over a year old. Moreover, it is NOT repeated in the DMM (domestic mail manual), here:

 

http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/173.htm#1113509

 

So, again, at best it's an irregularly stated, and irregularly applied "regulation"...

 

Ask five different clerks and five different postmasters about Media Mail, and you're likely to get fifteen different answers ( ) . A quasi-governmental agency is still the government, so that's no surprise. And even the posted regulations are sometimes conflicting and self-contradictory.

 

Here is the only formal, written USPS prohibition specifically excluding comic books from Media Mail service which I have ever been able to find on-line, from October of 2012:

 

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

 

Media Mail shipping is a cost-effective way to send educational materials. This service has restrictions on the type of media that can be shipped. Media Mail rates are limited to the items listed below:

 

Books (at least 8 pages).

Sound recordings and video recordings, such as CDs and DVDs.

Play scripts and manuscripts for books, periodicals, and music.

Printed music.

Computer-readable media containing prerecorded information and guides or scripts prepared solely for use with such media.

Sixteen millimeter or narrower width films.

Printed objective test materials and their accessories.

Printed educational reference charts.

Loose-leaf pages and their binders consisting of medical information for distribution to doctors, hospitals, medical schools, and medical students.

 

Media - printed music, sound recordings, periodicals, CDs, DVDs, and books.

 

Media Mail packages may not contain advertising. Comic books do not meet this standard. Books may contain incidental announcements of other books and sound recordings may contain incidental announcements of other sound recordings. In accordance with standards in the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), Section 170, Media Mail packages must have a delivery address and the sender’s return address and are subject to inspection by the Postal Service™. Upon such inspection, matter not eligible for the Media Mail rate may be assessed at the proper price and sent to the recipient postage due, or the sender may be contacted for additional postage.

My local PO has been VERY strict about Media Mail for the past 2 years at least. It may take awhile to filter through the system, but my sense of it is that there will soon be formal measures in place vis-a-vis comics and MM which no amount of "lawyering" of the admittedly arcane regs will be able to undo.

 

 

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

The problem with your logic here, not that I don't follow it, is that the average person is going to say, "Comic books? Educational? :screwy:"

 

But when that advertising is no longer valid, it is not, and cannot be, by definition, "advertising." It becomes archival information, that is, using the post office's term, it is wholly reading matter, and falls perfectly into that "educational" frame that media mail was intended to support.

 

They don't need to be. They simply need to be identified as "not containing advertising." If questioned, one points out that the advertising is expired, and thus no longer advertising, but archival, and thus reading, matter.

[RockMyAmadeus]

As has already been stated, you're likely to get 15 different answers from 5 different people, but the simple fact remains: comic books with EXPIRED advertising (which is thus no longer advertising) do, in fact, meet the standard for media mail.

 

And there isn't any need to BE "lawyery" about it. It's pretty straightforward. If the ad is expired, it's not an ad. It's reading matter. Whatever it once was no longer matters. After all: wine was once grape juice, but that doesn't mean you should put it in your kid's lunchbox.

[RockMyAmadeus]

By the way...when one postal regulation says one thing, and another postal regulation does not say the same thing...which one is valid...?

 

 

Worth noting: the official regulations of the USPS are covered in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM.)

 

That notice is not part of the DMM.

 

Since the DMM makes no mention (currently), of comic books, and since the DMM is the governing manual, the notice really has no weight.

[jools&jim]

 

By the way...when one postal regulation says one thing, and another postal regulation does not say the same thing...which one is valid...?

 

That one, at least, is easy: whichever one they say is valid. Or isn't. Depending on the clerk, the time of day, the phases of the moon, their astrological sign, etc. If it's Tuesday, this must be Media Mail...

 

But seriously, if you've made it work for you on-site with a PO employee, bravo and more power to you. But the PO in general is betting--and rightly so--that tenacious customers like you will be in the minority, and that the rest of us sheeple will simply acquiesce the first time we're challenged...

 

 

[Buzzetta]

As has already been stated, you're likely to get 15 different answers from 5 different people, but the simple fact remains: comic books with EXPIRED advertising (which is thus no longer advertising) do, in fact, meet the standard for media mail.

 

And there isn't any need to BE "lawyery" about it. It's pretty straightforward. If the ad is expired, it's not an ad. It's reading matter. Whatever it once was no longer matters. After all: wine was once grape juice, but that doesn't mean you should put it in your kid's lunchbox.

 

To lend support... it comes down to articulation

 

Media Mail?

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Perfume-Advertising-1920-1970-Jacqueline/dp/0764327410/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392006743&sr=1-4&keywords=classic+advertising

 

Media Mail (Even Better Example)

The Post Office could consider any book on Coca Cola that shows any type of advertising then as advertising.

http://www.amazon.com/Coca-Cola-Girls-Advertising-Art-History/dp/1888054441/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392006567&sr=1-4&keywords=coca+cola+ads

 

 

 

[toro]

So, it's reported yesterday that the USPS loses $324 Million in Q1…then I check the mail this evening and get this.

 

 

 

 

This was the alleged "Spiderman Plaque"…a book (at least 8 pages).

 

 

 

And the exclamation point with the two red underlines really drove the point home. No wonder these clowns are losing money hand over fist!

 

Do CGC books not qualify for Media Mail or are these insufficiently_thoughtful_persons doing everything they can to ensure they don't lose a half billion in Q2?

 

 

 

They never did qualify for Media Mail.

 

And the USPS is profitable. They are hamstrung by the fact that they are forced to overfund their retirement plan by millions Billions of dollars every year. Take that out and they are in the black year after year.

 

Had to fix that for you. If the USPS did not have this forced on them they would actually be listed in the Forbes Fortune 50 (not 500) of best companies.