Anyone else actually IMPRESSED with media mail?

[1bassoon]

I know there have been rants about media mail lately. . . .

 

But last Monday, I placed about 7 or 8 orders from varying companies: Analytical Grammar, Bookshelf Central, Amazon, CBD, etc. Even a seller on here! We left on vacation Wednesday - by the time I returned on Sunday, ALL of my media mail packages had arrived!

 

Sonlight, I'm still waiting on ;)

[Brilliant]

I am. I've never had a package lost.

 

The only times I've ever had media mail take longer than a week or so is when we lived in a house w/ a rural route carrier- my mm packages would never arrive until I went to the post office to inquire about why I hadn't received a package. I'd be told that media mail takes a long time, etc. etc. Then the next day I'd get the package. So I learned to go to the post office on day 7 after I thought the package had been mailed. So I could get my stuff on day 8.

 

I really think the POs have a LOT of discretion about delivering or sending media mail. When we lived in that town, I also found that the packages I was mailing would arrive VERY quickly if I mailed from the local contract post office. They would always take the full week if I mailed from the main post office. I suspect the ones that came from the contract post office got put immediately into the next truck, while the main PO ones sat around for a couple of days first.

[AHASRADA]

Me! I have had nothing but great experience with Media Mail. I have sent out several lately, and all have arrived within a week, sometimes in 3 days!

 

I did have one package a couple of years ago that never arrived, but I have a feeling it had more to do with the seller than Media Mail :glare:. I never received *my* package, but received one with 2 books about patriotic quotes and baseball, definitely not mine, with no return address. When I emailed the seller, she claimed that package wasn't from her, and that mine should arrive within a month or two :001_huh:. I tried to get a refund, she took months to reply, then tried to send the refund but misspelled my Paypal account address (conveniently), and after a while I just gave up.

 

Other than that, all my packages (sent and received) have thankfully arrived quickly and in great shape. Hooray for Media Mail!

[MamaJo]

I used to sell books on line and I think that media mail is wonderful.

[bugs]

:thumbup:

[TravelingChris]

I haven't had any problems at all with media mail. Things come quickly.

[Pippen]

I am too. Most things I've ordered or shipped have been within a week. Occasionally a few days more around the holidays.

 

Most of the time it's not media mail that's been a problem. It's sellers not shipping out right away.

[Nestof3]

I think delivery confirmation makes all of the difference in the world! I have had great experience with media rate.

 

I did have one package arrive to me having been opened and resealed. It was a very flimsy book, and the PO may have thought it was a magazine.

 

If my paperbackswap packages weigh more than 8 ounces (less than that, and it is cheaper/same to go first class), I ship media rate. Most people get their books in much less than a week.

[jeri]

Hate mm. But part of the problem is that we have an APO (overseas military) address. So, once the package gets to NJ, it's sorted into airmail and slow-boat-through-China class. And guess how mm goes. Most of my packages take 6 weeks to two months to arrive. Still waiting on something I ordered at the end of May. And now that the school year is nearing, I'm having to order last minute things priority.

 

Jeri

[Donna A.]

No problems here.... aside from the guy who's worked at our town's p.o. for like a hundred years and suddenly decided he was going on a power trip and tried to tell me spiral-bound books can't go media. :glare: He also (suddenly) started talking to me every time I came in as if *assuming* that I'm mailing non-media stuff via mm. He just turned really bossy and critical. Excuse me, but I've been coming here and doing this for YEARS, and have I *ever* given you cause to question my packages? :confused1: I know what the rules for mm are.... read 'em myself on the website. Spiral-bound books CAN go mm, and I'll continue sending them that way, tyvm.

 

Between that and the long lines out the door and only two clerks at the counter who act like they could care less if they get your mail out today or not, I started visiting the p.o. in the next town (which is just as close to my home, but the opposite direction). MUCH better service there. ;)

 

As far as shipping times, the only problem I've ever had was when a package I mailed to the east coast didn't arrive and didn't arrive, and just as I was about to start doing some investigative work, the buyer said she finally got it. A couple days after that, MY original packaging got returned to me.... and boy, had it been through the wringer. :blink: Apparently the p.o. repackaged the contents, though, and sent them on, and decided to return the torn up packaging to me. Not sure what I was going to do with it.... :tongue_smilie:

 

Any other mail problems I've had were unrelated to media mail. :)

[chubbyhugs]

I've never had a problem with media mail. Earlier this month I ordered 5 books from separate companies (Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, California) on a Monday and they arrived within 2-3 days. I guess it has to do with the seller getting them out right away. Twenty-five years ago I used media mail to ship two canvas post office bags of books from California to Wales, UK. They weren't even sealed; just knotted at the top. I don't remember exacly how long it took (maybe a month), but I was flying over there and they arrived intact sometime after I had been there a month. There were no tracking numbers then that I can remember.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Hate mm. But part of the problem is that we have an APO (overseas military) address. So, once the package gets to NJ, it's sorted into airmail and slow-boat-through-China class. And guess how mm goes. Most of my packages take 6 weeks to two months to arrive. Still waiting on something I ordered at the end of May. And now that the school year is nearing, I'm having to order last minute things priority.

 

Jeri

 

I made the mistake a couple times of doing a big school order media mail, then having to wait for it 8 weeks.

 

But when I compare the cost of using the APO to what my friends had to spend to get any packages sent from the US to Germany, it made me realize what a blessing all the APO services were (even that slow media mail).

 

What I found more annoying recently wasn't the delay, it was the woman on Paperback Swap who kept lecturing me about how long it was taking to get a book I'd sent. It took 8 weeks which was longer than most of the other books I've sent out and well within the 8-12 week guidelines. But I kept explaining to her that the book was coming from Japan via media mail and was going to take longer (which is even part of the conditions on my account).

 

I kept having to bite my tongue with this woman. I even had a long explanation typed up on how military mail works, but I deleted it. I figured that she probably still would get the point.

[gingersmom]

I have better luck with media mail than I do with UPS (who has a knack for sending my packages all over the country).

[Sophia]

Media mail has worked very well for me but I suspect it's because the staff at my post office and the next town over are really, really good at what they do.

Our postal carrier is a dream~so courteous and conscientious.

Imo, he goes above the call of duty.

[mhg]

I've always been impressed with the usps. I think "Snail Mail" is a slap to a fantastic system. (and, no....I have no friends or family that work there). :iagree:

[Mrs Mungo]

Hate mm. But part of the problem is that we have an APO (overseas military) address. So, once the package gets to NJ, it's sorted into airmail and slow-boat-through-China class. And guess how mm goes. Most of my packages take 6 weeks to two months to arrive. Still waiting on something I ordered at the end of May. And now that the school year is nearing, I'm having to order last minute things priority.

 

Jeri

 

I think a lot of depends upon where you live and the size of the package. If you're sending to/from overseas (including Hawaii) media mail goes space-available on aircraft. Sometimes it moves quickly and sometimes it does not. Small packages do better than large ones. Big curriculum packages have taken 6-8 weeks via media mail. That said, it is cheap and you get what you pay for, first class honestly doesn't cost that much more and never takes that long. In general, I think the USPS does a great job considering how much mail is sent each day.

 

We have been sending or receiving packages probably once a week since eldest was born (she's almost 15) and only four times have packages been lost/destroyed/partially destroyed.

[ScoutTN]

Not positively impressed.

Every package I have received via mm in the last year has been torn, opened, wet or otherwise damaged. About 7 package in all, from various senders in various places.

[Donna A.]

Not positively impressed.

Every package I have received via mm in the last year has been torn, opened, wet or otherwise damaged. About 7 package in all, from various senders in various places.

 

I'd recommend having a word with the manager at your local station. ;)