The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[Victorian Squid]

Well, if you are using Media Mail, it's not going First Class. They wait until they have a full bin before they ship them out, and with it being summer and vacation time, the volume of mail is down, and so is the number of workers working each day. The Postal Service used to replace people on vacation, but they probably aren't doing that now.

Yep I know to all of that, it's mainly the recently announced policy of opening and inspecting 1 out of 5 Media Mail packages that concerns me as a new bother. There has been a debate for years over sending comics by Media Mail as they are technically prohibited due to ad content, even for golden age books where the ads are out-of-date, but most sane postal branches allow it or more often never bother to check.

The USPS feels other items are being shipped by Media Rate to save money that aren't Media by any stretch of the imagination, and want that $$. Shouldn't have given all you netflixers such a sweetheart deal if you ask me!

[Victorian Squid]

PS I often ship dozens of packages a day, and usually my Media Mail moves very quickly--I am trying to gauge how much the recent changes will affect that since dsrs are so critical on teh 'bay.

[Old Man]

And it also depends on which branch or even which teller you go to. A buddy of mine sells on eBay. Sometimes he can use Media Mail, sometimes he can't.

[Victorian Squid]

And it also depends on which branch or even which teller you go to. A buddy of mine sells on eBay. Sometimes he can use Media Mail, sometimes he can't.

Well, on the off-chance he didn't hear last week or the week before, let him know they are cracking down nationwide in a directive from the top.

The individual branch makes ALL the difference. It's amazing to what degree. I am lucky not to live near one of the branches where you have to quote postal regulations by the book just to do business and use their services. But when they implement these random inspections they can happen anywhere along the chain.

Like I say, I have had very few problems so far but as services and hubs and branches and staff and whole days of work are cut out who knows what will happen?

For book books (not comics), one would be screwed if one had to upgrade to Priority or First Class (when even possible due to weight restr.)--pretty much all online selling venues have capped shipping amounts, Amazon being a losing game already.

For me, hopefully, it just means not shipping comics Media rate any longer in the future. Of course, there is always the technique of shipping a paperback or other useless book one is going to discard anyway along with the comic(s), but it all adds weight in the end.

[guitarsmashley]

I write that much for every book!

and you waste bandwidth on them too.

[malcolm reynolds]

Hey all, I thought I'd be able to keep up with the reviews despite life being a little hectic at the moment, but I keep on falling behind. I will post a review when I can, but for around the next five weeks I won't be on here that much at all. I'm right in the middle of purchasing my first home and this Friday I'm going on a holiday to America, yeah yeah you all live there. But c'mon... Vegas!

Also, just got my copy of Doom Patrol, its interesting to see that all the reviews here have been pretty one sided yet on other sites people seem to actually like the comic, weird. I'll try to post at least a mini review tomorrow.

[malcolm reynolds]

Doom Patrol - Boring as hell, the one trade I've read from the Morrison run was great. This, I didn't even finish.

Metal Men - Fun. This really brings to light the unfortunate predicament when you like one title and not the other in these DC double features.

DP - 2

Metal Men - 8


Overall - 5


Next week's book better kick ass, I'm really looking forward to the Ultimate Universe and having some solid writers get it back on track.

[Punchy]

and you waste bandwidth on them too.

No I don't.

[guitarsmashley]

No I don't.

yes, you do.

[Punchy]

yes, you do.

Stop whining and write your own review.

[Victorian Squid]

Doom Patrol - Boring as hell, the one trade I've read from the Morrison run was great. This, I didn't even finish.

Metal Men - Fun. This really brings to light the unfortunate predicament when you like one title and not the other in these DC double features.

DP - 2

Metal Men - 8


Overall - 5


Next week's book better kick ass, I'm really looking forward to the Ultimate Universe and having some solid writers get it back on track.

See, you didn't like it either. Maybe a lot of reviewers were especially lenient on a first issue. Things can always get better, but there were some key elements to this Patrol that don't work for me personally.

[thefourthman]

Yep I know to all of that, it's mainly the recently announced policy of opening and inspecting 1 out of 5 Media Mail packages that concerns me as a new bother. There has been a debate for years over sending comics by Media Mail as they are technically prohibited due to ad content, even for golden age books where the ads are out-of-date, but most sane postal branches allow it or more often never bother to check.

The USPS feels other items are being shipped by Media Rate to save money that aren't Media by any stretch of the imagination, and want that $$. Shouldn't have given all you netflixers such a sweetheart deal if you ask me!

They don't even understand their own policies though. I had an entire shipment returned two weeks ago because they opened a package (with out of date ads - which under the original definition of media mail was allowed - originally ads were permissable if they were 5 years or older - there was no mention of that on the sheet of paper I got.) and then sent back all the other boxes unopened.
All Image books and most indie books fall squarely into the media mail category as they are more than eight pages and only have incidental advertisements for other books.

So now I am offering priority mail on every auction and media mail on those items that qualify as well as parcel post. This has seen an immediate downturn in my ebay business and lots of that shipping is crazy messages, nothing reflected in dsrs yet, but it will be.

Fucking ebay and the post office working together to fuck up their own business.

Netflix has ads why the fuck are they okay to ship? All new DVDs have ads, are they gonna break open them and fucking do the dead, watch them and shit, cause if I get a DVD that I bought new and the post office opens it, it is on.

Plus what happens when someone sends a copy of Lost Girls through the mail? The CBLDF is gonna need a paypal button or something.

Hey HOJ, we should tell ebay to make the bound printed material rate an option, it is generally like fifty cents more than media mail, but you have to wait at the fucking post office.

[Victorian Squid]

They don't even understand their own policies though. I had an entire shipment returned two weeks ago because they opened a package (with out of date ads - which under the original definition of media mail was allowed - originally ads were permissable if they were 5 years or older - there was no mention of that on the sheet of paper I got.) and then sent back all the other boxes unopened.
All Image books and most indie books fall squarely into the media mail category as they are more than eight pages and only have incidental advertisements for other books.

So now I am offering priority mail on every auction and media mail on those items that qualify as well as parcel post. This has seen an immediate downturn in my ebay business and lots of that shipping is crazy messages, nothing reflected in dsrs yet, but it will be.

Fucking ebay and the post office working together to fuck up their own business.

Netflix has ads why the fuck are they okay to ship? All new DVDs have ads, are they gonna break open them and fucking do the dead, watch them and shit, cause if I get a DVD that I bought new and the post office opens it, it is on.

Plus what happens when someone sends a copy of Lost Girls through the mail? The CBLDF is gonna need a paypal button or something.

Hey HOJ, we should tell ebay to make the bound printed material rate an option, it is generally like fifty cents more than media mail, but you have to wait at the fucking post office.

They absolutely do not understand the policies in most cases--and it all boils down to the person who inspects. They aren't special employees well-versed in the line-by-line policy by any measure.

Your example is exactly what I am wary of happening routinely now.

As to the BPM rate, my sources inside the USPS expect that to be done away with entirely soon, or made so that people like us can't access it at all.

Fucking ebay and the post office working together to fuck up their own business.

Gets old sometimes don't it?

[thefourthman]

Gets old sometimes don't it?

about BPM, that's funny cause when my boss took the shipment back they tried to force that shit down his throat.

I'm just not gonna offer media mail on items that don't qualify and go back to my disclaimer about shipping prices like back in the day when I actually tried to make money on shipping. Fucked up thing, is I learned this weekend from some complaining motherfucker in Texas that Priority Mail varies wildly for distance as well. So I guess books that don't qualify will mean that I will have to offer the flat rate box.

In the long run, this is gonna cost the po office more money cause I had to place the largest order for their free shipping supplies ever the other day. Oops, maybe I shouldn't mention that, they'll probably start charging for that shit.

[thefourthman]

and someone explain to me why parcel post costs twice as much as fucking priority mail... they have to expedite the priority mail, parcel can take up to eight weeks?