Video Games in Media Mail

[FantasiaWHT]

Ok for months I've been shipping all my video games media mail (unless people upgraded to Priority, of course) and never had any problems.

Now the local post office people know me pretty well by now. The other day, one of them tells me that she had asked the local "expert" on media mail who told her that video games can't be sent media mail. I asked her, "Ok so I can send music CDs and movie DVDs, but I can't send games which are printed on CDs and DVDs? The same MEDIA? And she said no...

Anybody have any experience with this? Awfully hard to go to the post office and say "No, you're wrong" even though I'm pretty sure she is.

[Avatard]

Digital data is digital data, who cares what the extension is, .jpg, .mov, .mp3, .videogame (or whatever they use). If sending DVDs and music CDs is ok then she is a tard, tell her its music, she'll never know the difference cause she obviously doesn't understand technology. Just tell her she is wrong. Some movie DVDs have built in games. The is no grey area, sending games is obviously ok, she said it herself by saying you can send DVDs.

[Half Japanese]

I think it was PDF that explained in OT the other day that media mail was basically put in place for libraries to ship materials cheaply, not for Johnny Ebay to send whatever they had the cheapest way possible. So I don't think you're correct in your thinking of "oh they're ripping me off, and now they try to screw me" so much as it's been "I've been screwing them and now they put a cap on it." It sucks when you take advantage of something and it gets taken away, but thems the breaks.

[MegaDrive20XX]

That's a lie...she's wrong man...we recently had a disccusion about this about shipping magazines via media

[Avatard]

So you can't send any form of digital media?

[vintagegamecrazy]

They told me it was only for educational purposes, so I guess they are right.

[FantasiaWHT]

Maybe I can just pretend it's all "Matter for the blind" lol

If they wanted it to be JUST for libraries and the like, they could easily have required a tax-exempt card, or registration for NPO status, etc.

That really even doesn't make sense... yeah books are heavy for the amount of information they carry, but CD's and DVD's are very light (a single jewel case CD is usually cheaper to send first class than media mail). So why include CD's and DVD's in it?

[FantasiaWHT]

To quote from USPS.com...

Media Mail® service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes).

Another point against the "only for libraries" argument is that it IS a slower mail service. You pay for what you get...

[Half Japanese]

I never said it was "only for libraries," I said that I think I remember PDF saying that was what it was originally put in place for. I just think they're restricting what can and can't be sent via media mail because they've been losing a lot of money on it over the past few years as the ebay market has boomed.

If I've misparaphrased PDF, my apologies .

[Xantan the Foul]

Try to contact the Postmaster for your area, and see what he says. I think there is such a thing >_>

[esquire]

Actually, there is a separate rate for sending books. It is called "book rate" and is actually slower than media mail. The post office will stamp the package "bound material".

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49662

That's the existing media mail thread that has been referred to here.

[Sylentwulf]

Justin is right. Almost no post office is going to enforce it, but media mail is not for videogames, even though it's virtually the same item.

It's meant for educational purposes - schools, music, textbooks, libraries, all that knowledgable healthy crap.

[ddockery]

Heh, once I was there and the clerk was asking me if I thought comics should be aloowed. She was saying that magazines don't apply because of all of the ads, and aren't supposed to be allowed, so she wasn't sure about comics. I wasn't sending comics myself, but she knows I use the service a lot and was curious what i thought I tld her that even thoug there are maybe 2-3 adds in a lot of comics, that I thought they should still be allowed. I had never heard the ad rule before.

[Avatard]

My friend owns a comic store. He sells junk on ebay a lot, he uses media mail for all his comic book sales.

[Flack]

"Media Mail® service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Media Mail can not contain advertising except for incidental announcements of books. The maximum weight for Media Mail is 70 lbs."

http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendm.../mediamail.htm

"Media Mail®: Small and large packages, thick envelopes, and tubes can be sent using Media Mail. Contents are limited to books, film, manuscripts, sound recordings, video tapes, and computer media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Sometimes called "Book Rate," Media Mail cannot contain advertising. Media Mail is less expensive than Parcel Post."

http://www.usps.com/customersguide/d...tAreYouMailing

It appears to me the line is drawn between media intended for a computer (CD/DVD/Disks) (YES) and game cartridges or videogames (NO).

[josekortez]

Easy way to solve this: don't tell them it's a videogame.

[Arcade Antics]

Anybody have any experience with this? Awfully hard to go to the post office and say "No, you're wrong" even though I'm pretty sure she is.

She is correct. End of story.

Sending a CD or DVD game is only about $1 First Class anyway. x_x

[josekortez]

I had a trade package to send Media Mail today. I told the woman it was a DVD. It was really a GameCube game, but she'll never know the difference.

[Arcade Antics]

I had a trade package to send Media Mail today. I told the woman it was a DVD. It was really a GameCube game, but she'll never know the difference.

No, but you and the person you're sending it to will know the difference if the PO randomly inspects this package, or any other Gamecube game that you send via Media Mail. x_x