MEDIA MAIL PLEASE READ!!!!!!

[ande3502]

I seriously spent all day calling around to every USPS entity I could. After speaking with the person in charge of my district, it is clear that who ever interprets rules at the USPS national level has interpreted the rules to not include video games. The district manager guy scanned this and sent it to me. It is then the district managers job, based on the national ruling to tell me no, it does not qualify. If you are denied shipping a video game via media mail, you appeal it to the district manager...he will give you a ruling based on the national ruling...then based on being denied by the district manager, you must then appeal it to the national level who MUST review this ruling. WE ALL must try to do this if we are denied because their ruling is based on domestic shipping rules:

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."



This clearly states that video games would qualify for media mail, and this is the ruling they are basing it on. It seriously is going to have to take an act of congress (this is what the district manager said) to review this because book rate or "media mail" has been around for years, based on an act of congress. I mean geez if i can send a meatllica record via media mail, then i should be able to send mario bros. too. And if this rule is reviewed by anyone who is half intelligent, it WILL be changed, but we NEED people to appeal to their district manager, and then to the national level...we can get this done, I'm serious, the district manager guy was very encouraging and is helping me appeal. Please help out the cause. Also dont worry too much, if they inspect your package and deny it, it will only be sent back to you with a note saying blah blah blah dont do it.....but i cant wait cause Im going to appeal this retarded ruling made by someone who doesnt understand technology. HELP ME!!


.

[ande3502]

In case you didnt notice there is a clickable pic of the scan the district manager sent me that he got from his superior above, check it out.....this is our country too, they work for us, we all know that video games are media. Note that his reasoning in the document is because video games are not educational (which is arguable in itself)......but most books, sound recordings, ect. that qualify for media mail are for entertainment puposes so this guy is full of shit.

[Jibbajaba]

Feel free to fling shit in my general direction, but I agree that video games should not be eligible for media mail. That's not what the media mail class was created for. The problem as I see it is that the media mail rule, as worded, is too vague. The use of the words "computer media" without a strict definition is problematic.

This opens up the debate about whether or not cartidges are computer media or not. To the best of my recollection, no computer manufactured within the last 20 years has made use of cartridge based media. The argument to be made is with Atari home computer carts and commodore carts. They would have to qualify as computer media, as they are most certainly media, and run exclusively on a computer.

This opens up the second debate about whether or not game consoles are computers. The dictionary definition of a computer is as follows:

Computer: A programmable electronic device designed for performing prescribed operations on data at high speed, esp. one housed with or linked to other devices for inputting, storing, retrieving, and displaying the data.

Well, shit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to easily make a gaming console fit the definition of a computer. Sure, the console is not programed by the end user during the course of normal use, but it certainly is programmable, and it does run programs which perform prescibed operations on data at high speed. It also certainly has devices for input, display, and data storage and retrieval.

Conclusion? I agree with the post office that video games shouldn't be eligible for media mail shipping rates, BUT they way they have the rule worded I tink obligates them to allow it. If they are really that adamant about people not shipping video games to each other via media mail, then I think a rewrite of the rule is in order.

Flame away.

Chris

[Lady Jaye]

Topic discussed at large, time and time again, in the past.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60046
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49926
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58325
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49662

And that's just threads that were posted to within the last 6 months...

[Sniderman]

Jesus. Lock this up. We've been down this road so often, I need new tires.




P.S. Video Games are not Media Mail. Deal with it, for Christ's Sake, and pay the extra $3.00 to ship it.

[ande3502]

Video games ARE media and consoles ARE computers by definition. Your opinion does not matter because these are facts. Video games qualify for media mail based on the rules set forth by our representatives in congress...beauracrats have made rules that contradict the wishes of the people...period.

[ande3502]

This was not a post simply to talk about media mail, or to save a few bucks man, I offered internal documents from the USPS stating their reasoning...it deserves a new post because I did not want replys, I had to tell all of you what is going on so that hopefully more people act, I did not want it to be buried on page 3 of a post no one reads anymore.

[ande3502]

Nobody has called their congress person yet or filed appeals so it obviously hasn't been discussed enough, when they change the rules then we would have talked about it enough. It is time for video games to claim their place next to books and music as a healthy and acceptable form of human entertainment that is both encouraged and made cheap to send to eachother.

[captain nintendo]

You realize when you post in an old thread it pops up to the top of the forums right ?

And I think everybody here is saying that we have all seen people like you with the same arguement over and over and over again :/

Thanks..... Please come again.

[Darth Sensei]

Your opinion does not matter because these are facts.

Yeah, that'll help. Insult one of the longest running posters on this forum and I'm sure that'll motivate members to action.

[vincewy]

Seriously, why would you spend all day trying to save a few cents on media mail and even post them here, or trying to tackle USPS for that matter? I see this type of people at stores every day (aka: Walmart shoppers), it amazes me how people waste their own time/llife for that matter.

[bargora]

This may come as a shock, but there are times when laws and regulations are interpreted to mean something other than what the plain words would lead you to believe.

I'm sure the post office is working hard right now to bring the regulations in line with their current practice of opening up your media-mail-shipped games, dunking them in the toilet, dredging them through an ashtray, and then returning them to you postage due.

[Sniderman]

Nobody has called their congress person yet or filed appeals so it obviously hasn't been discussed enough, when they change the rules then we would have talked about it enough. It is time for video games to claim their place next to books and music as a healthy and acceptable form of human entertainment that is both encouraged and made cheap to send to eachother.

And by your logic, videogames should be available for free at the local library for you to check out, am I correct?

What are you - 14 years old or younger? If so, it now makes sense. If not, grow the Hell up.

[Flack]

Topic discussed at large, time and time again, in the past.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60046
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49926
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58325
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49662

And that's just threads that were posted to within the last 6 months...

Listen to the lady.

And, -100 meseta for waking me from my nap to clean up this mess.