USPS Media Shipping Delays, is it just me?

[munchizgreat]

During the start of last year, I tried going into selling DVDs and Blu-Rays, specifically movies. I just used USPS Media Mail as the cheapest option my buyers pay for so they don't have to spend any more on cheap used movies. During the start of this year, on January 10th, I sent a movie out via USPS Media Mail along with a bunch of other packages, and those packages were scanned in immediately and were processed the same day, but the package with USPS Media Mail never had its tracking history updated. I waited a day, nothing, two days, nothing, a week, nothing, 2 weeks, nothing at all, and I just decided to refund the buyer and messaged them saying "I don't know what happened, I guess it got permanently lost in transit for some reason, so here's a refund" despite me contacting USPS about it.

Fast forward to February 9th and I finally see the tracking history update, and I was in just awe and confusion. I just thought this was a fluke. The next day, I shipped out another movie via USPS Media Mail, and the tracking history was the same story. 4 days later, I contact USPS and was told "it's going through Media Mail, so just give it some time." I had this buyer messaging me with attitude and disrespect saying it's my fault that USPS delayed the packages. Thank goodness it got to the buyer much quicker and the buyer didn't decide to do anything crazy, but was delivered on the 23rd.

To sum it up, I never had any real delays with USPS Media Mail, but after these two occurrences, I have switched to First Class on my listings so I can avoid this headache. Sellers, who ship via Media Mail, has this always been an apparent thing, or have yall noticed it too? I've bought some cases, and those sellers shipped my stuff through Media Mail, but they arrived within the margin of 2-9 days, but when I send out through Media Mail, it gets delayed.

[yuzuha]

Media Mail has ALWAYS been slow and unpredictable-- I stopped using it pre-COVID because I had DVDs that took close to a month to be delivered. First Class doesn't up the shipping price by that much AND it gets there within a reasonable amount of time, so I've switched to selling all of my DVDs with First Class shipping and haven't looked back.

[simba6]

There is no slower way to ship.  Media mail gets tossed aside whenever space on a truck is needed.  I never offer it as a choice as it often leads to unhappy buyers.

[katzrul15]

@munchizgreat 

We use Media Mail with vinyl shipments due to cost as they are boxed, etc - sometimes, they arrive pretty quickly but often 8-11 days from the date of shipment.  Just had one take 16 days.  It is slow and often unpredictable.  

[lepke1979]

Nothing too out of the ordinary. Usually 1-2 weeks. Took a month for a couple media mail packages going to Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. But that seems to be the norm for them. 

[auto_manuals_and_more]

It's just the nature of the beast. The stuff I send media mail often does not take any longer than first class, but I often don't have that choice, since the bulk of what I send out Media Mail is over a pound so it ends up media or priority.

When they upped the price of media last year, depending on the destination zone, it often isn't more expensive to use priority and I'll upgrade to that at no charge if it makes financial sense.

But the reality is that my competitors in the repair manual field are almost all using media mail and to stay price competitive I can't up the shipping (or item price) enough to eat the difference to priority over media, no matter how much I'd like to.

[natoman777]

Media mail is the slowest of all methods.  When it gets to shipping hubs, sometimes they get put to the side and left for days before moving.  Sometimes they even get lost.  During Covid spikes, media mail has been mishandled and longer delays. If you are selling books, its pretty much your only option.  DVD's and CD's...I would ship first class.  For those often it is just 75 cents or so more to ship. 

[chapeau-noir]

I've done fine with media mail, but it's cheap and slow, yes - anything I ship media mail ships free and I warn that it's coming media mail on the listing.  If the item weight is close to first class mail I'll ship that way, but it doesn't have to be very heavy before first class mail is like $6.20 as opposed to $3.20 for media mail.  Sometimes I ship several pounds of DVDs and it just is going to have to go media mail.

[housekat99]

I am finding that Priority Mail is the only method for quick shipping by the USPS.  First class, media and parcel select all have delays and tracking upload problems.  Sometimes "waiting for item" by the p.o. is the only tracking message for over a week.  It looks like the seller just hasn't brought it to the p.o.  Very frustrating.  When I see the delay I take the time to message the buyer, it helps avoid buyer irritation, but is time consuming!

[1786davycrockett]

On the other hand, I shipped a box of books via USPS Media from Hawaii (!!!) on Friday February 18 -- and they arrived on my doorstep in Minnesota on Tuesday February 22.  

Must have been on the same flight that brought me back home on Monday February 21.

[arisdisc]

Its' absurd to say "they get tossed to the side when there isn't room" - that's just nonsense.
Media mail has to go thru the Media facility in Pennsylvania (for the east side) so it has nothing to do with "room". Yes, it's slow, but that's why it's cheap and part of the 'slowness' is to go thru that extra facility so they can inspect and catch the shippers that are cheating.

I guess I'm lucky. It's been a lot better the past 6 months than previously, and I'll never complain about the speed since Priority is so ridiculously expensive. I sell vinyl LP's and music media. My customers expect that it will take at least a week and maybe a little more to get their item. Buyers are just as happy that the shipping is cheaper than Priority.

[inhawaii]

"You get what you pay for."

[coolections]

From my experience, and I have shipped many items media mail, it has always been a hit or miss. Sometimes the item arrives as fast as priority, and other times it takes forever. You can add a disclaimer that media takes forever in your listings to warn buyers. If you have too many problems you can always just start shipping first class instead. Most buyers know about media being slow and are forgiving.

[mod-designs4u]

I frequently ship Media Mail books and music CD's and haven't had any major shipping delays. I'm in the western U.S. and my Media Mail shipments take about 5-7 days for delivery to the western states. It takes my mid-western customers about 10 days for delivery. Sometimes it takes about 2 weeks for delivery to my east coast customers. One thing I've noticed is that sometimes USPS doesn't scan the tracking info for Media Mail shipments between my shipment address and the recipient's address. Several days will go by in the tracking info from when I shipped the item and when the customer receives the item. I think that sellers who monitor the shipment tracking of Media Mail items should exercise patience and not hastily issue refunds to their customers who will eventually receive the item.      

[phipet-99]

Yes..media mail is very slow but that's the whole reason they have it for people to save money shipping heavy things like thick books that would cost a arm and a leg to the buyer ..one reason it moves slow is it goes to extra hubs to inspect it..make sure your not shipped banned items..did you also know they can open your media mail package without a warrant if they think you are shipping something that isn't supposed to ship media mail..it's slow to save and they have opened many packages and charged people for cheating them out of first class prices