Magazines Not Media Mail

[moxiedrinker]

How did the Post Office justify removing printed matter from media Mail ?Books are OK but not magazines. 

[nmemoryof]

Good question.  They say it's because of the advertising.  I think that stinks. 

Oh well.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Two reasons.  One is that most magazines contain a lot of advertising, and items with advertising can't be mailed via Media Mail.  The other reason is that magazines that were originally shipped as "Periodicals" (which is a different low-cost postage category) also aren't eligible to later be re-mailed as Media Mail.

Magazines weren't "removed" from eligibility; they have never been eligible.

[nmemoryof]

If I buy a book and have it shipped media mail, I can turn around and reship it media mail.  But you can't do that with a periodical.  I think the advertising excuse is lame.  No one cares what I think, though.  LOL.  You're right that it has always been the policy.  Some of us didn't always know it, though.

Thanks for the info.

[trene-n-josh]

Media Mail used to be called "Book Rate".  It was originally designed to provide a low cost method of shipping educational materials.  Media Mail combined "Book Rate" with a low cost "Library Rate" which was designed to provide a low cost method of shipping library materials.  Neither Book or Library Rate or Media Mail ever covered magazines or comic books or anything else that had advertising. 

[7606dennis]

Magazines, being periodicals have never been eligible to be sent via Media Mail. 

[readabouthorses]

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@moxiedrinker wrote:

How did the Post Office justify removing printed matter from media Mail ?Books are OK but not magazines. 

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Long ago, when I first started selling magazines on eBay we could ship magazines by Bound Printed Matter. It was a zoned shipping method but very cheap and usually could come close to the cost of Media Mail. Then the USPS decided it would be appropriate to make Bound Printed Matter a mail category that required a permit so it became unusable except for those sellers with huge magazine inventories.

The Media Mail abuse in the magazine category makes it almost impossible to compete if you ship by legal methods. Most of my magazines are over 1 pound when properly packed for shipment so Priority Flat Rate Envelope is my only option.