Media mail mis-use

[chinohighcowboys1963]

I recently purchased a set of pillowcases which arrived on time, but seller had sent them MEDIA MAIL. I hate it when anyone cheats the USPS. I am tempted to give the seller a Neutral.  I asked him why he did this, but he insisted the package was sent by first class.  The label was generated through eBay, so he hold have had to deliberately chosen the class of mail. What would you do?  Should I just let this go and forget about it?

[murphy71605]

If the package was over a pound he is obviously lying because First Class only goes up to 15.999 ozs. Anybody who knowingly ship items such as this are not only cheapskates but not very bright either. The P.O. will eventually catch on and charge the buyer Postage due or send the item back. 

[jopirel_inc]

Not your fight. Just live to purchase and be happy. 

Misuse happens every minute every day. 

But imagine the specifics:

DVDs, Audio, Books receiving special treatment

and two fluffy light pillowcases being charged 

extra cause they didn't have the special interest

lobby money to fight for their exemption with the

USPS.

Otherwise, I hope they don't get caught and fined

thousands of dollars and face financial hardship. To

each his own, karma usually rears its ugly head to balance

the stars.

[eleanor*rigby]

Take it down to your local post office. They may be interested in it. They may not be, but at least you'll have done your bit.

[mountainmommie]

I am a seller who routinely misses out on magazine sales because my competition offers media prices. 

Ding 'em. Ding 'em hard. And don't look back.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Report them to the PO. Any seller who will steal from the USPS will steal from buyers too.

[buyselljack2016]

Tough call. I don't like when it happens.

On a lesser level:

Just last month wife got a USPS 1st Class item in a folded over UPS bubble mailer.

USPS 1st Class stuff continually comes in with UPS sticky labels.

[moo*cow*corner]

Using bubble mailers, labels or other supplies from FedEx and UPS for other stuff isn't illegal. Lots of sellers re-use Amazon packaging and boxes for ebay sales as well.

[i-deal_daily]

Right or wrong, buyers usually remain silent only when they benefit. It's one of the few times a seller can blatantly do wrong and it not be pointed out, shockingly.

I'm with a few of the sellers here. Let it slide and it's an unfair advantage against competitors who are honest, not to mention what USPS loses when adding up all who get away with this behavior. And given the whole 'you don't have a dog in this hunt' premise? Well, that's a pure fallacy--you do; we all do.

[computeraidllc]

You can bring it to your local post office and report it. This type of theft from the post office causes us all to pay more for postage.

[fern*wood]

I imagine USPS should eliminate this option entirely to take care of the problem. 

[readabouthorses]

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@fern*wood wrote:

I imagine USPS should eliminate this option entirely to take care of the problem. 

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USPS doesn't need to eliminate Media Mail ... they just need to make it a permit only based shipping option like they did with Bound Printed Matter. 

I recently did one of my regular searches for magazines but instead of using Newly Listed I used Best Match ... almost every magazine in my search on the first page was being shipped Media Mail. Hard to compete with those lost shipping costs if you are following the rules.

[glyph01]

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@readabouthorses wrote:

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@fern*wood wrote:

I imagine USPS should eliminate this option entirely to take care of the problem. 

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USPS doesn't need to eliminate Media Mail ... they just need to make it a permit only based shipping option like they did with Bound Printed Matter. 

I recently did one of my regular searches for magazines but instead of using Newly Listed I used Best Match ... almost every magazine in my search on the first page was being shipped Media Mail. Hard to compete with those lost shipping costs if you are following the rules.

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No, it needs not be permit only. Just program it for item categories that are applicable like DVD, CDs, Phonograph records. If you selling pillowcases, Media mail service should not even show up at all as an option.

[readabouthorses]

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@glyph01 wrote:

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@readabouthorses wrote:

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@fern*wood wrote:

I imagine USPS should eliminate this option entirely to take care of the problem. 

---

USPS doesn't need to eliminate Media Mail ... they just need to make it a permit only based shipping option like they did with Bound Printed Matter. 

I recently did one of my regular searches for magazines but instead of using Newly Listed I used Best Match ... almost every magazine in my search on the first page was being shipped Media Mail. Hard to compete with those lost shipping costs if you are following the rules.

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No, it needs not be permit only. Just program it for item categories that are applicable like DVD, CDs, Phonograph records. If you selling pillowcases, Media mail service should not even show up at all as an option.

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Then a seller could just choose Economy without specifying a shipping method and still ship anything by Media Mail as long as it doesn't get caught by USPS. At the old PO I used before I moved they required anyone shipping by Media Mail to present the package opened for inspection. 

I've actually had buyers get angry with me because I wouldn't ship their magazine by Media Mail.

I called eBay customer service once just to see what they would say and they advised me that it was perfectly OK to ship magazines by Media Mail because Top Rated Sellers were doing it so it must be OK with eBay.

[fab_finds4u]

Media mail abuse is not the only problem.  Cologne is classified as a hazardous material and should be shipped ground with ORM-D Surface mail only written on the package but I rarely see Economy as the method.  It would help if cologne listings could have an alert or something when that category is chosen. 

https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c3_021.htm