USPS Media Mail

[azdesertliving]

I have had several lost/undelivered packages in the last few months using USPS MEDIA MAIL. Is anyone having the same problems? Forget about calling Customer Service, you're on the phone for an hour and never get to talk to anyone.

[takikawa4]

@azdesertliving

Your issue is with USPS so I'm not sure why you'd be calling eBay's customer service.

[a_c_green]

Are you the buyer or the seller in these problem deliveries? What does the tracking show? i.e. When does the last scan occur? How long are you waiting for a further scan before seller refunds buyer?

[jopirel_inc · Accepted solution]

Hello All

 We will never again ship thru Media Mail:

Amazon FBA book novels we published was shipped and intercepted and stolen, later ending up on Ebay and Amazon book sites as like new , used or

slightly damaged books for sale.

The seller has multiple selling names and sells items that seem to be stolen

from various postal facilities where the damaged or misplaced items are auctioned to buyers who resell on these sites.

Try to use higher cost shipping and value protection services to avoid 

lost money.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I use Media Mail quite often and have never really had a problem. (knock on wood) What's going on with the tracking? Are they disappearing in certain hubs or Post Offices?  There are a few that are problematic.  Bell Gardens and Redondo Beach CA are two of them that I cringe whenever I see them in tracking.

[pbnumber]

Yes, in the past six months the USPS has lost two packages out of 50 or so that I mailed as media. Over a dozen packages took 4+ weeks to arrive anywhere from 50 - 3000 miles away. Their excuse is that "things happen" and they are not responsible. Most went through the Jersey City hub. Others tracked back and forth between the same hubs 2-3 times over several days.

Media mail maybe slower service but it is not suppose to be less service or care. The rate is lower to accmodate the free (er) flow of printed and media material. But some in the post office speak of it as third rate, an after-thought. One PO supervisor boasted it takes 3-4 months to deliver media mail and I should have paid the extra $15 to ship it faster - PS the books were valued at $10.

[ryanrobyn]

The problem is 2 fold:

My post office thinks media mail is not important and puts it to the side, scanning often days later if they think about it or can even find where they stored it.

Next Ebay's problem is that their time frame for delivery is not important to the PO and unrealistic. Example: I live in Hawaii and lately it takes from 35 to 40 days to arrive andEbay gives me a week for delivery. Media goes via ship or truck or both and that takes time.

[7198dave]

I have used media mail lately with no problems. Shipping time very quick.  I had some make it from CA to east coast in 5 days or less, but I have a first class package I shipped out on the 5th and still not delivered yet. It's stuck somewhere while heading to Jacksonville, FL.

[jmelees]

I've had some issue with book lots which would make sense. By lots I mean 20 to 40 books in a box. As you may imagine, these are more prone to inspection to make sure I'm not sending non books at the Media Mail rate.  Perhaps this was your problem? We are working on some best practices and by no means is this an edorsement but just what we are testing which is using only blank boxes or books branded from our boosktore and limiting the weight of the boxes. Good luck! - Matt Book Driver

[springs_2013]

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@ryanrobyn wrote:

The problem is 2 fold:

My post office thinks media mail is not important and puts it to the side, scanning often days later if they think about it or can even find where they stored it.

Next Ebay's problem is that their time frame for delivery is not important to the PO and unrealistic. Example: I live in Hawaii and lately it takes from 35 to 40 days to arrive andEbay gives me a week for delivery. Media goes via ship or truck or both and that takes time.

---

In addition, any service or business is only as good as it's employees.  I had recently been battling with the USPS for not delivering my mail after my regular mailman is taken off my route.  Filed missing mail with the 1-800 number, nothing happened.  Went to the post office, nothing happened.... finally got feed up and left my cool at home and blasted the supervisor who kept on passing the buck.

After that, my mail is being delivered correctly, but all those mail that was NOT delivered is missing forever.  I won't go into the problems the missing mail caused.