So I ordered copies of the Civil War Token Society Journal back issues. They were shipped on December 21. In mid January, we gave up on that shipment as it was showing delivered to the wrong zip code and no one at the Post Office had any idea where they were. The second shipment has been showing stuck in the New Jersey hub since January 27, but yesterday I got a package, after nearly two months in the mail. The original shipment, missing since late December. Fortunately, the books were ok. I have decided to use the Pony Express from now on.
I had a horrendous experience from my Jan. 19th mailings, also stuck in N.J. Some were dispatched to Jersey City and others to another Jersey facility and the last of them are just starting to show up at my customers. The N.E. blizzard had a lot to do with it and media mail was worst of all. A truck with Media will not move until that vehicle is filled. I had to write a lot of letters to everyone asking for their patience. Most understood, two filed claims which I won out on.
I am not sure how accurate it is but one of my local clerks told me media mail is the last on the truck. If there isn't any space left it will sit until there is and they will never bump something else to ship it out regardless of how long it has been stuck.
I should have been a bit more descriptive. It's not you local P.O. that will hold your media mail but the large distribution facilities. Sometimes the media mail fills up fast but if not it will sit there quite awhile. Media mail is not considered a "Priority" type of mail that needs to travel fast and it doesn't. And it's treated brutally compared to first class. As is Standard Post.
That makes sense given the price. I can only imagine what a backlog they must have had after all the storms. I've only used it once or twice and got fairly lucky it wasn't a long delay with it though sometimes I feel like my registered packages are being shipped that way lol. She did also mention not even to bother to try and use Media Mail for Alaska or Hawaii unless you are okay with the delivery time being measured in months basically.
yQUOTE="baseball21, post: 2351172, member: 76863"]That makes sense given the price. I can only imagine what a backlog they must have had after all the storms. I've only used it once or twice and got fairly lucky it wasn't a long delay with it though sometimes I feel like my registered packages are being shipped that way lol. She did also mention not even to bother to try and use Media Mail for Alaska or Hawaii unless you are okay with the delivery time being measured in months basically.[/QUOTE] The other Jersey facility I could not remember was Kearney. They parceled it out to get it moving again. I abhor standard post. It's really quite expensive compared to Priority. If I can safely send something in a padded Priority envelope I will, including well packed glass items. As an example, and I did myself in on this, I mailed a telephone pole glass insulator to Ca. standard post and it cost $11.00. I could have safely bubble wrapped it, got $50.00 free insurance and gotten it into a padded mailer for $6.80. Live and learn. It took 15 days to Ca. and could have gotten there in about 5 by Priority.
Media Mail is cheap but it's the slowest way to ship. However, this is a bit ridiculous. An if you recall, Pony Express is the old USPS.
I am the same as you, the random boxes get to expensive to quickly. One of the best kept secrets of the USPS is their flat rate bubble mailers. You can only order them from USPS.com but they're delivered to your house for free and the packaging is free like the other flat rate boxes. I believe its 5.80 or 5.95 to ship one. I try and get anything possible into one of the flat rates over the standard post prices.
It always amazes me the problem people have with media mail. I've never had one take longer than four days, coming or going.
This is the first issue I've ever had with Media Mail specifically. My Post Office itself is so horrible that I have a PO Box in a different ZIP Code for most shipments, but this one was a first.
