Advertisement

Register for free to remove this ad

I'm flippant right now. With all the other forms of video game backlash going on I found out today that the USPS no longers allows video games (even CD and DVD formats) to be sent Media Mail. Their reasoning is that things sent via Media Mail should be education, and video games are "fun" and thus never educational. This is bull crap. So a Celion Dion CD is educational, or a box set of the Sopranos is educational, but not even Elmo's Number game (or whatever that old PS1 game was called) isn't educational. Has this happened to anyone else, or is this some sort of weird occurance in my Bum town? The lady at the post office where I ship packages seems to know her stuff and she said it was a new thing they just instituted, she even said she'd put the memo she got in my PO box.

Granted I know many people here frown upon media mail and it's slowness, but it's an excellent shipping option when sending a bunch of games, especially old cheap ones, and now the post office has taken it away apparently. I'm planning on e-mailing them myself, especially since their website still says "Media Mail® service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes)" and includes nothing about items needing to be educational, or excluding video games on any ground.

That sounds almost too lame. I'm thinking that lady was wrong.... I hope she was wrong.

That's just crazy...banning games from being 'media mail' elgible is just absurd. I hope that this is just YMMV or there's going to be a lot of uproar from all angles (EBAY, All trading forums). It could just be the post office seeing that there are a lot of games being sent media mail and capitalizing on this opportunity.

I don't ship media mail anymore. Everytime I went to go ship a game media mail I would get to play 21 questions with the people at the post office so I said forget it. I never ship more then one game at a time so no big deal to me.

If you knew how the post office treats media mail packages you would probably never ship that way again. Many people who have worked at post offices have posted here on CAG about how the USPS mistreats media mail parcels. First class is a better choice 99% of the time for shipping small amounts.

i find it bullshit that they're saying education can't be fun...i mean, i hate to sound like a ing geek here, but what kind of message does that send out?

anyways, my only explanation for this is that maybe shes a gamer and it pisses her off when she has to wait a million days for someone to send a game out via media mail...maybe she feels our pain

What difference does it make? Just wrap the game up. Looks the same as a DVD. What are they going to do? Unwrap it?

Seems like they would want the business... with UPS and FedEx cutting into the shipping pie. And the popularity of email taking money out of their pockets.

same thing happened to me at my Post office...the woman was like, "you wanna ship media mail? what do you have in there?", i was like, "just a dvd", she said "unpackage it and let me see"

she said, "that looks like a game, it has to be educational"

that's BS, media = books, dvd, cds, etc...last time i checked games were on dvds or cds...and they almost wouldnt let me send out my game guide media mail either...

Originally Posted by swetooth9 same thing happened to me at my Post office...the woman was like, "you wanna ship media mail? what do you have in there?", i was like, "just a dvd", she said "unpackage it and let me see" she said, "that looks like a game, it has to be educational" that's BS, media = books, dvd, cds, etc...last time i checked games were on dvds or cds...and they almost wouldnt let me send out my game guide media mail either...

let that bitch tell me to unpackage something...ill unpackage her ing face

Originally Posted by swetooth9 same thing happened to me at my Post office...the woman was like, "you wanna ship media mail? what do you have in there?", i was like, "just a dvd", she said "unpackage it and let me see"

I've heard that it's actually illegal for them to check packages like that, but maybe that particular postal employee was on crack. (the one who told me, not the one at your PO. Or maybe both of them. The do I know?)

I really have bad luck with Media Mail anyway, I only use it when shipping penny guides. Anything else gets first class shipping at least from me.

Another reason for me to not use Media Mail... alleged package mistreatment and impatient buyers bitching me out are the reasons I stopped, and now this... sigh.

They also inspect packages sent via media mail now, apparently they are cracking down or something. And by that I mean they open, and unwrap to check the contents.

I got my hori screen protecters from EB games via Media Mail.
It may be a bit cheaper, but it takes a LONG ASS time.. just pay a dollar or two more and ship by first class.

This may vary from post office to post office. I sent a PS2 game and PS1 game yesterday along with some strategy guides via media mail and the postal clerk didn't give me any issues.

I like Media Mail due to it's relative cheapness, but if they do start enforcing this rule, I suppose shipping my games in a standard flat-rate envelope wouldn't be a huge increase. $3.85 is more than media mail, but it's not a HUGE increase. Just wrap it in some newspaper or bubble wrap or something and it should be okay.

The thing I don't understand, if it is a money thing, there was a $.56 difference between media mail and first class for the game I sent. Where as the DVDs I sent there was a $2.70 difference between media and first class, yet they have no problem shipping DVDs media mail? Really I think it's the principle of the matter, why should games be excluded all of the sudden?

I have found the First Class shipping is often cheaper than the base media mail rate for any 1 game CD or DVD case versions.

Bullshit, the people at the counter are lying to you. I just got a shipment of DVDs from Columbia house and its media mail. I don't think Casino and Meet the Fockers are very educational.

All EA deepdiscountgames come media mail as well.

Just tell them it is a DVD you are shipping - it's not even a lie. If they ask to unwrap it tell them it's none of their business. I've never had a problem doing this but the one time I said it was a video game they wouldn't allow it. It's total bullshit. "Media" implies all media no matter the form - if you send a CD with computer files that's no problem but a CD with a computer game is - WTF?