Took in my usual batch of packages. They all went through OK until the last one. It was between 1 and 2 pounds and I wanted "book rate" which is now "media mail." Except that the computer came up with a "counter offer" to send it "bound printed matter." I was expecting it to cost $1.75 but it came back $1.95. Maybe it actually exceeded 2 lbs? Was it the weight...or the zip code? What is "bound printed matter" anyway?
??
I felt like I understand what was going on, but if I don't even know how much a 1+ lb "book rate" package will cost, I'm sunk.
posted on January 8, 2001 09:55:47 AMWhat is "bound printed matter" anyway?
Bound Printed Matter must:
a. Consist of advertising, promotional, directory, or editorial material (or any combination of such material).
b. Be securely bound by permanent fastenings such as staples, spiral binding, glue, or stitching. Looseleaf binders and similar fastenings are not considered permanent.
c. Consist of sheets of which at least 90% are imprinted by any process other than handwriting or typewriting with words, letters, characters, figures, or images (or any combination of them).
d. Not have the nature of personal correspondence.
e. Not be stationery, such as pads of blank printed forms.
posted on January 8, 2001 09:56:41 AM
I was at the PO a little while ago and got to watch a blonde having what my blonde girlfriend calls "a blonde moment."
One of the postal workers announced they were out of 1 cent stamps, and the blonde asked her "How much were they?"
posted on January 8, 2001 10:44:46 AM
I meant..what is bound printed matter in the sense of being a different rate than "media mail" which is what I thought "book rate" or "special standard" was. I guess I need to dig around in the web site or something. Doesn't sound like others have encountered this yet.
posted on January 8, 2001 10:47:17 AM
OK, I checked the web site. It's different now. You are asked to input the weight and zip codes, and you are given quotes for both media mail and "bound printed matter." In the example I typed in, the amounts were different by only a penny.
I will have to learn what the difference is, I guess.
posted on January 8, 2001 12:21:45 PM
Well, I am totally confused. Most books have not, in the past, qualified for the Bound Printed Matter rate. And most magazines were not supposed to be sent by Book Rate (now Media Mail). Can we now choose the cheaper rate, regardless of whether we are sending a book or a magazine?
Is Pound Printed Matter still figured according to distance, and Media Mail still a flat rate?
By the way, someone posted on another board that there is a USPS glitch, and their computers are not recognizing the 1 pound Priority Rate, and are charging (or trying to) the 3.95 two pound rate. So watch out for that.
posted on January 8, 2001 01:01:18 PM
If I understand it correctly, books can go by either Media Mail or as Bound Printed Matter. Magazines and brochures don't qualify as media mail and must be sent under the bound printed matter rate.
