[Boatanchors] Media Mail and the USPS boxes.

[sdaitch at kuw.ibb.gov]

If the only thing the USPS was collecting was the 20 cents for the
cardboard box, maybe so.  And, yes, there are certain weight and zone
categories where PP and Priority mail are very close in price.  In fact,
at the low end of the weight chart, PP and Priority are only five cents
apart.

Years back, the PP and Priority rates for zone 8, under 17 pounds,
considering the non-machinable charge, it was actually cheaper to
use Priority rates than PP.

I suspect in the typical mail sorting facility, more than one misused box 
is found every hour.  At some point, it might really cost more to have 
the postal inspectors involved than for the USPS to eat the cost of misused
boxes.  On the other hand, if there were no oversight, and I will grant, the
counter clerks should be screening this at the time of mail acceptance, but
apparently enough slip by, without the mail stream inspections, the abuse of
USPS boxes would go way up.  Perhaps the solution is to allow the boxes to 
be used and simply imbed those costs in the newer rates.  

The real concern, as I understood Kim's earlier response was the abuse of
Media Mail for contents which don't remotely resemble authorized content for
the discount rate.  I do agree that the DMM should be revised to allow printed
content with advertising provided that advertising is at least XXX years old.  

Even then,  I suspect there will be some folks who decide to skirt the regs on
how old the magazines are in a shipment, to save a few bucks on shipping.  

73
Sheldon



----- Original Message -----
From: "J. Forster" <jfor at quik.com>
Date: Sunday, September 12, 2010 9:16 pm
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Media Mail, trying again.

> If you compare PP and Priority rates, in many cases the difference is
> pennies, unless you are shipping boxes of bricks.
> 
> To have a $25/hour Postal Inspector worrying about misuse of a 
> $0.20 box
> is ludicrous.
> 
> -John
>