I was just at the Post Office this morning and asked them about this; here in Philly they haven't started this practice yet, but the woman at the counter said she wouldn't be surprised if they would and that other branches may have already started, if there has been suspected abuse of the use of Media Mail packaging.
I'm of two minds on the matter--it's true I don't like the idea of postal employees checking out any slash zines I'm shipping, but OTOH the woman at the counter who I've known for a long while says it's really an issue of people abusing Media shipping to send other items like clothing at the cheaper rate, and lots of times she handles packages to be sent Media that really don't feel like papers, videos, etc.
Whenever I send packages overseas, I already know I have to be prepared for them to be searched and evaluated at customs to be sure they were valuated "properly"--this just seems like a similar check to me. And if I'm really really worried about the contents of something I'm shipping, then well I guess I'll just start making people pay me the Priority Mail rate for it and be done with it.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-05-24 08:19 am (UTC)I'm of two minds on the matter--it's true I don't like the idea of postal employees checking out any slash zines I'm shipping, but OTOH the woman at the counter who I've known for a long while says it's really an issue of people abusing Media shipping to send other items like clothing at the cheaper rate, and lots of times she handles packages to be sent Media that really don't feel like papers, videos, etc.
Whenever I send packages overseas, I already know I have to be prepared for them to be searched and evaluated at customs to be sure they were valuated "properly"--this just seems like a similar check to me. And if I'm really really worried about the contents of something I'm shipping, then well I guess I'll just start making people pay me the Priority Mail rate for it and be done with it.