shipping tarot decks media mail

I almost always use first class shipping or small priority box to ship a tarot deck though there are times this isn't possible such as when the tarot deck is too large. Where I live, the postal clerks would frown on shipping a tarot deck media mail, but I've had success arguing for it in the past by showing them a printout of this HalfCom page http://product.half.ebay.com/The-Rider-Tarot-Deck_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ2593028 Also, it could be argued that since Amazon, Barnes&Noble, etc. routinely ship them media mail, since they're basically media goods sold routinely by bookstores, anyone else should be able to do so as well.

Sure, you can ship them media mail. But by doing so you are giving the Post Office the right to open the package in order to determine if the contents meet the guidelines for media mail. If the package is opened by inspectors and they see a tarot deck, even if there is a book there with it, they will "destroy" (keep?) the package rather than return it to you. Even if you talk the postal clerks into accepting a deck as media mail, the fact is that the USPS classifies a tarot deck as a "game" and therefore not elegible for media mail. Why take the risk to save a few bucks? Is it worth the stress of wondering if the package got through and waiting the extra time for it?

Even if they "should" give ordinary people the same rate they give amazon.com they don't. Amazon sends out such so many packages that it is worth it to the post office to do this. That doesn't make sending a deck by media mail a good idea.

I didn't realize they destroyed them!!! I thought they just added on costs to the recepient. ??????

Wow. I would be like seriously freaking furious!! I would give a whole new definition to going "postal" if they destroy anything of mine!!

I've never had a postal employee ask me what's in the package if it's shipped within the US; they just ask if it's explosive, perishable, etc, etc. I don't ship decks Media Mail for the reasons Myrrha mentioned but if I did I would just keep quiet and not give anyone a reason to be suspicious.

It's better to err on the side of caution. I have found a wide discrepancy between clerks within a station, as well as between stations. 8 out of 10 times, they have asked specifically "This is books, nothing but books?" when other patrons said Media Mail.

I've never heard of "media mail" before, and I've just asked and the lovely woman with the smile at the post office hasn't, either. So I suppose it's just good ol' air or surface for us.

I *have* had parcels opened before, though, as routine customs checks. In about 1993 or 1994, before she produced the Whimsical deck, Dorothy Morrison sent me a personal package, with a statuette, a silver pot-pourri holder, some crystals and a Tarot deck in it - the deck was the Herbal. N ow the Ten Cups is Marijuana. The parcel had been opened in accordance with the law and resealed with the yellow-black official tape and the official notification that it had been subject to a random customs check. No problem. Also, when I checked with her, everything she'd packed was still there, also, no problem.

But the deck had been opened and rifled through. And the Ten Cups had been pulled out, the rest of the deck closed up, and the Ten Cups was loose inside the package as if to say "We suspect you of smuggling drugs". I fell about laughing. I still chuckle about it whenever I think about it now. No harm was done to the deck in the making of this memory, and it *was* incredibly funny.

cardlady22, that's a good point. I don't usually ship Media Mail so I wasn't aware of that. They're probably trained to ask on all Media Mail.

I've had packages opened and inspected that were sent Media Mail, so I'm aware that they do check. My postal worker emphatically said "NO" when I asked about shipping cards this way. Like others, I'd rather not take the chance that a package I'd shipped got snagged; a few extra bucks is worth not worrying to me.