If you've ever shipped manga you'll know the stark difference in price USPS Media Mail has over its competitors when shipping books. What you might not know is how USPS is able to do it. Here's how USPS Media Mail works and why it won't be reliable to use over this Christmas season.
USPS Media Mail is THE most cost-effective way to send "Media" anywhere within the US. Media includes books, DVDs, CDs, etc...
While it may not be the fastest way to ship its prices are the same regardless of the distance shipped within the US. It also benefits from getting free tracking which is always a really nice thing to have.
So what's the catch? According to a USPS staff worker that I talked to USPS Media Mail works like this. USPS Media Mail packages ship ONLY when there is extra space on flights/trucks after filling them up with the Priority Mail packages.
Speaking from personal experience, last December I had a package shipped with USPS Media Mail take over a month to be delivered. It makes sense because with so many packages being shipped there's no extra space for the Media Mail to be fit into shipments. It was estimated in 2020 that 3 billion packages were shipped over the holiday season and I expect that this year won't be much different.
Personally, I'm not going to be shipping packages after the first week of December in fear that the packages get lost or arrive long after the holiday seasons are over. That's why if you're planning on sending manga/ln gifts to friends for this Christmas do so within the first week of December. Thank you for reading, Happy Holidays!