The cheapest way to ship books, vinyl records, or other music with USPS
What USPS Media Mail® is Used For: Media Mail is the cheapest way to ship books, vinyl records, or other music with the United States Postal Service®.
USPS® does NOT allow Media Mail shipments to contain anything besides the qualifying media products they've defined, and they reserve the right to inspect packages to ensure they only contain qualifying Media Mail items.
Qualifying USPS Media Mail® items:
Items that Qualify for Media Mail Rates: USPS is strict about the items that qualify for Media Mail service. We've listed the qualifying items here:
Books that contain at least 8 pages.
CDs, DVDs, records, tapes, or other sound and video recordings.
Scripts for plays, books, periodicals, and music.
Printed music.
Computer-readable media containing prerecorded information and guides or scripts prepared solely for use with such media.
Sixteen millimeter or narrower width films.
Printed objective test materials and their accessories.
Printed educational reference charts.
Loose-leaf pages and their binders consisting of medical information for distribution to doctors, hospitals, medical schools, and medical students.
Media Mail® packages may not contain advertising
No Advertising Allowed: Media Mail® packages cannot contain advertising of any kind, and USPS® explicitly forbids comic books from being shipped with Media Mail®.
Can book subscription boxes use Media Mail®?
Book Subscription Boxes with Media Mail: A common question is whether book subscription boxes can use Media Mail® to ship their packages. If the package only contains books and does not include other items such as T-shirts or bookmarks, then Media Mail® is a great service to use.
How to access Media Mail® with Pirate Ship
Access Media Mail Rates: To purchase Media Mail® postage with Pirate Ship, open the "Extra Services" area below the dimension & weight inputs when you're creating a single label from your Ship Page (NOT the Rates page), and check the "Qualifies for Media Mail" checkbox. This will allow you to see Media Mail® rates for your packages 💰
Here's how that looks:
You Must Use Your Own Packaging: When you ship Media Mail®, you're responsible for sourcing your own packaging. If you're looking for some places to get packaging, check out this guide.
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