"Attn US Media Mail Posters" Topic

I just received a package of books this morning and, as Media Mail allows, the package was inspected to determine if it actually contained media. The sender had used a US Priority Mail box, then wrapped it in brown paper and posted it media mail. This is a violation of US Postal Service policy, which states you cannot use their free boxes without purchasing the Priority Mail service. The $15 USD package ended up coming due an additional $30. USD

So, be warned. If it is Media Mail, it can be opened and inspected. If you use the Priority Mail box, you could force the receiver to pay or it will get sent back with the additional charges, and then have to be sent again.

Don't be cheap, buy a box.

Dale

They can open and inspect anything they want, not just Media Mail.

Trying to rook the Post Office is bad policy. They have no sense of humor.
-Kle.

Actually, to open 1st class mail I am pretty sure you need a warrant.

Anything other than 1st class and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

Or so I remember from a school I attended back in the day.

Jake

Yep. I always remember this. If the package rattles, good bet it ain't printed materials! :-)

There is no need for a warrant to open first class mail if it is done by a postal inspector. If it is done by an outside law enforcement agency they are required to obtain a warrant. Once you put it in the mail it becomes the property of the Post Office until it is placed in your mailbox.
Back in the 90's the inspectors came into our office and opened a small first class package. Turned out to be powder heroin worth 50K. It was carefully rewrapped and delivered to the guy who was promptly arrested. No warrant needed to open the box and it was first class mail.

So… Is a board game considered 'media' , or not?

No but any rule book is. But if the magazine or book has a game included in the material its ok.

Wrong, even postal inspectors need a warrant to open 1st class mail.

"Can Postal Inspectors open mail if they feel it may contain something illegal?
First-Class letters and parcels are protected against search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and, as such, cannot be opened without a search warrant. If there is probable cause to believe the contents of a First-Class letter or parcel violate federal law, Postal Inspectors can obtain a search warrant to open the mailpiece. Other classes of mail do not contain private correspondence, and therefore may be opened without a warrant."

From the source: link

Just saying…

Media are bound printed material (mainly books – it's why it used to be called "book rate"), sheet music, DVD/CDs, cassettes and reel-to-reel film. Boardgames are not. Most magazines aren't, since media isn't supposed to have more than incidental advertising.

Using a Priority Mail box for another service is clearly forbidden.

Postal Inspection

Media Mail is not sealed against postal inspection. Regardless of physical closure, the mailing of articles at Media Mail prices constitutes consent by the mailer to postal inspection of the contents.

Source: USPS @ pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/473.htm

If you buy Media Mail you consent to warrantless inspection.

The page also tells you what qualifies for Media Mail. By the way, it is a myth that throwing a CD with some random data into the box allows you to post other junk using Media Mail rates. It is all media or nothing.

Dale

It is all media or nothing.

What about packing material? I ask because my Mom just sent me some VHS tapes she picked up cheap at the library book sale. She packed them with some of those inflated pillows, and threw in a sock my wife left behind when we last visited. When I opened it, I wondered if we could have claimed the sock was packing material, had the package been inspected. (It was a fairly cushion-y sock. )

There are several facilities where "dead" letters go. They are opened, without a warrant, to see if an address can be ascertained. It is amazing how many letters containing illegal substances wind up at a "dead" letter office. Once it has been determined that it contains an illegal enclosure, you turn it over to the inspection service. Since it is already open there is no need to get a warrant.

Beyond the heroin package dealers started using Express Mail to send drugs through the mail. We had a weeklong campaign by the inspectors to catch and arrest these dealers. They simply set up shop in a storage room and opened and inspected anything they deemed suspicious. Then they stamped the opened item "Damaged in handling in the Postal Service". See how it really works. And, given the number of machines that mail now passes through it is easy to see how things could be "Damaged in handling"

When I first started as a carrier I looked forward to the first Christmas and the overtime it would mean. Another carrier and I were loading a truck with parcels when two inspectors came up to us with a package for our area. One of them got into the drivers seat of the truck and pulled it forward. The other one put the package behind the wheels, and the first one backed over it, splitting it open. There was a large doll inside. When the head came off it turned out the doll was stuffed with marijuana. They wrapped it up with tape, gave it to us and told us to deliver it first. Since I was the newb I got to deliver it. The two inspectors accompanied me to the door and stood off to one side where they couldn't be seen. As soon as I handed it to the recipient they pretty much knocked me out of the way and grabbed the guy and hauled him off to a car that had been following us. Don't believe everything you read at a government website. I don't.

You must have worked with some real idiots, because even a crappy public defender would get evidence acquired without a warrant thrown out. There is at least one Supreme Court case where this has happened, and many lesser cases.

Or there were warrants you just did not know about.

Ah, but you must realize that there is no way to prove that the item wasn't opened by way of damage. Damage to the mail is the reason we have dead letter offices. And I suggest you re-read no. 3. Notice the times they don't need a warrant. So if a letter or other item comes open and contains illegal subtances they don't need a warrant and in fact are required by that bit about "cognizable" violations of the law to make that warrantless arrest.
Talk to any postal employee about the inspection service and be he lowly letter carrier/clerk to lofty Postmaster you will find they are viewed as someone you don't ask questions of and like about as well as the cop on the beat likes Internal Affairs. Heck, in the larger offices there are catwalks with anechoic floors and one-way mirrors, including viewing cones in the floor. That way they can observe you the entire time you are in the office. And yes, they are in the john's too.

There is no way to tell if a letter or package has been opened as the result of a machine failure or someone opening it. And take some time to read no.3. Notice they don't need a warrant to act on a cognizable postal-related felony which shipping drugs through the mail certainly is. If a letter containing drugs gets OOOOPSS opened by a machine there is no need for the inspectors to get a warrant. No, they can't open mail without a warrant, but they didn't open it, the machine did or some other mishap occurred that allowed the contents to be discovered to be illegal.

The PIS is the equivalent of the Internal Affairs of a police department. No one likes them and hates to see them show up. In my dealings with them I made darn sure to watch what I said and I never asked them questions. As a cautionary tale I was a "swing" supervisor covering other sups so they could get a day off. On one Saturday afternoon one of the sorting clerks came into the office with a letter that smelled absolutely vile. It was obvious that the sender had taken a crap in it. How it ever got as far as it did in the system is beyond me. We wrapped it in several layers of plastic bags, washed thoroughly and I called the inspectors with a "suspicious letter", mostly a biohazard. I was told to put it in a safe place and they would be in to pick it up on Monday. Monday rolls around and I get to work. Within a minute I get a call from the guy I replaced on Saturday. Seems the plastic hadn't done the job and his office (interior room with no ventilation) stank to high heaven. I explained what I was told to do and asked him what he did with the letter. Well he threw it away. OOOPSS. The inspectors came in that afternoon, having driven three hours from St. Louis to get there. No letter because he threw it in the trash. Unhappy PSI. The supervisor wound up working at a small town some 50 miles from home as a substitute rural carrier. Now that job, in a small town which may only have one rural route, doesn't make much money. You only work when the regular carrier can't. Sometimes, depending on how the RR is classified you might get to work one day a week and when the carrier takes a vacation. I eventually ran in to him working in a local hardware store. He decided to quit the Postal Service after some 20+years of service.

If you live in a large town take a look at the walls of your post office the next time you are standing in line. If you notice mirrors high up on the wall you are seeing the catwalks for PIS. The catwalks run all through the building and are only accessible through an exterior door. They have an anechoic coating so you can't hear them walking around and cones in the floor so they can pop an nifty little device that gives them a fish eye view of the area under the cone. And yes, they run into the bathrooms too. No one in their right mind wants to get involved with the PSI. When they show up the only answer you have is yes sir yes sir three bags full sir.

And perhaps I did work with idiots. The heroin package turned into a small fiasco. I was told to make sure there was a vehicle available so the inspector, dressed as a carrier, would deliver the package to a fraternity. Seems that the inspectors set up pretty much the same way they did with the doll. They delivered the package and as soon as the guy signed for it they jumped out of the bushes and nabbed him. At that point two detectives from the local PD jumped out and confronted the inspectors. Seems that the local cops were working with the kid to nab the guy who sent the package. The PSI were working with the sender to nab the recipient. It was about a month before I asked the Postmaster what had happened and heard the story. I was told not to pass it around, but I have to admit the PM was awfully smug when she told the story.

Well, I see that this thread went off the rails. My main point was don't use "free" USPS Priority Mail boxes and then try to wrap it with brown paper and hide the fact.

Dale

Dale;

To add to your point some folks also turn the "free" boxes inside out and attempt to use them. Same thing can happen.

All the free priority boxes I have recently gotten and used actually have 'Priority Mail' printed all over the inside to prevent that.

Jake

I have reused priority mail boxes for other secondary mailings without any complaint. Maybe because it was obviously reused with the old markings partially visible?

Several stores have sent me inside out obviously new priority mailing boxes without any inside printing. Maybe those were old stock.