What is Media?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Volod

Thanks for your thoughts, Steve. I agree that it most likely depends on whatever a local PM thinks about "media." I believe most would want to limit the category to books, or maybe printed material, as long as it did not contain ads. I have, however, shipped a lot of old mags media mail over the years, and they certainly had ads in them, even if placed by long defunct merchants. Also agree that postal people might be suspicious of a package as large and heavy as this book shipped media mail.

A friend of mine had a magazine from the 1890's returned for additional postage because of the ads. When he pointed out that well over 90% of the companies were long out of business, they just said "an ad is an ad, even if the company closed 100 years ago"

I'd have to look up the current regs, but at the time, books were fine, as were both 16 and 8mm films*, and I think most other recorded media - records, tapes, dvds, VHS, etc.
Media is basically the public version of "library rate" which by now may have been condensed into media mail.

The local branch I used to be at at least a couple days a week would occasionally ask me if something someone had at the counter could go by whatever odd rate that customer was asking for. Or how to pack something, like a pennant.

*Neither 16 or 8mm were produced on nitrate stock, the stuff that self oxidizes when it burns. 35mm obviously was, and isn't allowed in media mail but at least at the time could be mailed if it was packed a certain way and got "no fly" stickers. I've never checked the really old 9.5mm stuff, which I assume might be nitrate, and nobody has ever asked. I think the rule was written that any film 16mm or less was ok. (Or maybe less than 35, but that leaves a bunch of potentially hazardous weirdness in a gray area like 28 and 17mm both very very old. )