USPS and Mail to Nicaragua

Submitted by fyl on 13 December, 2008 - 10:25.

Ages ago I mentioned that books from the U.S. to Nicaragua seemed to take a side trip to Germany. The result was that books would show up here after one to six months. Then the USPS stopped surface shipping (to anywhere). It is looking like more service has gone away or at least businesses are finding a better option.

Earlier in the week my issue of Home Power Magazine which is published in Oregon arrived. The return address was in Managua. Clearly, the magazine was bulk shipped (and it is not likely that was by the USPS) to Managua and then mailed locally. Same for Linux Journal.

Today I picked up a letter from a business. It was "from" New York. But, the "If undeliverable" address in in Sweden. All these examples are from businesses that would mail a lot of stuff—not individuals. It seems like the businesses figured out that USPS is no longer the right option.

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Return Addresses

Submitted by mjt on 15 December, 2008 - 15:10.

I don't know that all U.S. publishers handle international subscriptions the same way, and some pool venders for this. In some countries, a batch of the magazines goes out regionally or to specific countries, and is later distributed to in-country bookstores and individual subscribers. The return address is a place most scribers have never heard of, or the distributor, or even a bigger English-language bookstore in the capital. The publisher doesn't actually want the magazine back, if it cannot be delivered, so the in-country address serves that end as well. Even though they might not look it, many internationally-subscribed magazines were essentially drop-shipped long before the bulk-mail option left the USPS - which was a big blow to anyone who shipped books abroad (includes me).

True but ...

Submitted by fyl on 15 December, 2008 - 15:39.

Being an ex-magazine publisher, I can offer some insight. When we did our own mailings (that sucked) we did international by USPS ISAL (International Surface Air-Lift) which worked as you described.

We farmed out international mailings and initially it was done the same--USPS ISAL. Then the service suggested "better, cheaper" options. That took USPS out of the loop. Today that seems to be more and more the way it works.

Home Power magazine

Submitted by mjt on 15 December, 2008 - 15:02.

This is off-topic, but if you subscribe to this title electronically I believe you still get added services and also have full-text access to their last 5 years of online back-issues, and full-text versions of select popular older articles. Is there an added benefit to getting HP in paper?

Probably not

Submitted by fyl on 15 December, 2008 - 15:41.

I used to get Home Power ages ago--when it had close to no advertisers. It was also when it was a do-it-yourself magazine. Today, the ads are valuable and the articles are useless for a DIY person. (Yes, I have talked to the editor about this--he says they just don't publish DIY anymore.)

So, this was a 1-year experiment. The ads have been worth it but I won't be renewing.

amazon .com

Submitted by Billy Bob on 14 December, 2008 - 16:17.

shipsfrom different warehouses, including one in Europe. The Euro portion of the order usually arrives a few days earlier than the US portion.

Magazines are now tough from the States. At about $7 each, companies are raising rates to cover the cost. Bulk shipping or mailing from another country might be the way to go. You can ship 4 pounds, quite a few magazines, priority mail for 11 bucks. My relatives save up my us mags and ship 4 pounds down a couple times a year. Don{t go over 4 pounds or the rate goes up steeply.

¨Nicaragua is poor for a reason¨