famac wrote:
Free shipping is a curse in some ways, because it encourages cost cutting. I would rather pay honest First Class shipping rather than wait for free Media Mail. Media mail is the next best thing to leaving undelivered mail under a viaduct (which has happened here in Chicago). Sometimes I think the Post Office deliberately mauls and delays media mail just to scare you away from using it. My media mail only shows up on Friday, for example. So if I order a book on Wednesday, I might as well wait until the next Monday because they will show up at the same time.

Anytime someone uses media mail to ship things, I try to find the guy as close to me as possible. The farther it has to travel, the worse off it will be -- and the longer it takes to cartwheel to your address.
I've had literally hundreds of packages delivered to me by media mail and have rarely had problems. It's not so much the shipping service that matters but whether or not the sender appropriately packs the box with bubblewrap, peanuts, etc so that the contents inside are snug and doesn't jostle around during delivery. Even though I like Amazon's discounts, I stopped buying heavier books like Omnibi/Absolutes from them because all they do is cover the book with wrap and mail it in an oversized box so it inevitably arrives with dinged corners.

The type of box obviously makes a difference. Some people will try to re-use crappy boxes and that only contributes to damage.

I've had more problems with UPS which is why I avoid them.