Ok,
I just noticed my map subscription is being sent as two packages, and I'm being charged shipping for each package. This has never happened before, but happened this month, and is set to happen again in May.
I have selected 'Hold for single monthly package' under my subscription options. I'm kind of upset at this. I've been getting them as one package up until now. It looks like they sent them out 30 minutes apart from the warehouse.
Would someone please fix this? It's already resulted in me being charged for shipping twice once, I don't want to get charged twice in May.
The shipping is $9, while the next month, for the map and ARG book total the shipping is $8. The whole point of checking the hold for one shipment is to save shipping costs. I just went and looked, and this appears to be a seasonal thing. Last April I got charged separate shipping too. It appears there is a bug in your shipping holds for map subscribers, if two maps come out the same month, you appear to ship both in separate packages if nothing else goes out. But if it's two maps and something else (like a book) then they all go out in one package for the cheaper rate.
Director of Sales
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The system is actually working as intended. The reason why these two things are shipping separately is that this is actually cheaper than sending them in one package. Because these two items are not bound printed matter (i.e. books), there is a very low upper limit to the allowable weight of the package (as in, less than a pound). Therefore, putting them together in one package makes this package ineligible for the standard postal rate. It would have to go via First Class Mail, or USPS Priority mail.
The two packages, when you add their shipping fees together, cost $9.06 to ship via 2 packages using the standard postal rate. If you put the Flip Mat and Map Pack into one package and send it via First Class Mail, it would cost $9.44, by USPS Priority Mail, it would cost $11.11. So the cheapest possible shipment is actually two packages via the standard postal rate.
The rules for what constitutes "bound printed matter" (BPM) go by percentage of the weight of the package. If more than 50%, by weight, of a package is bound printed matter, then the upper weight limit of what is eligible for the standard postal rate goes up to 4 pounds. This is why subscription packages containing one of everything will often go via the standard postal rate. In fact, I was playing around with a shopping cart that simulates your shipment and found that if you add 2 AP volumes to the order, all of a sudden it can go in one package for $7.45. At that point, more than 50% by weight is BPM, so the package becomes BPM.
I hope this clears things up for you. It's not a bug, it's just the labyrinthine rules for what does and does not constitute Bound Printed Matter.
Thanks,
cos
Ok, Thanks for the info. :)