Media Mail Delivery Time

When my wife moved here a few years agoto teach at UVI, we send quite a bit at the media mail rate, mostly because of the cost. It took anyhwere from 5 - 10 weeks (yikes!), with no real consistent pattern. Shipping books priority or first class is not real cost effective because of their weight.

I regularly order from booksellers and media mail has consistently been 5-8 weeks for delivery. Sorry.

Sorry, media mail took approx 9 weeks for us earlier this year.

w8up

I ran into a similar situation with the "off" sellers from Amazon - unless you are limited to one seller, you might go back and contact them privately and explain your predicament. All but one of them contacted privately was willing to send Priority for the extra cost the last time I went on a spree...once I made them understand I wasn't in a foreign country, LOL! It might be worth a try. Alternate plan is to have them shipped to a friend or relative stateside who could expedite for you?

Hey dnt..

Ditto to Becky R. I often call US vendors about being unable to choose a US mail delivery option through their online stores. Knock on wood, I've had pretty good luck, and most have agreed to send my orders via USPS Priority Mail after they learn that the USVI has US post offices and zip codes. If a first line customer service rep isn't receptive (usually because they don't have the ability or know how to override this company "policy", I ask to speak to a supervisor. Often the price for the Priority Mail delivery is less than what they charge for international delivery, regardless of what my order weighs.

For those that won't accommodate the request, and depending on what I am buying, it may end up being faster and/or most cost effective to have the vendor ship your order using priority service to the mainland office of a transport service like VI Cargo, who can then get the order to the island. We've been pretty happy with this option when we find a vendor that won't budge. (We've also used this plan for larger items bought with offers of "free shipping wthin the continental US.")

Best of luck with getting those books in time.!

--HC

Thanks everyone. I did contact each seller and a couple have responded favorably. I also contacted the head of my department and he agreed to send me the texts in PDF until the books arrive.

I've been asking for the book list for months but apparently professors didn't make their final book choices until yesterday, less than a week before classes begin.........and folks think things here in the USVI are inefficient - HA!