I like to sell my used textbooks on Amazon as I can generally get a better price for the book this way rather than selling them back to the bookstore at a loss. Once the book sells, I then take the book to the post office, buy an envelope and ship the book media mail to its new home. Amazon allows you a shipping allowance which roughly covers the cost. Today, however, things didn’t quite work out.

I took the book to the post office in between my classes, got the envelope, wrote the address on it and put the book and packing slip inside.

Me: I’d like to ship this media mail please, its a book.
Post Office: I saw a letter inside the book.
Me: Yes, that’s a packing slip.
Post Office: That’s correspondence, I can’t ship it media mail.
Me: No, its a packing slip. It tells me where to ship the book to and what book it is.
Post Office: I can only ship it media mail if its just a book.
Me: ….seriously?

The post office refused to ship the book media mail. Flat refused. So no more putting packing slips in with the book. But I’m mailing used textbooks, aren’t the notes written in the book correspondence? What if I shipped a book of letters? Does the post office really have an issue if I ship a book to a friend with a sticky on the front that says “Enjoy!”?

How dare I ship a packing slip with a book!