There is "Bücher- und Warensendung" (BÜWA in short) in Germany, a special domestic rate for books and small merchandise. For thin books it is still cheaper to send them as letters, but if they are thicker than 2 cm (including packaging), BÜWA becomes cheaper than a maxi letter. For registered businesses there is said to be an equivalent international rate, too, but you may have to enquire with Deutsche Post AG for more information.
-jmh
over here in the Netherlands there is something we call "brievenbuspakje" (a letterbox parcel). In short it means that if the parcel is not more than 3.2 cm high and not heavier than 2 kgs, it can be shipped for a lower rate. There are similar arrangements for packets sent abroad, but the rates are less interesting. So it is a good and cheap way of shipping books and things like cds, even though there are limitation (for instance many books, with packaging included, will end up to be thicker and need to be shipped for the normal parcel rate).
After reading another thread I was wondering if other countries besides the United States have Media Mail? I call it book rate but it covers more than just books. It is only available for mailing in the United States.
https://about.usps.com/notices/not121/no ...
re: Do other countries have a Media Mail designation?
There is "Bücher- und Warensendung" (BÜWA in short) in Germany, a special domestic rate for books and small merchandise. For thin books it is still cheaper to send them as letters, but if they are thicker than 2 cm (including packaging), BÜWA becomes cheaper than a maxi letter. For registered businesses there is said to be an equivalent international rate, too, but you may have to enquire with Deutsche Post AG for more information.
-jmh
re: Do other countries have a Media Mail designation?
over here in the Netherlands there is something we call "brievenbuspakje" (a letterbox parcel). In short it means that if the parcel is not more than 3.2 cm high and not heavier than 2 kgs, it can be shipped for a lower rate. There are similar arrangements for packets sent abroad, but the rates are less interesting. So it is a good and cheap way of shipping books and things like cds, even though there are limitation (for instance many books, with packaging included, will end up to be thicker and need to be shipped for the normal parcel rate).