[Kyote]

I work as a clerk at a Post Office. The reason your Mag.s get torn up is that Mgt. insists on running everything through their d*#@ machines. The clerk that loads the Mag. into the machine doesnt always get the Mag turned correctly (Mags will come in bundles and they are faced different ways to facilitate a neater bundle, ie: the spine will be on the right hand side for ten Mags then it will be on the left for ten etc.) We try to load the magazines where the spine is the leading edge going down the machine (normally when you hold the Mag., the spine is on the right hand side as you look at the mag) The publisher gets a mailing discount for including the "bar code" on your lable. The machine is "supposed" to be able to read the bar code no matter where the bar code is on the cover. Jams happen and so do clerks with bad attitudes. ( I could take up a lot of space here on Postal supervisors but......) Most of the clerks that I work with try very hard to insure customer satisfaction in spite of what Mgt. wants. (All they want is "through put" numbers) We (craft employees) really try and we want customer satisfaction, we're customers too.