Broke-Bag Mountain

Many a time I have championed the lowly Mbag, it was truly the people's mail carrier, the cheapest way to get a crapload of comics to faraway places. Sure it took a very long time and was always delayed, but it arrived every time and it arrived in perect shape for little money. Alas, not more... in their infinite wisdom, the USPS has decided to cancel all Surface shipping and thus the Mbag.

Well that's not quite true, the M-bag is still out there, but it's not the grimm and gritty version, it's gone upscale. The Mbag is now the Air Mbag and that's not all that's changed.
I used to pay between $25.00 and $40.00 to have about 100 comics shipped from Anywhere, USA to my doorstep, well last week my first (Air) Mbag took flight and again it was filled with about 100 comics, and it cost me $106. And then I had a moment of clarity

I've reached the point of saturation...no more $1.00 books for me, no more sub $5.00 for me even. Also almost no more slabbed books.
Shipping has always been a major thorn in my side, I'm out about $1000 per year on shipping alone, but with the recent price hike it's become too much.
And with the surface M-bag gone the way of the dodo as well, hard times are here for the European collector who wants to get big collection going.

I guess I have to count myself lucky that I started collecting 5 years ago and not now, I've had close to 10.000 comics shipped to me from the US, the bulk (the cheaper books) via M-bag. And even if sometimes they took over 3 months to arrive, they always did arrive and in perfect shape. The new Mbag is about 2 to 3X the shipping price and frankly I don't think I would start from scratch again today and I'm happy I don't have to.

Basic economy is now that it's impossible to to get any comic shipped for less than a $1.00 a piece, and that first comic will cost you $10.50 at least. And just pray that Amazon or Milehigh has that heavy hardcover you want in stock as they can still ship it for about $10.00, otherwise prepare to pay about $25.00 - $50.00 to have it shipped to Europe.

Luckily (well not really lucky, but you know what I mean) the only books still on my want list are all more expensive books. If you buy a $1000 book it isn't really that important if you pay $20.00 or $30.00 shipping...but I sure wouldn't buy a full run of Rom at 50 cents a piece anymore...

Yeah, I'm bitter....but it's been a rough week comic-wise and I needed to vent. I always figured I would go broke collecting comics, never thought it would be the shipping though.