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FAQ and Shipping Information


Who the #^&* is Meszler Production and Management?

Meszler Production and Management (MPM) is the business entity that was created to undertake and oversee the ridiculously complicated and haphazardly coordinated efforts that ultimately resulted in the production of the simple plastic disks that are currently offered for sale on this site.  Such efforts started in the summer of 2009 with the agreement of Upsilon to undertake the project and the ensuing need to find audio engineers, video engineers, a venue, and support bands; and ran through the summer of 2010 at which time all audio and video production, music and video license acquistion (for the two cover songs played during the October 29th 2009 show), packaging design, physical disk production, electronic download arrangements, sales tax license acquisition, marketing website development, and all associated transfers of wealth (and whatever else we've forgotten as we write this) were complete.  MPM's continuing commitments include the proper payment of royalities to the Freddie Mercury estate (for the Bicycle Race cover) and the Italian Band Goblin (for the Night of the Goblin cover), the proper payment of sales taxes, the proper distribution of Upsilon Live revenues to Upsilon band members, and the day to day administration of the Upsilon Live distribution effort.  Hey, I have an idea ... let's record a live show!

All kidding aside, it's been a tremendous (and, at times, frustrating) learning experience. Without the superlative efforts of Upsilon Acrux, Pete Lyman and Infrasonic Sound, Daniel Hayworth and his video team, Jim Smith and The Smell, EMI Music, IDM Music, Bixio Music, S&J CD, Grandpire, These People Here, The Superbas, and Cuneiform Records (sorry if our feeble minds are forgetting anyone), the Upsilon Live disk does not exist.


Is my payment information safe?

All shopping cart and payment functions are handled using secure (encrypted) PayPal-hosted services.  All buyers are protected through PayPal's industry leading safeguards, including verification that the buyer's browser is capable of Secure Socket Layer 3.0 or better communication, 168 bit encryption key data transmission, 100% protection against unauthorized payments sent from a PayPal account, and industry leading dispute resolution services.  Meszler Production and Management (MPM) neither sees nor stores (or has any desire to see or store) credit card or other payment information.  As doubtful as it may seem most of the time, we have an actual life (or at least we try to convince ourselves that we do).


Do I have to have a PayPal account to make a purchase?

No.  Buyers can pay with a credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) without either having or creating a PayPal account.


Do I have to pay sales (or other) tax?

If you are lucky enough to live in Maryland you do.  Meszler Production and Management is located in Maryland and by law must collect sales tax on all orders shipped to Maryland.  All in all, 6% is a pretty reasonable surcharge to be able to call "the land of pleasant living" home.  We do not collect taxes for buyers with mailing addresses outside of Maryland.  Buyers unlucky enough to live elsewhere (we're KIDDING!) are responsible for the proper payment of any applicable taxes their jurisdictions may impose.  For buyers outside the U.S., this responsibility includes any and all import taxes, tariffs, and duties that may be levied upon a purchase.


How are items shipped (and at what cost)?

All efforts have been made to keep shipping costs as low as possible while providing for secure damage-free delivery.  Generally, this means that all items are shipped in boxes (as opposed to padded envelopes) via the USPS (United States Postal Service).  All posters will also be packaged inside rigid mailing tubes (before boxing) for added protection.  For U.S. buyers, packages up to 13 ounces are shipped via First Class Mail, while larger items are shipped via Priority Mail (either flat rate or non-flat rate, whichever is cheaper for a given package weight).  For non-U.S. buyers, packages up to 64 ounces are shipped via First Class International Mail or Priority Mail Flat Rate International (whichever is cheaper for a given package weight), while larger items are shipped via Priority Mail International (either flat rate or non-flat rate, whichever is cheaper for a given package weight).  Note that since First Class Mail extends to 64 ounces for international shipments, but only 13 ounces for U.S. shipments, there are some (albeit a very few) packaging configurations that are actually cheaper to mail to to Canada (as compared to U.S. destinations).  However, this is an exception as it is generally substantially more expensive to mail internationally (and unfortunately for international purchasers, there is nothing that Meszler Production and Management can do about this).

For reasons that are not at all clear, PayPal shipping tables only allow for five rate groups that must cover the full range of possible shipping configurations.  Since package weights can vary considerably across available items and possible purchase quantities, this limitation poses a considerable challenge.  Nevertheless, we believe we have developed a workable solution that allows for the efficient mailing of the full range of possible items.  While we do not add any handling charges to shipments, we do include a "materials" surcharge to recoup the cost of shipping supplies.  Specific shipping charges for CDs and DVDs are as follows (note that while we do not expect many, if any, purchases of large numbers of CDs or DVDs, the shipping tables have to be set up to allow for such a possibility -- that said, we'd love to ship you a few hundred copies):

Number of CDs/DVDs U.S. Shipping Canada Shipping Mexico Shipping Other Shipping
1-2 $4.50 $6.00 $9.00 $10.00
3 $7.00 $10.00 $15.00 $17.00
4-7 $11.00 $10.00 $15.00 $17.00
8-12 $11.00 $16.00 $22.00 $30.00
13-14 $11.00 $16.00 $27.00 $30.00
15 $11.00 $27.00 $27.00 $30.00
16-18 $11.00 $27.00 $27.00 $44.00
19-20 $15.00 $27.00 $27.00 $44.00
21-40 $15.00 $34.00 $34.00 $56.00
41+ $25.00 $34.00 $34.00 $56.00


Generally, laminates can be substituted for CDs and DVDs at an equivalency of 10 laminates per CD or DVD.  However, it should be recognized that Priority Mail rates vary in pound increments and First Class International Mail rates vary in multi-ounce increments, so the additional shipping charge for 1 laminate can be the same as that for 10.  Due to their size, posters cannot be shipped in all available boxes (e.g., they cannot dimensionally fit in a small flat rate Priority Mail box), so it is not possible to provide a shipping equivalency factor that holds in all situations. Generally, however, posters affect shipping rates as if they were equal to about 1.5 CDs or DVDs.  In all cases, actual shipping charges can be displayed in the shopping cart before any payment information is requested.

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Page Last Updated: July 19, 2010
Copyright 2010, Meszler Production and Management, All Rights Reserved.