General Forum

For me it depends on the size/value of the trade. I live about 30 miles from the nearest PO so it is not a quick trip to go to the post office

I can only remember one package I received that was damaged, and it wasn't a PWE but a bubble mailer which had a single card (MEM card, so it was on the thicker side) which was in a properly sized top loader. Not sure if the top loader was caught going through the mailing, or what, but the card arrived with a broken top loader and a severely bent card.

As far as to PWE or to not PWE - for inexpensive cards, it just doesn't make sense to me to pay more on shipping than you would on the cards. Although, maybe I should avoid the PWE issue and just do 600-800 card trades and send boxes.....

devils profile pic reminds me, another point on this topic.......topps coins do not do well in pwe at all....always padded envelope for those...

mark

I just can't fathom spending the money on a bubble mailer for a .75 card. If I can buy a replacement and ship it again and still come out ahead on shipping it just seems illogical. Anything under $10 I'm probably sending in a PWE and am fine with losing 1 out of 100 envelopes. This is assuming the card is replaceable. I agree for trades I always communicate that as well. 

It's overpacking for a simple PWE. Top loaders are the way to go. This is the fail of the sender.

Non-Machinable ??? is not the phrase the post office uses so that was overlooked. it "Non-malleable" or "Do Not Bend." are the phrases the post office will recognize and understand. Plus you have to pay extra for hand sorting and you should post them at a post office so they go into the correct box at the start. Mailing something like that from your home is not going to work.

I can see the roller marks on the plastic and the break at 1/3 is also a sigh it went through the auto sorting. plus your description of the envelope would not have happened if it was in a box.

I hope that the cards were ok. but this is a sender's fail. 

RJ, no not the senders "fail".  I'm in this post office all the time---they know what I am sending.  I watch them stamp it non-machinable and they put it aside and I've been there at closing time and have watch them put the envelope(s) away.  200 trades I have done with probably 75% of them PWE and NEVER an issue.  Sure all it takes is 1 bad apple but damn we are talking about 1, 75 cent card..........

Good point. Of course, I don't really know, because the only time someone sent me Topps coins in a PWE, I had the neat-slit-and-extracted-coin experience. I think it's too obvious that there's a coin in there. And would-be thieves think a coin must be valuable. My thief got a good 90 cents worth of goods...

v3

This is an incorrect statement.

Non-Machinable IS the term to use on PWEs that you don't want going through the automated process. In fact, that's the red stamp they have there.

As a frequent recipient of kmack PIFs, I can guarantee you that each one has been properly marked and has the correct amount of postage for being Non-Machinable.

Besides, how is a freebie ever a sender's fail?

It seems that many people didn't read the full details I posted. So many talk about trades and sells, but that wasn't in my original post at all. For my 2 cents on that, I NEVER use PWE's for either of those anyway. I make sure that all my trades & sells are big enough to warrant using a BM with tracking. I'll turn down any trade, buy or purchase that doesn't warrant the extra cost for more secure shipping. To me, the cheapest shipping option is never a PWE.

RJ, you are completely wrong in everything you said in your reply. Your first 2 sentences don't even make any sense as they contradict each other. Dan explained most other things wrong. Also, there are NO roller marks on the envelope and rollers would have broke the toploader multiple times from left to right in the picture I posted. Envelopes go through them length-wise, not height-wise. I explained exactly what happened in my OP. KMack and Dan are both correct that it was properly paid for and marked. I didn't scan the front of the envelope b/c that is where the addresses are and there was no damage to the front except the crease.

As for all the rest of the replies, I've made well over a thousand trades, purchases and sells on multiple sites and no idea how many freebies I've sent or received. I've had one tracked BM go missing that was eventually delivered to me a couple of months later. I've now had 2 PWE's that the contents were stolen or damaged. The only package I've never received at all was the T-shirt I ordered from TCDB back in June. That is still missing! BTW, TCDB refunded me and they claimed the insurance from USPS.

I didn't say that nobody should use PWE's. I was simply stating why I won't use them. And this isn't a new "rule" for me. It's been in place for many years now and the line on my Profile page about it has been there all year b/c I was tired of getting offers for a couple of cards and them getting mad at me b/c I refuse to ship in a PWE. The ONLY small trades I make or trades without tracking are to Canada and I still use a BM. I just make sure it goes out as 1st Class Mail and not a package to save a bunch of money. Two or 3 dollars extra for shipping is not a "bunch" of money to spend for the peace-of-mind that my cards will get to the other person safely. To add to this, KMack sent me another card the exact same way a week or two earlier and it arrived just fine with no damage to anything, including the envelope.