General Forum

Hi all. I realize it's really cheap to send 5 cards through the mail in a PWE, and to date I have received no damaged cards as a result of any being sent  that way. Today I received a business sized envelope with 5 cards inside in a rigid card holder. The portion of the envelope that didn't contain the cards was "accordianed" (most likely not a word), and there was a sizable tear in the middle of the envelope, with roller wheel burns around it. As a postal carrier, I know that this piece of non-machinable mail, was determined to be machinable by the .47 stamp which it carried, and became jammed in the sorting machine, as envelopes with bulky and non bulky surfaces will tend to do. As a result, I receive a mangled envelope, with potentially damaged cards, and also was notified that I owe .21 postage due for a "non-machinable" letter surcharge. This isn't a huge deal because the cards were commons and they are ok. My point is, don't be so d*%m cheap! It only cost a bit more to send items carefully packaged. At the very least make a small investment in some hard cardboard photo envelopes. Ebay has them cheap. In a way, how carefully you ship your package is a reflection of you, and to be honest, I am more likely to accept trades with people who will make an effort to ship their traded items securely. At the very least, apply proper postage. Why am I paying for you to send something to me? If an envelope has any kind of irregular thickness to it, it will need extra postage. You have to take it to the P.O. and get the right amount on it, at which point they would hand stamp it "non machinable" and it would be handled differently. Sorry for this rant, I am not naming names, just trying to enlighten. Ed

I ship in pwe every week for lower value trades...and I do include the non machinable stamp and extra postage.

i have never had one torn that was marked properly.

I will ship in bubble mailer if asked to do so, but have no issues with pwe either inbound to me our outbound to me that actually has the proper postage and marking.

I have had torn envelopes that were NOT marked...

thanks, mark z

 

 

I have had bubble mailers torn right open. It's truly a crap shoot any time you drop something off at ANY of the delivery companies.

As a rule, I will not send anything more than one very thin top-loader-thick in a PWE. That allows 2 cards in 2 top loaders in a #10 envelope (it is more than an once, so it costs more, but it's still not bubble mailer costs). Anything more than 2 cards, automatically goes in bubble mailer - or if sizeable enough, a box. I treat the cards I send with the same care I would want them to be sent to me.

I have found that for trades of 1-4 cards, buy a bunch of old Christmas Cards from the Dollar Store. Top load, bag, and put in the Christmas card. Works awesome.

Thanks for the photo mailer plug; my mailer of choice. I got them from Amazon.com, I'm going to check ebay next time.

I personally have no problem with my TCDB trade partners using PWE. But, as you stated, they should follow the USPS guidelines.  Ebayers are another story; charging for parcel postage ($2.45) and sending PWE really irks me.

Here's an ebayer that didn't get away with PWE (envelope was over 1/4" thick). I sent the scan of the envelope to them and they were apologetic and reimbursed me the Postage Due.

I've had that roller burn thing happen to me only once, and it was for a single vintage star that I can't remember at the moment.  I would never recommend anyone send cards in a rigid holder by envelope as shown above, but I would send up to 4 cards in those not-so-rigid, and much thinner, ultra-pro/card-saver holders.  

I fold up a blank piece of printer copy paper into 3 sides, and tape the 4 card holders evenly distributed within the folded paper.  The finished product is thin and smooth--no thicker than an old-fashioned 5 page letter, and just as even the way I tape the loader to each flap of the page.  For that, I'll use a single stamp.

I use bubble mailers regardless of the price of the card, work shipping into my price

I have only used PWE to ship "freebie's" of no more than 4 thin-stock cards. If I use a toploader thicker than the thinnest ones, I mark it as "Non-Machinable". I also have a hand-held postage scale that tells me if I need more than one stamp. The only issue I have ever had with PWE was once when someone slit an end of the envelope and took the cards. They put all of the packaging back in the envelope and it was delivered that way. When I sell or trade cards (no matter the number or weight), they go out in a minimum of a bubble mailer shipped as First Class Parcel. After a decade-plus of mailing cards, I know exactly what I'm doing when packaging cards for shipment. I really hate the sheer number of CardSaver and other so-called "Semi-Rigid" protectors I've acquired over the years from my purchases. Those are garbage for protecting cards in a box at home, much less sending through the mail!

It's helped me that my Mom has been a mail carrier for about 30 years, but even more so when she got highly involved in the Union a few years ago. She is currently the VP of the North Carolina Rural Letter Carriers Union. If I have ANY question about shipping through USPS, she can answer it for me. All of my trades and sells go out with the best possible protection without high shipping costs.

A couple of months back I received a patch card in the largest size top loader you can get in a pwe. I was not happy, but the card somehow managed to arrive safely.

I have been fortunate with PWEs and have not had major problems with damaged cards, I have had a few mangled envelopes and minor damage to cards, but not major.

If you don't like PWEs then AVOID sportlots, most of the sellers there will ship in PWE to keep up the fast shipping times. The shipping costs can be outragous.

I have actually have more problems when the seller puts the cards in those damn flimsy plastic card "savers" (you know the plastic sleeves that are like ID badge holders) with the openings TAPED so that the card(s) get caught on the tape and get edge damage from the tape.

With my PWE woes I like to refer to when I got the 1982 Topps #21 Cal Ripken Jr. RC my story on my blog: http://captkirk42.blogspot.com/2010/11/white-whale-of-iron-man.html that post is from 2010 so some of the quoted prices have changed and I have since gotten the '82 Traded Ripken RC that I mention as "needing" in that post.

Some of My PEEVES: Sellers charging More than $1 when shipping via PWE, they should only be charging less than a dollar. Sellers using card "savers" only. and using regular tape (celophane or scotch) on the "saver" or toploader or anything that has direct contact with the card. Anytime tape is used the blue (or any other color) "painters" tape should be used, or new masking tape, not old hard masking tape. Sending in a PWE with nothing else but the card in the PWE.

The biggest problem is most sellers DO NOT think about how they are shipping things from the perspective of how they would like to receive what they are shipping.