General Forum

I agree. I've been to a post office that is super picky about it but then my local post office doesn't care. They don't even make me use non-machinable stamps. In fact the first time I asked for one they looked at me funny like they didn't know what I was talking about and just told me to write "non-machinable" on the bottom of the envelope. So that's what I do. I use the 70 cent 2 ounce stamps and regular stamps and weigh it so I put the right amount of postage on it. So far so good (knock on wood) 

How about placing a couple of 9-pocket pages full of cards straight into a 9 x 12 envelope without folding them? If you use two pages and put two cards in each pocket, that's 36 cards total. And you can probably do even more than that without going over the 1/4-inch limit for envelope thickness.

Shipping for a large flat envelope (non-rigid) is a lot cheaper than sending a parcel.

I don't know the answer to the one above but I wonder if that would even be cheaper than sending two non machineable PWE for $.70 ea?

Possibly a little too prone to damage. I received a PWE recently where a 9-pocket page was used folded over, and 1/3 of the cards received corner damage, and not just a smooshed corner, we're talking a crease about a 1/2 inch into the corner. 

I refer this to the Commish; he has sent me large trades this way and it works well saving him much cost in postage.  It is all about the thickness of the package (and the right postal clerk). Actually I think he uses paypal.

That's correct, Bru. I've sent as many as 180 cards this way. I've improved the process since starting it because once such a package arrived in Germany with some of the cards out of the pockets. Since then I secure them a bit more. It's not foolproof as another of my trade partners, alh, will attest. Apparently there were a few that received corner dings in a recent trade, and I offered to make it up to him, which I'll always do. 

But, sending with tracking doesn't exactly mean your cards are well protected from abusive handling. I've received packages that seemed to have been run over. One was mostly vintage not in NM so they may have been given more character in the trip, but who could tell. Another where I was surprised the cards remained in the package because there were definitely a couple of tears on the bubble mailer. 

I, too, have sent over 100 cards in the 8 1/2" x 11" or 9" x 12" envelopes fashion on a number of occasions and have yet to hear of a problem. Also it does allow to send at a rather reasonable rate ( avg. of 4-5 cents per card ) Just 

It looks like there are several similar options. Since I have been able to send 18 cards on a 9 pocket sheet for $.70 (about 4 cents per card) I will probably do that until I run into issues or run out of extra sheets. If I were sending about 60 cards I would probably still just do 3 PWE that way for $2.10

Never go to the post office. I may send a couple cards PWE otherwise I use a padded envelope. If you ship through PayPal I hardly ever pay much more than $3. It always cost more to go to the post office.

If your using a bubble mailer I would go through pirateship.com to get a better shipping rate. As far as PWE goes I have used the 9 pocket method with no complaints. I have also done penny sleeved and secured inside of thin cardboard or even used the thin toploaders. I used to send pwe using rigid toploaders but that got a little expensive.