General Forum

I was a PWE fan at first, but in the last 6 months I have been on the receiving end of a half dozen or so PWE trades with more than 9 cards in the PWE where some of the cards were damaged in transit.  The cards weren't as well-protected in the PWE as I would have done it, so that contributed to the problem.  I've gotten to the point where I won't do PWEs for more than 9 cards.  Since I can't control how well my fellow trader will prepare the cards for PWE shipping, I'm no longer going to take the risk.  It's not so much the value of the cards which are damaged, it's the hassle of having to acquire them again.

The Post Office rarely hand cancels envelopes marked with Non-Machinable labels and using the Non-Machinable surchage stamp.  It's just not worth the risk any more.  I do know if you use a square envelope, it will get hand-cancelled when using the Non-Machinable surcharge stamp, so maybe that's a way of doing larger PWEs safely.

I totally agree with you! I am a former letter carrier and learned a lot about the mail. It isnt just the machines you have to worry about. If you mail to a place that gets a lot of rain the mail gets SOAKED. There is no away around it. The trucks leak and the mail is soggy and mail on walking loops gets soggy as well.

Thanks that seemed to make the most sense, just never sent that many cards before.

Crazy observation: 4.20 to the east coast with tracking and "guaranteed " 4 day delivery...to cut that in half (2 day delivery is $36) and plenty of sellers charging 4 (or more) for shipping in a pwe with no tracking on a single card for labor? Lol.....smdh

That is great info to know. I havenever had an issue with wet mail being from Oregon. But it is still good to know for the furture.

I have 119 completed PWEs without any issues (other than me tranposing addresses one time and sent each trades cards to the wrong place) on my end or what I got back thus far.

I made of video of my process for cases like this.

https://youtu.be/_Jixfugb0xo

The 9 pocket page PWE that Dukey Devil suggests does work if you do it right.  I have had only  three PWE trades using this method that had damage.  The common factor in the ones that got damaged is there was no protection around the 9 pocket pages. You need to put two pieces of Letter size cardboard on either side of the pocket pages and tape the edges together.  This will prevent the edges/corners from getting damaged because the pocket pages aren't enough to keep it safe.  

Whenever you ship anything you need to envision someone in the shipping company doing their best Reggie Roby impression using your package as the football and protect it accordingly.  No offense to Ravenfaith77.