General Forum

Hello TCDB Members,

Well, my first four days after my "New Member" announcement have been a whirlwind of activity. I just sent out my first batch of trade mailings, four in all. They were plain white envelope (PWE) trades. I read extensively in the forums and watched several YouTube videos on how to mark the envelope, pack, tape, etc... I'd like to share how I did my first batch so that I can get some feedback on how I did it and if there is anything I missed or can improve upon. Plus, help others in their PWE trades in the future.

1. I pulled the cards for each trade and placed them in team bags with a post-it note on the bag with the TCDB member's name and the trade #.
2. I wrote the name, address, and marked the envelopes BEFORE placing the cards in them. Don't dent the cards by writing on top of them.
3. I marked each envelope with "NON-MACHINABLE" and "PHOTOS - DO NOT BEND".
4. I used a 9-space binder sheet to pack the cards. I didn't cut the sheet into thirds or cut the ring holes off of it. I left it as is thinking the recipient could either use the page for a future trade or use the page in a binder if they want. I think my biggest trade was 11 cards. I doubled 2 in a pocket. I folded the binder page so that open top end was folded in first and then folded the closed bottom end over top of that. I then took a single piece of masking tape to hold the folded binder page closed.
5. I used heavy parchment paper (almost card stock) to write a short thank you letter to the recipient along with the trade number.
6. I wrapped the heavy parchment paper around the folded 9-space binder page with the cards in it and taped the parchment closed with one piece of scotch tape. NOTE: The scotch tape is nowhere near the cards.
7. Placed the packed cards in their respective envelopes and sealed them. Took pieces of scotch tape and taped the ends of the envelope flap to avoid it getting caught on anything.
8. Took them to the post office and talked with the mail clerk about what I was mailing. She was very helpful as I bring a lot of oddball eBay stuff to her as well. She even asked if this mailing was for eBay and I said no, that I'm part of a card trading group that sends and recieves cards through the mail. "Interesting!" was the response. I told her I wanted them to be hand sorted, not machine sorted. She weighed them and stickered each with the postage and that was it.
9. I did the postage this way as I'm hesitant to place stamps on stuff like this because I'm not sure exactly how much postage this stuff needs and don't want to come up short. I don't want to cheap out and have a trade go south because I didn't place enough postage. I don't want the contents damaged, or it get returned, or delayed, or the recipient to have to pay an extra fee. In all, for weight and non-machinable, my four mailings came out to:

• 1.6oz = $1.08
• 1.6oz = $1.08
• 1.5oz = $1.08
• 0.9oz = $0.88

Let me know how I did. Is there anything I can improve upon or do differently?

HAPPY COLLECTING!

Welcome!  Sounds to me like you nailed it!  Nice job!!

Sounds like you did pretty good.  I made a video on the subject for new traders that go over my process which I refined over time based on experience.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jixfugb0xo

Remember the post office does not care how much you go over on postage as they are happy to keep the excess.  They will send it back or charge money on the other end if you are short though.

Very well explained! This seems to have more protection than I have recieved in bubble mailers.

Sounds like you did a great job.  Here are my 2 tips, based on my experience:

- For postage, if your location has a self-service kiosk, you can use the kiosk to easily print ready postage for trades.  I select 'print postage' and you can pre-print with the extra postage that the non-machinable charge costs.  This comes to about 78c - 1.00 total each (depending on what oz. you choose), and they print on individual stickers.  I print a variety ahead of time and just ballpark the weight on each (i.e. print a bunch of 1oz. 2oz. 3oz. to keep available) and I've never had an issue.

- You can avoid buying packing material by getting the free letter mailers at the post office (the kind priority mail uses).  The width of these you'll find is exactly the right width to fit a card binder page, so all you do is make one quick long cut to get the envelope height and you've got a nice cardboard protection.

To avoid a post-office trip for each mailing, you can buy a sheet of the "Non-Machinable" (Butterfly) stamps for 88 cents ea, then also a sheet of the "Additional Ounce" (Rabbit?) stamps for 20 cents ea.  I weigh anything that feels heavy on my wife's food scale.  Most of mine are between 1-2 oz, so $1.08 with those 2 stamps.  Just put them in any mailbox.  No issues with that method yet.