General Forum

So I received a package in the mail today from a purchase from an awesome member of this -- donaldino -- and I wanted to share because I think it provides a great potential way to avoid mail theft. I bought about 70 or so cards and Donaldino put them in four little packages inside a larger envelope. When I opened mailbox and saw package, to my great horror the edge of the envelope was ripped pretty obviously and I threw my hands up and yelled, "Nooooooo!!!! and started planning how I would hunt down the mailworker who took these cards (a lot of Hakeem cards and other early mid 90s NBA and some 1991 Classic WWF) and either get them back or exact my revenge or both. But then I noticed there were the little packages inside and when I opened them up all the cards were in there. I think its quite plausible that a mailworker ripped open package and then didn't have time, ability, or interest in then opening up the smaller packages to then determine worth taking. Or, the mailworker saw a couple of the Hakeem cards and knew of their immense value and knew that this would turn into a No Country for Old Men saga that would not end well for him/her. (I am not recommending or condoning violence against mailworkers or anyone, its just a ridiculous comparison to that movie that I would never do and what popped into my head in thinking about the mailworker looking at the cards and thinking the cards weren't worth much). Or one of the 1991 Pro Set "Think About It" cards included in this deal could have had a message that persuaded the worker to not do it.."Think About It... This card is not of any significant value and will be very difficult to find a buyer. Its simply a horrible decision under any rational risk/ reward analysis!"

Anyway, I thought the packaging method and this little story was good enough to tell everyone as a potential way to avoid mail theft, something that would seem to occur rarely but still more than I ever really believed previously -- the first purchase I made through the site or ever by mail had all the cards taken out. The seller on that one was also great in response to this by unilaterally refunding me and setting up another deal that was succesful after I told him about what happened. That seller was Mastodon and I recommend trading/purchasing/buying with him as well. I wrote a true crime drama investigatory piece with photos in a forum post about this incident too.

Thank you for the tip.

99.9% chance your supposed mail theft was simply the package getting caught in the rollers and ripped to shreds...this is especially common in PWE mailings and one of many reasons they would not be done if you actually cared about the cards more than saving a buck or two. 

I honestly cannot tell if that was sarcastic, it's actually all good either way. I think to boil down tip is you can probably wrap up or cover anything sent in mail that you might be worried about being stolen, and that would be a good anti-theft measure. Having to rip and open up two things instead of one is just too much to do under circumstances.  

Whenever someone says they are 99.9% sure of something, I am 110% confident they are wrong 80% of the time.

It wasn't a PWE - it was one of those standard/flate rate big envelope things with some bubble wrapper I believe. Nothing was ripped to shreds - it was a pretty neat looking tear. I can submit a picture as evidence - there was a story told in that tear, a story written by a human hand about felonious intent overcome by good decision-making.

When you use the term "you" in talking about caring about cards, are you talking to me or a person who uses PWE's with traits you believe such a person has and reading the post. If you are referring to me, I take great umbrage and wish to settle this with a breakdance or freestyle diss rap battle. I will have you know Mr. Kingsley that I always try and leave it up to seller their preferred shipping/packing method but I have a little spiel making clear the safety of the cards is paramount while en route and I am willing to pay a little more for shipping and packing if they know of a really good way to ensure cards are not harmed at all, and this is after an agreement on price that typically includes shipping and have added $5 or so to deal on my own accord and also when requested. It seems that a lot of users take great pride in their packing/shipping method and they want to show their stuff when it's brought up and appreciate the little extra as a gesture of respect for their craft -- the packing of the cards is probably more important than the type of shipping envelope/package I would say. Getting cards free of harm during their long and perilous journey through the mail system is of the utmost importance to me because most of the cards I buy are the type that with a ding or scratch, they are more or less worthless for the next 2,000 years. So I definitely care about the cards, and in fact I care more about the cards than my own well being.

If you think someone really went out of their way to tamper with your mail in a USPS facility you can report it to https://emailus.usps.com/s/daily-mail-delivery-inquiry

Not sure why someone working for USPS would risk a federal crime tampering with mail but there is considerable amount of monitoring of mail through the system.

PWE is fine for 99.9% of cards and they arrive in the condition they left 99.9% of the time. 

And.lol.lol. 99.9 % of the time the package was thick and Stiff and got caught in the rollers ripping it open.  It's all automated.  Hardly touched by hand

Has anyone ever checked out some of the informational videos put out by the USPS to educate public on mail system? I saw some on YouTube and the production value on them is ridiculously excellent, they have music that seems like it could have been composed for the video itself, it's fast paced and exciting.. unfortunately, no celebrity narrators/presenters a la Troy McClure though.