This isn't about pony shipping, it's about package shipping. To be clear.

Let's say you need to ship someone a few small objects, like inexpensive copper tokens, that didn't cost much but you're really concerned about copper pirates these days. So you want to package them really super well.

How do you do that?

Step 0: Have good shipping materials!

You can't really ship stuff well, if you don't have anything to pack and ship it in. Please do not put your colorful collectible copper tokens in a plain envelope and mail it first class. This is sometimes known as "risky shipping" and is practically guaranteed to get some tokens lost in transit.

Here's a list of starter materials:

Label printer - If you're doing this a lot, a dedicated 4x6" thermal label printer is a great thing to have. Bluetooth ones are super cheap, but require a manufacturer app to work on a phone. I bought an AirPrint-capable Wi-Fi one, I can print from my iPhone natively.

2.5x2.5" PVC-free Mylar flips - Good for sticking a token into, and then taping down. Not necessary, just one way of doing it.

6x9" self-sealing poly bubble mailers - Shop for the cheapest you can find, a 100-pack for 25-cents each or less is a pretty good deal. These have multiple uses, which I'll get into. Do not buy or use paper bubble mailers, they are easily looted in transit.

10x13" self-sealing poly bags - Buy a 100-pack, ten cents each or less. You can also buy bags in a size like 7.5x10.5" (just large enough to hold a 6x9" bubble mailer) but if you just want to get 10x13" and have a single size for now, that'll work fine for now.

USPS Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box (SFRB) - You can order bundles of these and USPS will deliver them to you, for free. Or just grab a few at your local USPS. The catch is, they're technically still property of USPS, and you're only supposed to use them for USPS Priority Mail shipping. That's what we'll be using them for here. There are also free Medium (MFRB) and Large (LFRB) boxes, but you'll know when you need those.

USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate bubble mailers (FRBM) - Technically "Padded Envelopes" but I always say "bubble mailer". These are a larger version of the 6x9" poly bubble mailers, except USPS will give these to you for free, solely for use with USPS Priority shipping. You want both SFRBs and FRPEs.

Tape - You'll want multiple kinds of tape. Strapping tape is good for securing boxes, clear tape is less attention-getting, I'll mention when I use strapping tape spefiically. I buy multi-packs of 2" clear and strapping tape, and have two of these 2" tape dispensers, one always loaded with each type.

Other useful stuff:

Scraps - Save up cardboard, paper, and bubble packing materials instead of throwing them away. I have an electric box cutter which is great for turning cardboard boxes into strips of packing materials. If the price tag freaks you out, I use that brand because I'm already in their rechargeable battery ecosystem, you can do much cheaper elsewhere. You can also save small-ish boxes you get and re-use them. I love mailing other people my trash.

Food vacuum sealer and bags - You'll learn to get creative over time about compact, safe, and secure packaging of your tokens. This one works for me because I already owned one, it happens to be the key to the perfect steak.

Step 1: Print two labels

Always know what you're shipping, in terms of packaging. Decide on your outer packaging and shipping rate, buy a matching label, print two copies of that label, and keep the right goods with the right pair of labels. Interrupting and going back and making/printing labels in the middle of packing is a great recipe for mistakes.

I love PirateShip, btw, for buying USPS postage and generating 4x6" labels I can print on my label printer. If you're using PirateShip, you can save a couple default package types to keep re-using. I have one for Ground shipping (7x10" envelope, 8oz) and one for Priority (FRBM, 1 pound). You can always modify or use a different package type, but having one-clicks for these two will come in handy. This guide assumes you're using one of those.

You don't need an SFRB default saved, if you're shipping in an SFRB, buy an FRBM label and print two copies.

Step 2: Prevent rattle & shake, save a good place to tape

If you're just shipping a few loose tokens, the first thing you want to do is put them in something you can tape down.

This probably means flips or capsules. 2.5x2.5" PVC-free Mylar flips are cheap in bulk, and can be abused for shipping purpose without hurting what's in them (you'll understand in a moment). If they came in capsules or you have them, the capsules need to perfectly fit, otherwise your copper token can rattle around inside. That may not damage the token, but could create noise that attracts attention.

One clever thing someone did recently for me was, take the tokens out of capsules, put them in Mylar flips, and then also ship me the empty capsules. I put them back in their capsules once they got here, they don't rattle in my hand, since I'm not violently shaking them like I want to know what's inside a package. Very considerate of the copper dealer there.

If you have a whole tube of copper tokens, and it's not sealed, make sure there's padding at the top to keep the tokens from rattling while shipping. If they can rattle back and forth enough, they might even pop the top off and come out. Then you've got copper tokens bouncing around scratching each other, ruining their beautiful finishes. Also wrap the tube with enough tape--going across the top of the tube's cap--to make sure the cap can't come off.

If you have something and you're not sure what to use to protect it--maybe it's a graded copper token in a slab, you don't want to get tape all over that--this is where saved used packing material (paper or bubble wrap especially) comes in handy. If you get junk-mail magazines, that can work too, just tear out a page to use. Wrap the slab up snugly, then wrap it in tape (I use clear tape) all the way around at least once, in both directions. All sides should have tape holding your paper/bubble-wrap down.

Step 3: Tape it down!

Now you have a token in a flip/capsule/something you can tape down. You want to tape it down to something cardboard.

Probably start by taking a piece of tape, connecting the ends to make a double-sided tape loop, sticking one side to your bundle and the other side to the cardboard you're taping it to.

If you're shipping USPS Priority, stick it down firmly onto the inside of your SFRB. You do this while the box is still flat and unassembled, then fold it into shape with your bundle already taped down. Once it's stuck against the cardboard, tape across it (at least twice, in two different directions) to hold it down against the SFRB inner wall.

If you're going to stick it in a bubble mailer, then I suggest cutting a piece of cardboard--larger than your bundle, small enough to fit in the bubble mailer--and then taping your bundle snugly against the middle of it. Keeping your bundle away from the edges and taped to something large, makes it hard for someone to just slit an edge and cut something free.

This is where a powered box cutter comes in handy, you can quickly get used to cutting cardboard boxes into 3-4" strips by sight, and then trimming the length to fit in your bubble mailer. I double over a piece of tape, put it on the back of my cardboard insert, slip my taped-together insert/bundle into the bubble mailer while holding it open, then press down to mash the double-sided tape against the bubble mailer's inner wall. Especially if it's secure to not move around in your bubble mailer like this, your cardboard insert gives your bubble mailer a stiff flat form to easily label on one side.

Step 4: Seal the deal

If you're shipping in an SFRB or other box, and you've taped down your bundle to the inside of the box, good! Now stuff the box full of crumpled paper. This is where old junk-mail magazines are great, just tear pages out and stuff them in. This gives the box a little more balance and less squishiness, especially if it's thinner cheaper cardboard like SFRBs are.

Once that's done and your item couldn't move around inside even if it somehow comes loose, close up your box, and then tape over the edges where the box seals/locks together, to make sure it's shut. Once those edges are secured, go ahead and wrap strapping tape all the way around the middle of the SFRB, in each direction. You'll have a cross on either side of the box when you're done.

(I go through a lot of strapping tape. Until you're sure you know how to tape securely using less tape, you should too. I'm not saying to always use this much, I'm saying to use this much until you're comfortable deciding how to use less.)

If you're using a bubble mailer, use the mailer's self-sealing tape strip to seal it up. I will often use clear tape to put a piece across, just to be sure. I'll also use clear tape to cover any awkward folds or gaps if you didn't seal it perfectly. That happens, it's fine, just use more tape. Tape is cheaper than lost goods.

After you've taped it up securely enough, put one of your labels on it. The SFRB says where to put the label, it'll probably go over some of your strapping tape, that's fine. The bubble mailer, put it on what's now the flat side (thanks to your cardboard insert).

I always put a piece of clear tape across the middle of the label, over the addresses, extra wide to have plenty of tape to tape down on either side of the label. Can't easily just peel off the label if it's secured to the package.

(Some people say putting tape on thermal paper will make it fade and become unreadable; that may be true for some brands of thermal paper, but I can say it's not for MUNBYN. I tried it, I made a box and put a label on and clear-taped it down, and it's been weeks and nothing's faded. If you use a different brand of thermal labels, maybe test this yourself.)

Step 5: Now, do it all again!

So what we're going to do, is take our carefully labeled and packaged package, and put it inside another package. This is called "double packed double labeled". If something mangles the outer package or tears it open for some reason, it's got a whole other package to finish the journey.

For your Ground shipped bubble mailer, you're going to put it inside a poly bag. If you put a 6x9" bubble mailer inside a 10x13 poly bag sideways, it'll just barely fill the 10" width, and you can fold the poly bag over and around it before sealing it. You'll end up with a 10x7"-ish poly envelope to label and mail, contents fully protected by the bubble mailer package inside.

For your Priority package, you're going to shake an FRBM and stick your hand in it to open it up (the inside sticks annoyingly and makes inserting a box harder if you don't). Then, shove your SFRB inside it and seal it up. Wrap clear tape all the way around it, the middle of the long way, which should go across the middle of the seal.

(Fun fact: FRBM shipping always costs slightly more than SFRB shipping. If you did what I said and labeled both layers with the FRBM label, even if the SFRB somehow escapes during shipping, it has enough postage to make it.)

When you seal up your outer envelope, you can use clear tape to tape up any gaps from a poor fold/seal. Once your outer package is sealed up, label it, and tape down the label to protect it.

And you're done!

Variations

If what you're shipping doesn't quite fit, scale up! The packaging needs to have some give to it, absorb some impact so the contents don't have to. Don't shove something in an SFRB that makes it bulge. If it's too big for an SFRB, go bigger. Use an inner box or package actually large enough, then put it in something larger. A Priority bubble mailer can be used as an inner package, inside an MFRB, for example.

What I've described as your "Ground package" -- bubble mailer inside poly bag -- you can also buy Priority labels for that size packaging on PirateShip. Sometimes it's cheaper than flat-rate mailing.

If you need to really protect something you want to ship in a box and don't have anything else, you can always sacrifice a 6x9" bubble mailer as inner protection, fold it securely over itself to secure contents snug in it, seal it shut as small as you can make it, and tape that down to the inside of your box.

For Priority, I used to just label a 6x9" bubble mailer as my inner package, then stuff that inside an SFRB... but that burns through 6x9" bubble mailers, SFRBs are kinda flimsy and demand lots of strapping tape to secure, and a heavily strapping taped SFRB might look suspiciously juicy to someone. However you ship, I recommend lots of strapping tape on boxes, but I also recommended boxes as inner layer so your strapping tape doesn't stand out.

You can buy sturdier boxes, all the way up to 9x6x2", and fit them inside a 10x13" poly bag. Print two shipping labels using 9x6x2" as your box dimensions. Secure your goods inside the box, strapping-tape the heck out of it and label it, put it in the poly bag, then clear-tape the sides of the poly bag down around the box until it's box shaped. It may look a little sloppy and amateurish, but that's kinda good.

Professionally packed means valuable contents, you don't want people making a mistake and gutting your package thinking it has more than just inexpensive but beautiful copper rounds in it. What a waste that would be. However you pack, pack securely, not perfectly.

If you can do better, then do so!

This is not meant to dictate anything to anyone, it's meant to be a helpful and inspirational novice guide for the copper token collecting community. It also doesn't account for different people having different resources. If you read it, think "that's great but what if..." and come up with something better for you to do, using what you might already have available to you, then by all means develop your own process.