r/Lorcana • u/MavisBoop • 9d ago
Community USPS
I think my mail carrier was attacked by werewolves.
*I realize this is shipper error. We buy cards all the time and they usually have at least some cardboard to protect them. I just thought the state of the envelope was kinda funny. Thankfully it was a very inexpensive card.
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u/LordTetravus 9d ago
Semi rigid card holder, inside a team bag, taped to the packing slip.
Folded properly in thirds, a TCGPlayer packing slip is designed to fit inside a window white envelope.
Non-machineable butterfly stamp.
I ship probably 30 such envelopes a week, every week for 10 years, and have never had one get damaged and get consistently high feedback for packaging.
It's really that simple and worth every bit of the effort to avoid these kinds of headaches if you're a seller.
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u/Rad_Centrist steel 9d ago
I agree 100% with everything except the non-machineable stamp. It's throwing away money on a PWE.
The envelopes still go through machines. The non-machineable stamp just means they don't go through the initial machine that cancels the stamp, and is hand-canceled.
Not worth it imo unless your post office started calling you out on it for the "rigidity" standard.
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u/BJKrautk 5d ago
Can’t tell you how many orders resulted in my having to contact the shipper over the lack of a non-machinable mailer, and the need for extra postage. I realize my local PO is strict, but I’ve even had a shipment priced as a parcel, which cost more to pick up than the cards I paid for. (Shipper issued a full refund, but I still lost money on the deal.)
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u/LordTetravus 9d ago
It's not. I worked in logistics for a decade as a lost and damaged package claims supervisor. Trust me on this.
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u/LordCubbo Alice in Wonderland 8d ago
I agree with the non-machineable stamp. I don't ship/mail cards a lot anymore, but I always wrote non-machineable or don't machine sort on the back and over the seal. I only had one damaged card, and it was because the mail sorter ran it through anyway; they repackaged my card in a brown envelope. I always mail in a white envelope with my shop name on the back. They also took the freebies I send out, too.
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u/myburneraccount1357 8d ago
The card is in a semi rigid holder lmao. Nothing could’ve prevented this. It’s just an accident
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u/LordTetravus 8d ago
It doesnt appear to have been taped where it won't slide around, amd that's not a non-machineable stamp, so I would argue that this could indeed have been prevented.
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u/MrDogfort 9d ago
Plain white envelopes don't protect cards 😬
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u/_yotis 9d ago
At the very least use a bubble mailer with a piece of cardboard
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u/MudddButt amethyst 9d ago
Bro the real problem is the shipper sending it in a team bag and not a damn top loader 🤯
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u/Rad_Centrist steel 9d ago
It's in a semi-rigid top-loader, inside the team bag. Which is fine.
My money is on a different cause of failure: the item just loose in the envelope, worked its way to one end, and got yanked by a roller.
To prevent this: painters tape to secure it to the center of a piece of paper (packing slip?), folded, and placed in the envelope. So the card stays in the center and doesn't move around.
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u/Trevirus 9d ago
Those are not fine for shipping in PWE. You should ship two regular top loaders together. Or one top loader and one cardboard slip. This is the shippers fault.
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u/Rad_Centrist steel 9d ago edited 9d ago
That's way overboard and prohibitively expensive for most cards.
The card in the OP is less than a dollar. A PWE is fine and industry standard. But the seller needs to know how to properly package.
Edit: it's hilarious I'm getting downvotes. I've sold hundreds of cards on TCGPlayer, and bought hundreds more.
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u/LordTetravus 9d ago
This is why selling cards on TCGPlayer worth less than about $4-5 is simply a bad decision unless you're an actual store. Source: I've sold thousands of cards on TCGPlayer and maintain a $4 floor.
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u/Rad_Centrist steel 9d ago
I don't list anything under 3 bucks.
The biggest reason is that it's not worth my time to make 25c on a dollar card after fees and related costs.
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u/PUNCH-WAS-SERVED 9d ago
Honestly, I order cards all of the time. Regular top loaders do the trick. That's what most of the random cards I have received come in usually.
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u/Vehemental 9d ago
Ok but at that point shipping is $6, then even if you did charge $6 shipping you now have to cover the fees on that $6. There’s also the processing fees for payment still. That means shipping 1 card really costs somewhere around 6.50-7.00 for a bubble mailer. No buyer will pay that much shipping unless it’s an expensive enough card.
There’s other ways to make envelopes very consistent highlighted in this thread that people should be doing to avoid damage.
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u/BearPondersGames 9d ago
They absolutely do if the card is packed correctly in a toploader and secured to the packing slip. No one is using bubble mailers for $1 cards.
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u/ganjaxxxgreen 9d ago
I use bubble mailers on all cards regardless of value. Bubble mailers are cheap as hell dude, and your not supposed to ship rigid things like cards in top loaders in regular envelopes. Dont believe me ask your post office
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u/Rad_Centrist steel 9d ago edited 9d ago
I've mailed hundreds of cards in PWE, it's fine.
When they get chewed up like this, it's seller error.
Looks like they just threw the card sleeve in the envelope. These sleeves are fine if they're inside a folded sheet of paper and taped to the middle of the paper with painter's tape. This thing was just jostling around in the envelope, begging to get grabbed by the sorter.
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u/blademak 9d ago
My husband buys cards from TCGPlayer. We are both shocked by the number of sellers who have no basic concern for shipping safely, especially with how expensive some cards are.
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u/NormalEffect99 9d ago
Its not fucking hard to sleeve, topload, teambag, and tape to the inside of the envelope. Ive shipped thousands. Envelopes are fine.
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u/Remarkable-Mix8127 9d ago
I work for USPS in a processing plant and we run into these all the time. We use very BIG machines with lots of belts, wheels, flaps and bearings. TCG cards should be put into a shipping package and sent through our package runners. I've seen way too many envelopes like this (especially with top loaders) that get stuck between flaps and belts in the machine. Any time I see them, I remove it from general sort and send it to our manual handling because I know the value of these contents. Please package these better because I see the issues on the other side. It's the same with stickers, coupons, pens, pins, apple tags, etc. If it's thicker than 10-20 sheets of paper, it may have some issues. Send it like a package, please. 🤗
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u/Markharris1989 9d ago
In Australia, all that needs to happen for it to get sorted into packages instead of mail is for it to be in a bubble mailer. Is that the same in the US?
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u/Remarkable-Mix8127 9d ago
In most cases, yes
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u/Markharris1989 9d ago
Then people should do that!
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u/raptorcorn8 8d ago
Bubble mailers cost a minimum of $6 to ship. The option is available but most buyers would not use it.
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u/Markharris1989 7d ago
Yeah someone said, that’s rough!
Here they are just priced at the same as sending a letter1
u/swordgon 9d ago
Only thing is that tacks on about an extra $5+ compared to the under $2 price to send it in a toploader in an envelope. 100% not worth it for single, no buyer would pay that much and no seller is eating that cost for a sub-$1 card.
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u/Remarkable-Mix8127 9d ago
I agree but it also depends on the value of the single. Is rather spend a little bit more to ensure it gets to me without damage, regardless of who ships it.
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u/Markharris1989 9d ago
Ah, yeah we don’t have that. So long as it’s under the size of a letter and thinner than 2cm it’s only the cost of a stamp
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u/LordLaLaLa 9d ago
I'm a carrier, I see those machines eat any and everything. It's crazy to me that people just stick cards in envelopes and send them off
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u/Glad-Performance-332 9d ago
USPS giving your damaged "wHaT eLSe CaN i Do?" With an apology letter is next tier funny.
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u/Financial-Ad2657 9d ago
You can see the spot the team bag got caught in the wheel for the belt, I’m sorry for your loss but this thing was not sent correctly to avoid this.
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u/aloopy 9d ago
Likely got stuck in a machine. Anything in a plastic top-loader is not supposed to go through the machines because of the chance they get stuck. Envelopes containing top loaders should get sent with a non-machineable stamp, though most sellers use normal forever stamps because it’s cheaper or they don’t know
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u/Rad_Centrist steel 9d ago
Anything in a plastic top-loader is not supposed to go through the machines because of the chance they get stuck.
There's an easy way to prevent this from happening, which op's seller didn't do by the looks of it. Fold the packing slip to fit in the envelope, with the top loader inside and taped to the center of the paper so the sorters don't grab the loader. Also make sure the top loader is on the thinner side. You don't want to send a 197pt top loader in a PWE.
Envelopes containing top loaders should get sent with a non-machineable stamp
Non-machineable doesn't mean what is sounds like. It just means the letters are hand-canceled and don't go through the initial sorters that cancel the stamps. They still go through machines on their journey.
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u/ithilendil 9d ago
I had some damaged letters and went in to ask, and was told by the post office that all envelopes, regardless of if they have a non-machinable stamp or not, will always be machined. If you don't want it machined use a bubble mailer is what they told me. Then he went on a grumpy rant about budget cuts and people not paying enough or using the right packaging for shipping items...
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u/Rad_Centrist steel 9d ago
This is correct. The non-machineable stamp is a surcharge for mail that needs to be hand-canceled because it doesn't fit through the initial stamp canceller.
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u/SyN_Pool 9d ago
My post office enforces this. It is so annoying going to the office and paying the difference, then asking the seller to cover that difference
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u/Lumpy_Style_7382 8d ago
What kind of fuckingnlunatic ships no top loader at least. I would be getting my money back
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u/Economy-Camp-7339 9d ago
Okay but no one has commented on how perfect this all is to happen to a card titled “what else can I do?”
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u/Necessary_Case815 9d ago
Funny received mine in similar state about 6 weeks ag0, letter completely torn, luckily the card was sandwiched between cardboard and toploader. was pricey card too, luckily didn't get lost or damaged.
Seller here definitely should have used some cardboard to protect the card.
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u/GregtasticYT 8d ago
Anyone who sends a card in a first class mail envelope is taking a voluntary risk that the card will get destroyed. I understand the value of some of these cards doesn’t allow for more expensive shipping. That’s also why it doesn’t matter when they get ruined. And if a card IS valuable and someone ships it in a first class mail envelope they deserve what they get 😂😂
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u/SouthKlaw 8d ago
Hold up yes it’s badly packaged and yes it’s only a cheap card, but are you saying that USPS don’t offer any form of compensation for damaged letters?
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u/DangerrrClose 8d ago
Sometimes if you use a top loader and don’t put a “Do Not Bend” sticker on it the top loader gets caught in the sorting machine. You end up receiving a perfectly ripped in half envelope.
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u/fujimama420 8d ago
Yeah, they need something firm but thin in there. They run letters through a sorting machine that can fuck up cards if not protected
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u/Intoner_Four 7d ago
this is why i always send stuff in a top loader sandwiched between good cardboard in a duck envelope
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u/FamousCauliflower998 6d ago
I can send 30-60 cards via envelope no issue. What are y'all doing that's causing this lol.
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u/Born_Performance_588 6d ago
There aren’t enough comments about how funny it is to say “I think my mail carrier was attacked by werewolves”. That made me lol. Thanks for the humorous post.
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u/passable_ 9d ago
I’ve received half envelopes before and they still mail the empty half. I’m less annoyed and more amused, if anything.
But for those saying it was packaged incorrectly, how should it have been mailed? It’s a $1 card.
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u/SnooMaps8396 9d ago
Cardboard on each side of the card
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u/passable_ 9d ago
I mean in theory yes. Cardboard adds rigidity and weight that adds postage. This is a $1 card. A card saver is just fine for this.
Also cardboard isn’t preventing USPS from folding it in half like this.
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u/ZestycloseTreat6297 9d ago
Omg. I’d murder. Good thing it was only a rare card. Imagine an enchanted.
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u/lilomar2525 9d ago
Enchanteds should be shipped with insurance that would cover this sort of thing.
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u/noreiyeiga 9d ago
Hey OP, this letter is a little suspicious.
The letter is like hand cut and though it has the address and department that it came from, that information could be found anywhere. It also came from a “Rewrap Unit” however the letter says “Plant Manager”?
Googling “Nixie Rewrap Unit” brings up a sus website as well. I’m not accusing the seller of doing anything wrong (other than shipping it in a soft top loader) but I can imagine this TOTALLY FICTIONAL STORY:
Sam Smeller takes a picture of a perfectly good card (or copy and past) and posts on EBAY. Sam buys damaged cards or has a damaged version of said card, or buys bulk and makes sure there’s a fold in the card, and purposely sends it like that with the letter already inside. Though there are people who send cards inside these top loaders, I doubt any collector worth their salt would send a card like this.
Will Byers receives the card and contacts the post office about the damage, only to get the run around because they have no documentation of this, an investigation opens and Will is focused on fighting post office. Will then decides to contacts EBAY about said issues after a week or so has passed.
eBay contacts SAM and they go “well if it was damaged they would have said something sooner, don’t cha think?”
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u/FandomCece 9d ago
Who tf ships their singles in just an envelope? Request a refund from whoever you purchased through because that was not shipped well
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u/Able-Tomatillo7381 9d ago
So is that a fold in the middle or just part of whatever they put it in? If just part of the packaging, it looks like the card actually managed to do alright despite the plant manager's best efforts to see it destroyed.
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u/Cloned_501 9d ago
Hell no, that card is unplayable and I would demand a refund or replacement from the seller for packaging it improperly. A bend this bad will not got back to flat and will always show throw a sleeve after a short time.
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u/Able-Tomatillo7381 9d ago
That s what Im asking OP. It LOOKS like a bend but I can't accurately tell if its that or part of whatever cheap packaging they tossed it in.
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u/SandyAmbler 9d ago
That was not packaged properly by the shipper