Another thread had shipping questions but I thought this would get more views in a new thread.
If it’ll fit in a bubble envelope I’ll NEVER use a box for expensive items. Years ago I had a friend who was a higher up with the postal service. He told me the huge majority of smaller items that go missing are in small to medium sized boxes. Even small ones that fit in mailboxes. He said bubble mailer losses rarely come across his desk as missing. For multiple reasons thieves and dishonest employees aren’t interested in bubbles.
Protection? In many years of mailing things I’ve never had a lost or damaged bubble mailer. I use card board and sandwich wrap, which everyone here knows, to wrap the card first.
@garyis2000, I’ve been shipping individual PSA cards (over $50) in Small Flat Rate boxes for years . . . at my expense. I’ve never had one go missing, but you’re giving me second thoughts. Have you ever had any PSA cases get damaged in bubble mailers?
You just gotta watch with this. That is violating the terms of the free flat rate materials that USPS provides as they are explicitly stated to only be used for priority flat rate services. It is something my specific post office is vigilant about too. I’ve seen people try to take them and turn them inside out or nest a small box in a padded envelope as you mentioned and sometimes even just brown paper wrap the medium or large flat rate boxes and they will be asked to repack or pay the priority rates.
I do seasonal work for UPS over the holiday season, and from my experience there actually are plenty of expensive items in bubbles, particularly from Amazon. Of course, its not like I know what the item is, but sometimes I will see a return address label, a customer will make a comment like “Oh, yes, I’ve been waiting for this…”, battery hazard warnings on the mailer, etc.
Like you were saying, though, many of these items are also a (small) box within a bubble mailer. I am guessing Amazon uses the bubble mailer in efforts to disguise a high value, small item that one would expect in a box (such as small electronics). In addition to USPS’s loss habits, using a bubble mailer with a small box/sandwich-wrap method inside would also be a great idea for Pokemon card merchants to protect against theft, especially since porch pirates are increasing in number. That is, unless porch pirates become smart, and pickup on this ‘disguise’. But I don’t believe that is going to happen anytime soon. Because they are porch pirates.
Just slam it between two pieces of card board (just a bit bigger than the PSA slab so it has crushing zones), use elastic bands to keep it together and you’re done.
Personally I use letter-box sized boxes for most of my shipping these days (been selling more games these days than Pokémon cards). I get them for free and they fit two DVD/CD cases including some bubble wrapping. If my buyer picks the cheaper shipping options I just use a bubble mailer. And these boxes are handled as mail and not parcel, yet tracking and insurance is possible. It’s super ideal for shipping within Europe where the costs between a tracked letter and a tracked parcel can be almost €7 (~ $8).
I pack my PSA graded cards just as they set up in their guidelines to ship raw cards to PSA. I got these cool metallic bubble mailers from Amazon but they are a little big. I think Walmart sells some perfect fitting small bubble mailers for cards too.
In the past two years I’ve bought probably 140+ PSA cards, and nearly every seller has shipped in a bubble mailer. In all of those transactions I’ve had exactly 2 cards get damaged. 1.4% damage rate seems ok to me, that percentage would be even lower if you count all of the non-PSA cards I’ve received that have also been shipped damage-free in bubble mailers.
