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Originally Posted by sbishop15 I would like to get involved in some swaps (waiting to hear if I'm accepted to one currently) and I have a question about the mailing. What kind of envelope do you usually use? I know to put it in a baggie but then what do you put that into? A 5x7 manilla envelope? A bubble mailer? What kind of envelope do you usually include to be returned to you? I want to make sure everything arrives in good shape! Thanks! |
Sbishop:
I used to hostess a lot of swaps back in the day, and here's my input.
I prefer as a both a participant and hostess to use the flat rate priority envelope for the following reasons:
1) the cardboard envelope is free. you can get them from any post office.
2) The rate to send is always the same. I generate prepaid postage using usps.com and so it costs me $5.05 instead of the $5.95 I think it is now if you were to purchase at usps kiosk or at teller. More on this later.
3) The rigid cardboard is a great protector of your cards you're submitting and for the returns. You never know if you're getting cards with lots of dimensions on it. They'll for sure never get bent, etc.
4) For the hostess, it's HEAVEN SENT to be able to just pack your returns and seal it in your postage paid return envelope and know for sure that she can just drop off at the post office without having to weigh each one to put additional stamps you provide, then seal up finally while at the po. It's just a huge time saver.
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For baggies, as a previous hostess of large quantity swaps, it's just easier if participants use quart size zip lock bags. The dividing up of items created HUGE piles for me, and when it came time to stuffing the returns back in to a ziplocks, I can't tell you what a struggle it was to stuff them back into those itty bitty sandwich sized ones, especially the really thin economy brands without ripping the bags/damaging the card returns. The small sandwich sized ones don't really accommodate cards that are multi layered and dimensional. I'd often just have a box of larger sized quart zip log bags on my table to substitute any participants inadequate ziplock baggies when I was packaging up the returns. Made my life a lot easier.
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So for sending to the hostess, I'd recommend:
1) Use a manilla envelope for the exterior and send via first class, if time permits. Else, if you're sending within days of the due date, I'd recommend sending via flat rate priority.
2) Fold a blank flat rate priority envelope in half and put your swap cards already enclosed in a ziplock bag in between. The flat rate priority envelope should already be pre addressed with your return address. Affix an actual stamp (you can't pre purchase return postage electronically/online because of the date printed on the stamps has to be the actual date it's mailed) well below the self adhesive flap with closed/adhered. You want to allow room for hostage to tape along that top horizontal area to prevent it from flapping open during transit. I'd do this often since returns were often bulky for everyone. My swaps were as big as 40 returned cards since they were SU demo only swaps.
OR
If you prefer to be thrifty, since many of the swaps I see here on SCS are for 5+1, small quantities, I think using a self addressed postage paid manilla envelope for the return is sufficient too. Just include a few extra loose stamps in your baggie for the hostess. When I was hostess, it was a lot easier when the participant put the extra loose stamps in a separate baggie with their name on it. A lot of times, they included a hostess goodie, and stuck the extra postage in that goodie baggie. The reason you want to put your postage in a separate baggie is so they don't get caught/lost in between your card layers. It'd be stressful/ frustrating for the hostess to have to go unpack everything (your's and all participant's parcels) to shake every item to find your loose postage.
Hope that helps. At the end of the day, you should do what's comfortable / within your budget.
PS, imo, bubble envelopes add undue weight and thus postage to your cash expense. If you're going to pay an upcharge, you might as well pay for flat rate priority?
