Shipping Cards - Packaging Woes

Whenever I order sealed product (booster boxes) from a store they tend to use UPS or Fedex to deliver the packages. When I get graded cards in from CGC they also use Fedex with signature confirmation. Unfortunately for those of us selling five cent singles, the cost of either private shipping service is just way too high. The lowest price for either is ten dollars. If you ever wondered why your favorite shops have a base $10 shipping, that's why. 

Now, for those of us in the single card world, the USPS is the only viable option. I can ship up to 3oz worth of cards in a plain white envelope. One stamp is 73 cents. Additional oz postage is 28 cents. I can get about 5 cards in one envelope + top-loader and bag for 1 stamp. 10 cards or so for an extra oz stamp. When folks order 15+ and the price is still under $5 I'll use two whole forever stamps. Once the order hits about $7 I'll go ahead and use ground advantage (which includes tracking) for $4 in a bubble mailer. 

Then there is a secret third thing. Nonmachinable. The nemesis of single card shipping. 

Now, some letters are obviously not going to go through the envelope machine - orders with more than 1 top-loader in it, etc. It's obvious when to slather an overstuffed heavy envelope in stamps. But sometimes, your good old fashioned single card in a top-loader will get returned as non machinable. The post office will send it back to me and I have to try again with more postage. It doesn't happen often, (This week.) but it is not fun for me or my customers.  Other shops will warn about certain areas that are notorious for this - the Pacific Northwest for example. 

So what are the options for this? I'll tape the bagged top-loader to the invoice to keep it secured so it can run through the machine. Other sellers will use bits of cardboard to sandwich the cards or shipping shields which are much more flexible. I use top-loaders because they are the most damage and water resistant option, but if you get an order in a shipping shield in the next two months or so it's because I'm experimenting with them. 

I've shipped over 1,000 orders on eBay with the secured top-loader method that I saw from RNG Games. But once in a while you'll get one that gets bounced back. Now that I've started the TCG Player store and having to use stamps I've become more aware of the issues. It's not fun to get a letter returned, but it's better than getting one that's destroyed that's for sure. 

Another note, they do make nonmachinable stamps. They cost 1.19 and only cover the first ounce. This explains why my eBay labels that were over a dollar in postage never had an issue. My post office is too small to carry the stamps so I've ordered a few to experiment with as well. Maybe I'll sit down and come up with something of my own.