Thursday, January 28, 2016

Seal those envelopes!

Hi everybody.
There have been a number of reported postal mishaps lately, so I'm passing along a general reminder/request to make sure your envelopes are sealed extra tight before dropping them in the mail.

We've had several cases of envelopes arriving at in their hosts mailbox already open.  In one case the art had fallen out in transit.  Talk about a bummer!

You may want to cover the seal of your envelope with strong tape before dropping it in the mail.  Keep in mind that washi tape and other pretty decorative tape does not have a very strong adhesive.  I've had a lot of experience with washi tape being lifted and torn in transit.  Don't count on it to keep your art intact.  Strong clear packing tape works wonders.  

That's our public service announcement for the day.
After all the hard work you put into your creations, give it that extra level of protection to make sure it arrives at it's destination.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I do think it's also valid, if someone is nervous about how their postcard will travel "naked" through the mail, then there's nothing that prohibits including envelope for it to be swapped in. The postage would be a bit higher (a "forever" stamp instead of the 35 cent postcard one), but it would add some certainty about shipping. Homemade envelopes, though, in particular, often need reinforcement to all the seams and seals.

That being said, I once sent out two identical homemade envelopes to separate addresses. One arrived looking like it was eaten by a postal sorting machine, while the other came looking like it was delivered by a white-gloved mail carrier named Jeeves, who transported it on a silver tray. You never know.

Unknown said...

This post turned out to be very timely, given that I just sorted and mailed the "Selfie" cards. I checked some of the stick-on address labels, and discovered that a few were about as permanent as a Post-it note (old labels? poor adhesive?). They felt "sealed" when I stuck them down, but when I ran my finger over them, they peeled up with ease.

As you suggested, "packing tape was my best friend," so hopefully no address labels will peel off in transit.

Good reminder, though, to senders to include more than just an email address on the cards you send out. Also include the sender's mail address.

Jewels said...

Karen - will you be contacting folks that that happened to - if it was me I would want to send again as there still is time.... what a bummer :(

Karen Isaacson said...

the lost art happened a while back and the host contacted the artist. And yes, - I'm all in favor of passing along helpful/relevent info to help prevent future problems!

Karen Isaacson said...

Absolutely, Joanne! so many labels have horrible adhesive. I slapped packing tape over most of them.

Post a Comment