Best Way to Mail a Deck?

[russbrett]

What's the best (and/or cheapest) way to mail a standard size deck of playing cards (in a tuck box)?

I'm figuring a small bubble mailer, but wanted to check.

Thanks.

[Fess]

A mailer is fine, IF you take precautions. Cutting some scrap cardboard so it creates nice snug box around the deck, particularly the corners, before you toss it into the mailer is a good idea. Minimally wrapping it very well in additional bubble wrap will help. Personally, I never ship a deck that's not been repacked into a box with added bubble wrap inside. That's me though.

I've found that if you just put a deck in a padded mailer and ship it, 50% of the time it's okay, 30% of the time it's got a corner ding, 17% of the time it arrives with two or three corner dings and 3% of the time it's damaged beyond the tuck into the actual cards themselves. That really ruins a happy day.

With postage prices ever increasing, there is no cheap way to ship a deck anymore. So pick your poison and do what you can to insure it's safe arrival. 

[Mr.parangot]

two pieces of cardboard really improve the bubble mailer

[russbrett]

Thanks to you both.  I appreciate the replies.

[Don Boyer]

Thanks to you both.  I appreciate the replies.

If you're planning to ship more than just a few decks, better to go with a box and added padding.  Nothing will beat the protection a box will provide, but if you wrap your small deck shipments in cardboard before tossing them in the bubble mailer, you've essentially made a box in the bag, right?    Best thing to remember, whatever method you're using, is that nothing should move or shift around inside - the less it moves around, the better the survival chances.

And if you ship internationally, forget the mailers.  Gotta use a box.  International mail takes a serious beatdown, especially when using First Class or below.  Anything less than a box is a gamble.  Wrap it like you're building a fortress!

[russbrett]

If you're planning to ship more than just a few decks, better to go with a box and added padding.  Nothing will beat the protection a box will provide, but if you wrap your small deck shipments in cardboard before tossing them in the bubble mailer, you've essentially made a box in the bag, right?    Best thing to remember, whatever method you're using, is that nothing should move or shift around inside - the less it moves around, the better the survival chances.

And if you ship internationally, forget the mailers.  Gotta use a box.  International mail takes a serious beatdown, especially when using First Class or below.  Anything less than a box is a gamble.  Wrap it like you're building a fortress!

Don,

We're planning on doing a Kickstarter for our deck and will be mailing out (hopefully) hundreds of decks.

Is there an easy way to pack them with the cardboard?

I'm quite used to cutting boxes for cardboard to sandwich comic books for mailing, and it is incredibly time intensive.  If there are any tricks (good sources of cardboard), firmer mailers, or good mailing boxes, I'm all ears.

Thanks.

[Fess]

U-line boxes are great mailing boxes. Stand up to quite a bit of kicking around without buckling under the presures of the Post. They come in a variety of sizes so you can pick up what's right for you and your campaign if you choose to go that route.

Adding some bubblewrap around the decks can vastly improve the odds of the decks arriving without damage too. It's easy and you can still slip them into padded mailers. I'll echo Don, if you're shipping internationally at all, they really do need a box.

[NineLives]

If you're planning to ship more than just a few decks, better to go with a box and added padding.  Nothing will beat the protection a box will provide, but if you wrap your small deck shipments in cardboard before tossing them in the bubble mailer, you've essentially made a box in the bag, right?    Best thing to remember, whatever method you're using, is that nothing should move or shift around inside - the less it moves around, the better the survival chances.

And if you ship internationally, forget the mailers.  Gotta use a box.  International mail takes a serious beatdown, especially when using First Class or below.  Anything less than a box is a gamble.  Wrap it like you're building a fortress!

Don,

We're planning on doing a Kickstarter for our deck and will be mailing out (hopefully) hundreds of decks.

Is there an easy way to pack them with the cardboard?

I'm quite used to cutting boxes for cardboard to sandwich comic books for mailing, and it is incredibly time intensive.  If there are any tricks (good sources of cardboard), firmer mailers, or good mailing boxes, I'm all ears.

Thanks.

Corrugated cardboard is available on rolls (from small to huge). While it doesn't have the strength of 'solid' cardboard, it does provide some protection from 'both worlds' (cardboard and bubblewrap). I sometimes use this to protect decks inside a padded bag - or, I bubble wrap them so they look like candidates for the next 'michelin-man' ... before popping in bag.

Here (in Oz) the post office has a cardboard CD mailer (guessing quite similar to your U-line boxes), which is great for shipping single decks (playing cards). I wrap the deck in brown paper first and then seal the package with enough packaging tape to make it  'like a fortress'. For anything other than a single deck, I wrap in brown paper, add plenty of bubble wrap and ship in boxes, or... use the combined cardboard, bubble, padded bag method.

I do know packaging takes time - on days when I have more orders I can spend half the day tangled in tape...

If you plan to ship large quantities where 'time-saving' becomes a real factor, there are packaging companies who provide custom 'solutions' (think wine industry, electronics, etc) - If lucky, you could find something both affordable and light-weight for your packaging ... A quick search brought this one up: http://www.smartkarton.com/the-smart-karton-boxes/ ... I have no idea if they're good, bad or seriously expensive - but is this sort of what you had in mind?

I agree with Don and Fes - wrap your package like you expect people to be (almost) jumping on it while in transit ...

*wave*

[russbrett]

Thanks for the responses, Fes and NineLives.

It seems like it will be easier to add bubble wrap inside a box, than cardboard inside a bubble mailer.

I'm looking at these two options:

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-15073/Indestructo-Mailers/4-x-3-x-1-Indestructo-Mailers

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-16610/Indestructo-Mailers/4-x-3-x-2-Kraft-Indestructo-Mailers

Any opinions?

Thanks.

[Don Boyer]

Thanks for the responses, Fes and NineLives.

It seems like it will be easier to add bubble wrap inside a box, than cardboard inside a bubble mailer.

I'm looking at these two options:

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-15073/Indestructo-Mailers/4-x-3-x-1-Indestructo-Mailers

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-16610/Indestructo-Mailers/4-x-3-x-2-Kraft-Indestructo-Mailers

Any opinions?

Thanks.

Some of the best packed stuff I've received was very simply packed.  Your choice of boxes is great - the smaller one will hold two decks at most.  A single deck is 2.5 x 3.5 x about 1 inches.  There's a clear plastic bubble "bag" I've seen people use for sending me stuff that's practically custom-tailored for decks - perfect size and has a sticky strip for sealing it shut.  Drop those in the box, use old newspaper to fill in the gaps and stop shifting, and your box should survive most typical mailing disasters.  Use clear packing tape and SEAL EVERY SINGLE EDGE WHERE THERE'S AN OPENING in order to the chance of anything getting snagged on your box and tearing it open.

For international orders, you will be filling out a LOT of Customs forms.  Using the USPS website will help - you can print the forms there, pre-filled with the info you provide.  You can also arrange for free pickups, but you have to go to stamps.com if you want to print your own postage - just go to your local PO, it's cheaper and easy enough.  Postage meters and stuff like that aren't worth it unless you're going into business for more than just a single project.

Oh, and did I mention that there's also fulfillment services out there you can take advantage of?  Some printers even offer order fulfillment, such as Legends PCC, Expert PCC and Gamblers Warehouse.  There's countless other fulfillment services out there, but I don't recommend them - their stock-handling employees look at a pack of playing cards, think "cheap crap I gotta put in boxes" and treat it pretty much like that; damaged packages and decks are common.

[russbrett]

Some of the best packed stuff I've received was very simply packed.  Your choice of boxes is great - the smaller one will hold two decks at most.  A single deck is 2.5 x 3.5 x about 1 inches.  There's a clear plastic bubble "bag" I've seen people use for sending me stuff that's practically custom-tailored for decks - perfect size and has a sticky strip for sealing it shut.  Drop those in the box, use old newspaper to fill in the gaps and stop shifting, and your box should survive most typical mailing disasters.  Use clear packing tape and SEAL EVERY SINGLE EDGE WHERE THERE'S AN OPENING in order to the chance of anything getting snagged on your box and tearing it open.

Clear plastic bubble "bag."

Something like this? http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-7574/Bubble-Bags/3-x-5-Bubble-Bags-Open-End?keywords=S-7574%203%20x%205%22%20Bubble%20Bags%20Open%20End

[Rob Wright]

russbrett you are on the right track. The smaller box will hold one deck and the larger will hold 2. You will need a small piece of bubble rap or a bubble bag to snug the decks up. I know that KWP uses these type boxes exclusively, and for good reason. Knock on wood and cross my fingers. I have never received a damaged deck that was shipped in one of these. Just tape these boxes up and apply the postage. They work great.
As far as the bubble bag- go with a slightly bigger one like the http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-680/Bubble-Bags/4-x-5-1-2-Self-Seal-Bubble-Bags or the http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-10549/Bubble-Bags/4-x-5-Bubble-Bags-Open-End. You will want to shoot yourself, or somebody else about the third deck you try to stuff in the 3x5 bag. 
You may want to also pick up some bubble mailers. I wouldn't go any smaller than these. http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-9985/Bubble-Mailers/Uline-Self-Seal-Bubble-Mailers-0-6-x-10. You can put the smaller box in one of these for international shipping. gives you plenty of roof to attach the custom's form.
You may also want to pic up a bigger box for international shipping- like a http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-433/Indestructo-Mailers/9-x-4-x-3-Indestructo-Mailers or similar. Something that will hold at least a brick plus padding.
Keep in mind ULine does charge shipping to ship your shipping supplies. I recently purchased about $300 worth of supplies, and my shipping was around $60. That's about 20% of the purchase price.

When shipping domestic, anything over 2 decks. 9 out of 10 times it's cheaper to ship USPS Priority Mail-- and not just flat rate. the regional box A1-https://store.USPS.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?categoryNavIds=shipping-supplies%3ashipping-boxes&categoryNav=false&navAction=push&navCount=0&productId=P_RRB_A1&categoryId=shipping-boxes can cost as little as a small flat rate box to ship, but typically $7-$10. The best thing about priority mail boxes is that they are free. You don't even need to go to the post office. Just order them on-line, and they will drop them on you front step for nothing-$0- zilch.

In the end shipping is probably the biggest underestimated cost of a KS project. It's nice to get that big old check from KS- just keep in mind it will take 20%+ of that check for shipping/shipping supplies. Also don't discount your time. If you work a full time job- realistically you will get 30-40 packages done per night. So if you have 500+ backers?    Not sure who you are using as a printer, but for example- if you print with LPCC- they will charge you to ship the decks to your US address- then you pay shipping again to you backers, and your time. If you use their fulfillment. they take care of everything(at a cost) and you get charged to ship the left over decks to you. If there is a down side to using their fulfillment- I recently received 2 decks in a bubble mailer from them- no damage luckily. I don't know if they have different levels of packaging or not.

Hopefully this helps you some-Good luck on your project

[Don Boyer]

Some of the best packed stuff I've received was very simply packed.  Your choice of boxes is great - the smaller one will hold two decks at most.  A single deck is 2.5 x 3.5 x about 1 inches.  There's a clear plastic bubble "bag" I've seen people use for sending me stuff that's practically custom-tailored for decks - perfect size and has a sticky strip for sealing it shut.  Drop those in the box, use old newspaper to fill in the gaps and stop shifting, and your box should survive most typical mailing disasters.  Use clear packing tape and SEAL EVERY SINGLE EDGE WHERE THERE'S AN OPENING in order to the chance of anything getting snagged on your box and tearing it open.

Clear plastic bubble "bag."

Something like this? http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-7574/Bubble-Bags/3-x-5-Bubble-Bags-Open-End?keywords=S-7574%203%20x%205%22%20Bubble%20Bags%20Open%20End

More like this:http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-10546/Bubble-Bags/3-x-3-1-2-Self-Seal-Bubble-Bags

A playing card deck is 2.5 by 3.5 inches.  This bag is just large enough to fit a single deck, factoring in the thickness of the deck, then you can fold the flap over and seal it, leaving the deck very well protected.  Individually packing the decks can be a bit more costly on the bags, but it simplifies the supply chain greatly - only need one kind of bag to protect the decks, period.

For bricks, there's these - an 800-count sports/CCG card collector's box.
http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/146008?gclid=CJKv6c6V7scCFUuRHwodPoEIUg

That will hold about fifteen decks - room for a brick-plus, if it doesn't come in a custom box.  I've seen Randy Butterfield ships his fancy brick boxes flat and empty - he has a cool design that can be folded open by the user.

[Rob Wright]

Something like this? http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-7574/Bubble-Bags/3-x-5-Bubble-Bags-Open-End?keywords=S-7574%203%20x%205%22%20Bubble%20Bags%20Open%20End

More like this:http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-10546/Bubble-Bags/3-x-3-1-2-Self-Seal-Bubble-Bags

A playing card deck is 2.5 by 3.5 inches.  This bag is just large enough to fit a single deck, factoring in the thickness of the deck, then you can fold the flap over and seal it, leaving the deck very well protected.  Individually packing the decks can be a bit more costly on the bags, but it simplifies the supply chain greatly - only need one kind of bag to protect the decks, period.

You definitely want to go with the bigger ones I posted above. The 3 x 3 1/2 are outside dimensions, and doesn't take the thickness of the deck into account. You will rip the bag trying to stuff a deck in it.

[russbrett]

Thanks, Rob and Don.

Great info.  I really appreciate it.

And Rob, I've run a couple of successful comic book Kickstarter campaigns, so I'm familiar with factoring in accurate shipping costs (not to mention the labor intensiveness of packaging rewards).  I have seen too many other campaigns implode because of the shipping issue (particularly international shipping).

Still good advice, though.  Thanks.