Despite searching through past posts on this subject I am still conflicted with regard to exactly what I should be doing - or not doing - so as not to run afoul of the USPS sorting and handling systems.
I sell a lot of sub-twenty-dollar coins on
ebay and I'm the one paying for the postage (free shipping for the buyer) so I try to use
ebay standard shipping wherever possible. My usual shipment consists of one quarter-sized or smaller coin, in a cardboard 2x2, stuck inside the folds of a packing list, in a number 6 and 3/4 security envelope...which is roughly 3.6 inches tall by 6.5 inches long. Using
ebay's "get shipping label" system and my printer, I've been printing the buyer's address directly onto the envelope. (Cheaper and more efficient than printing an actual label)
Until yesterday, I had been dropping these into the slot at the post office and simply walking away after depositing them. Yesterday however, as I turned to go I heard, "Excuse me! Sir...?" A postal clerk summoned me over to her window and told me that because my 5 envelopes contained rigid objects, I'd have to pay the additional 46 cent fee (each) to have the envelopes stamped as "Non Machinable".
At that point I made a conscious decision NOT to tell her that I'd mailed about 30 envelopes just like these over the past two months and have had no problems. Tracking showed they were all delivered and buyers were not complaining about mangled envelopes or having to cough up 46 cents to make up for my deficiency. I just paid her the $2.30 (5 x .46) and let her do her thing with her red ink "Non Machinable" hand stamp. But I resolved to come HERE (Coin Forum) and see what I could learn.
Some of what I read here seems to say that making the envelope totally rigid by using something like a Safe-T mailer is the way to go while others have said that allowing the envelope to easily bend on either side of the coin is the way to go. Thoughts...?
I'd hate to think I'm going to have to pay the 46 cent surcharge on all of these going forward...not because 46 cents is an exorbitant amount, rather because I don't think I could accomplish it at home with my printer...I think I'd have to get a postal clerk involved each time I did this.
Posted 05/28/2025 1:21 pm
. Use a plastic flip instead of a cardboard 2x2 so it's somewhat flexible, and tape it to the packing list so it doesn't move around. It's less likely to run into problems in a sorting machine that way.
