Cardboard OCD Chapter 7b: PWE Is Good For Me

I like to try to mix up my posts, but I spent yesterday getting a haircut (!), calling to set up and upgrade to my internet service, and filing and shredding about five years of bills and papers.  So here's the next mail tutorial back-to-back.  My readership numbers have been down to about 40 lately, but the bots come out in full force when you title something with "Cardboard", so that last post is at 193 or something crazy.  Anyway, on with the show!

Last time, I went through my bubble mailer packing technique.  Today, you'll see how I do Plain White Envelopes.

The way I do it, I need a few custom supplies - slightly wider penny sleeves, semi-rigid envelopes, and mailing labels.  Plus the right stamps.

We'll start by packing up the cards.

I generally don't get more than 10 cards in a PWE.  Some senders that use the "Sheet Strip Special" as I call it (one row of a plastic page in an envelope), might get more, but they're not quite as securely packed as mine.  Just my opinion.

So here are both halves of the batch in their sleeves and tucked in the particular size Card Savers.  I'm not sure what the designation is for this size (CS2 maybe?), but there's a bigger size that won't work.  I have tons of these sitting around.  If you'd like a few dozen or so, let me know.  I'll send 'em out gratis.  Don't forget your painter's tape over the openings if you suspect these will shift.  Most of the time, they're tight enough going in that I'm pretty sure they won't move.

The size is important, because they fit exactly in the envelopes that I use.  They're 6½" x 4½" and rigid enough to stand up a lot better than paper, but thin enough so they don't add weight.  I got 400 of them in 2017 for 10¢ each and I'm not running low yet.

I got this template from a post office that I used to frequent all the time near my old office.  Comes in handy to make sure my envelopes aren't over the thickness limit.

This is the current "regular letter + non-machinable" stamp I've been using.  (55¢ + 15 = 70¢)

This is the current one.  Same value.

This is what the 15¢ additional ounce stamp looks like in 2020.  Add one of these to a regular Forever stamp and you've got the same as the butterfly stamps.  Use one of these with the butterfly if your non-machinable envelope is also heavier than a single ounce.

You guys know how to write or print labels for sender and recipient addresses, so there's no need to show that in detail.  I have return address labels with my blog title, trading groups and other general sports logos that I can use depending on who I'm sending to.