USPS Stamp Fulfillment Pacakging

Sometimes when I order stamp sheets from the USPS Stamp Fulfillment Center, they ship in a Priority Mail Envelope, which provides decent protection. However, more often lately they are shipped in poly mailers which provide no protection from damage. Sometimes, the cardboard backing the sheets are shrinkwrapped in are bent, but thankfully the stamps themselves so far have arrived fine. However one day, it think I might receive an order from them where the stamps themselves might get bent/creased.

Would adding a few 20c sheets (20x1c stamps) be an inexpensive way to provide extra cardboard protection or would that be a waste of money?

Why bother? The USPS will replace any part of your shipment that may be damaged. Although I will admit, returning damaged stamps can be a bit of a nuisance.

JLLebbert: If you were going to place an order for 26 sheets from the USPS and you knew they were going to be shipped in a poly mailer, would you order all 26 at once or 13 at at time? Any difference if they get bumped around a lot during shipping?

I would probably opt for two shipments of 13 sheets. But only because 26 sheets might not easily fit in my mailbox, tempting the mail carrier to forcibly cram them in. My usual carrier would probably deliver them to my door, but if they arrived on his off day, all bets are off. In any case, damaged panes would be returned.
I stopped collecting modern U.S. at the end of 2020. But over the previous decade, I only had to return damaged stamps on one occasion. And on that occasion, the order consisted of press sheets mailed in a shipping tube. But I usually would order no more than a dozen panes at one time. While I agree that the use of poly mailers was initially of some concern, stamps delivered in said mailers always arrived safely & undamaged. Maybe I was just lucky. But I did buy a lot of sheets between 2010 & 2020. Of more concern to me was when they started shipping panes without the usual cardboard support that normally accompanies each pane. The panes would be shipped in a large envelope (no poly mailer). This was a fairly recent development that did not occur frequently ... and yet, the stamps still arrived undamaged.
If I were you ... and if I started occasionally receiving damaged stamps ... I would probably opt for a P.O. box.

For those of you who have ordered stamp panes from the USPS website in 2023, have your orders arrived sealed (shrinkwrapped) with cardboard backing or unsealed? I know the sealed packaging isn't meant for archiving but in my opinion at least it provides some protection in transportation and makes for better holiday gifting vs an unsealed sheet.

Sorry to inform you. They are not going to take the time to protect the stamps as a collector would. I could not see this being done if you paid more money. They are over worked and under staffed in the fulfillment area. To them they are just stamps. They have to package and ship so many a day to meet production that at times it is over whelming for them. Plus they have to take new sheets and package then and wrap them for stock plus take inventory of what they have on the shelves. They have to take purchase orders fill them print labels package ship and do all the per sell work. All this is done in a department with few employees. I guess you are lucky they do not make more mistakes than they do.

When returning stamps due to damage is a pain to the BEP employees as well. I think it best to just keep them as you paid face and use them for postage. Then reorder what was damaged you wanted. Would save a lot of problem on both sides.

The BEP does not print current US stamps,

Apparently, that is now being outsourced to China.

Uknjay: Have you received any stamps recently from the fulfillment center that had poor packaging? If they are lackadaisical in their packaging, how many returns for damage do they permit, as the replacement could be damaged too.

I think I received so cheap sheets from then maybe 6 to 8 months ago. What I received was fine I had no problems. I know there are times thing go wrong. I think mostly from the carrier damaging the package in the shipping system. If the package is not sealed properly they can be sent back. I know this is a pain to you as a customer. It is also a pain to the BEP fulfillment team. Like I said most packages are damaged by the carrier. I can tell you they get a lot back at times. When an accident happens in transit by plane, truck or by rail they can get over wheeled quickly. They are very few employees in the department and they work the best the6y can under less than ideal circumstances. I hope you can appreciate the hard work they do to try and keep us hobbyist happy. We collectors invest or buy multimillion dollars worth of postage stamps each time a new issue is released. The USPS wants to make sure we are left happy with the product and service they provide us. When the service is good but the product is flawed it is even better for the hobbyist. Errors are highly desirable by collectors. When it is damaged after production by outside means we are unhappy and that is unacceptable to the USPS. I know I am a loyalists to the BEP and its products but remember I did not work for the USPS. Once a product for the USPS was completed it was shipped out to their own facility. It was not shipped from the BEP itself. Believe me the USPS buildings and facilities were much better than what we had.