Online Sellers (Mis)using Priority Mail Packaging

Tip = (Australia)
3-5 Acres of land, one drives in a dumps refuse (via Council Card) in a pile in lines of rubbish, in turn they are bulldozed in ever increasing levels and buried.

Separate piles in areas for "Green" refuse, and another for wood, Oil, Paints
steel and implements (washing machines fridges) Plastic containers for
Farmer's insecticides etc

If you think that's a bad taste in your mouth,
just google turtles and plastics.

That's the gift you will be giving your children, and their children

(I am no different, I am as guilty as the next fellow)

And here is the problem. The US is one of the recyclingist countries on the planet. Same for the push to do away with fossil fuels etc. But guess what? China and other the majority of other Countries don't practice the same things. We (the Countries practicing clean environment policies) account for a tiny fraction of the waste being pumped into the environment. And since ocean currents are non-discriminatory when it comes to their travels you will have a big mess until the entire World changes. I will not be holding my breath for that to happen. Especially poor Countries that have other things on their mind like finding their next meal. Meanwhile, here on the East coast of the US whales are washing up in shore every day as they build thousands of windmills in the ocean. Not a peep from the environmental groups like Greenpeace that now take lots of money from the green industry, in particular the very companies building the windmills.

PS: My plastic straws go to recycling.

Plastic recycling is a myth, according to NPR and Greenpeace. Only around 5% of plastic that is 'recycled' actually gets into a new product. Recycled plastic is inferior to new plastic, costs more, and typical plastic can only be recycled once. Additionally, China has now outlawed taking in plastic from US and other countries. Some companies/countries which take recycle plastics are actually just putting the vast majority it in landfills or burning it.
But I guess it makes people feel good.
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/08/1141...ic-recycling

I wonder if that chart 2010
included countries like Australia, that shipped our waste overseas?

Change is happening, but slow
Straws (iirc 19 million per day used Singapore) now made from Rice
Coffee cups from Seaweed. (edible)

The topic seems to have drifted but I personally use old paper stock I find at estate sales and also I use the heavy paper found in typical collector crap like the commemorative stamp society or some such organization where it's a giant piece of beautiful paper for one stinky FDC. I strip a book and get a good hundred or so thick pieces of paper then just dump the fdcs for pennies. I've never had to buy new supplies I always reuse things I get from other dealers who have no need for certain items or buy from estates and thrift stores. Envelopes are INSANELY expensive and even goodwill seems to be catching on to that fact charging an arm and a leg.

Here is something I found on Amazon, advertised as baseball card protectors. I thought at first that they would work, since a 102 card is about the size of a baseball card.



I've gone through several hundred of these at about $.22 each, and you can fit about 5 102's in there with a one-page invoice and still stay under an ounce.

I confess to using a few of the Priority Mail envelopes when I started selling, but my guilty conscience got the best of me. This solution has been perfect for me.

Ray

I use the corners of the priority envelopes I just don't use new ones. All the ones I use were from things mailed to me.

I keep auction house mailing stuff and reuse it when I sell my covers.

When I mail out an order, I'll place the stamps into a glassine, then into a 102 card. My stiffeners cost me nothing (and yes, sellers using priority mail envelopes grind my gears as well) as I use APS-provided business reply membership recruitment cards. Aside from their utility in protecting the stamps in the envelope, they also serve in getting the word out there about our national society, and I've had a decent number of my buyers ending up as APS members because of these enclosures. Then all of the above gets wrapped up in an invoice printed on heavyweight copy paper, and in many years of selling, I haven't had anything damaged during its transit in the mail stream (touch wood...).
Needless to say, when sending out the more expensive items, these all get the heavy cardboard treatment, cardboard I've kept on hand from my own pricier buys (proving in my mind that there is actually at least one benefit to being a packrat...).

Plastic recycling is a myth, according to NPR and Greenpeace. Only around 5% of plastic that is 'recycled' actually gets into a new product. Recycled plastic is inferior to new plastic, costs more, and typical plastic can only be recycled once. Additionally, China has now outlawed taking in plastic from US and other countries. Some companies/countries which take recycle plastics are actually just putting the vast majority it in landfills or burning it.
But I guess it makes people feel good.

We recycle because the transfer station police have a fit and will revoke your privileges if you do not participate in the theater of the green.

Kind of reminds me of the EV push where everyone congratulates themselves on how virtuous they are by turning away from fossil fuels when in reality they are actually supporting child slave labor in the cobalt mines.



PS: Referencing Don's chart, China is always at the top of many lists when it comes to bad things. The Western world sacrifices it's economies to the climate Gods whilst the rest of the World trashes the place up.

It is not just online sellers. Go to a show and you will likely encounter a dealer putting your purchase in a USPS priority envelope. Just a week or two ago I saw a dealer use 33 USPS priority boxes for something they gave directly to an auction house (they did not mail them).

One step that help in the past was the addition of priority printing on the plain brown inside of the boxes. prior, the boxes were gotten for free, turned inside out and mailed at a rate other than Priority. Now folks need to wrap the boxes in plain brown paper to do that.