USPS Usually Ends Up Destroying My Covers.

This is heartbreaking. Sometimes there are buyers that like to talk in depth about the stamps they are buying from me. In those cases, I like to reward their passion and kindness by making covers that exceed how much they paid in CV.
But so far only the American buyers will send a picture of a destroyed cover like the one shown here.



It is absolutely pitiful.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Or how to deal with it effectively?
Thank you

Why do you think it is the US Post Office doing this?
And to make you feel better - sometimes my mail, especially oversized mail looks similar to yours


Peter

Two thoughts come to mind:

1. The cover shown was handled by 2 postal services, I see no proof where the damage occurred.

2. International mail should be packed robustly, especially if there are valuable contents. I see no evidence of that either.

The three left hand stamps cancel mark circles do not match up with those on the envelope. Could these have been detached and then reattached or are the cancel differences just an illusion?

I don't see where any "stiffener" or cardboard was used to make the envelope more robust. This one looks like it was going to be damaged just by normal handling.

Having had first-hand experience with Japan Post and USPS, I'd bet my life savings this was done by USPS.

Thanks for the comments.
There is a possibility that it is the Japanese postal system, but other countries I send them to like Croatia, France, Brazil, China, Germany etc all report no problems and are very happy with the stamps used on the cover. I only see destroyed covers with American customers so I'm coming to a common sense conclusion here.

The contents are lined with hard plastic inside of hard/thin cardboard, so they are always safe and there has never been a problem with what's inside. Only the paper envelope gets destroyed somehow.
To your point John, this is why it baffles me how it could end up like this.

Stephen

I think it is likely the mail piece was damaged by automated equipment. It may be that envelope size and placement of the stamps caused an issue with the high-speed equipment. I think it highly unlikely that a human caused the damage either intentionally or unintentionally.

I agree with the majority of the posters, the root cause was no(or insufficient) stiffener and the corrective action is to ship items properly.
Don

Chesham- Yes you are right. The customer said the package showed signs of water damage, and said those stamps on the left fell off rather easily.
I personally watched the JP Postman cancel them because I wanted to make sure he hit the "5Sen" piece even though sen can't be calculated in the shipping cost.
Only for the purpose of adding character to the cover.

Stephen

Not only do you need a stiffener but also one must consider using a smaller envelope that more closely matches the size of the contents to lessen the chance of folding and whatnot. It reduces your canvas size but in my experience better protects your contents

Thanks Don.
I use very durable cardboard envelopes over hard plastic that fit perfectly into the envelope.



This is why I'm baffled.
It would be difficult to damage the envelope in such a way even if I tried! But I could see it if water were involved.
Stephen

This is good advice, oldbold. The nail that sticks up gets knocked down!

If truly handled as registered, it should see minimal machine-handling.

The cover shown could not have been folder at the lower right if the stiffener was covering that area. Automated high-speed (moving faster than you can see it) equipment often requires mail pieces to make a 90 degree turn. If the stiffener is only covering 2/3s of the entire envelope size, I can envision the 'flapping end) becoming hung/jammed/damaged as OldBold mentions.

But-none-the-less, if this is a constant problem then I think the decision point becomes; why keep using the same service? If you feel that USPS is the issue, change to FedEx. I realize that this might cause a higher shipping cost, but it is still a solution. If you decide that FedEx is not worth the extra cost, then you are accepting the fact that damage might occur for using a less costly shipper.
Don

I don't know much about Japan postal equipment or mail handing. Nor am I familiar enough to say if the USPS actually handled it all the way through their system as Registered.

Since water damage is mentioned...
I have no idea what 3rd parties might be involved; I assume that it went through customs/airports/ etc.
Don

That's true Don. I guess I can sacrifice the aesthetics for American customers and just ship them via the starch-white, cardboard cover. Putting classic stamps on it just wouldn't look right, haha.

I'll look into the FedEx option. As far as I've seen, I have no control of who the American carrier is after handing it to JP Post, but I'll certainly ask them about it.
Thanks for all the help!
Stephen