How Common Are USPS Body Bags?

Today, I got a USPS body bag, a.k.a. the sealed clear plastic "We Care" bag for damaged mail. A friend had foolishly mailed me some loose postage in a regular envelope and it was apparently too thick for the cancelling machine. The envelope arrived in two pieces, but miraculously the enclosed stamps made it unscathed. Well, I haven't counted them yet, but I'm just happy they got here at all.

This is the second body bag I've gotten in two years. I'm wondering if others are seeing these more frequently.

I've even gotten them for junk mail which is a little funny, they put more care and service into delivering actual garbage than their clerks do at the counter

Two in two years time, that is probably about how often I get them also. Mostly I just get them for smaller envelopes as you described.

One piece of repackaged mail a year seems about right, although lately I am seeing the use of an apology envelope rather than a bag. This one is 6"x10" with large window. I suspect it is more machine-friendly than the plastic bag.

I haven't received one in ten or twelve years, maybe longer. had listed one for sale but apparently no one was interested. How do you do pics here?
will send a pic of it.

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Beyond the generic bags, the more challenging bags to find are those which ID the location. Here is one from Columbus, OH sent during the 22 cent rate period (1985-88):

And one from Merrifield, VA:

While uncommon, I see little monetary value in these. And yet, along with various auxiliary markings and OX labels, they might make an interesting 1-frame exhibit on "Handling of Damaged Mail in the High-Speed Processing Era"

Thanks for posting those, John! I was unaware that individual post offices had them. From a cost perspective, it certainly makes more sense to have generic bags that can serve any facility. Though I suspect most of the damage these days takes place at the large regional facilities.

Not all body bags are preprinted. Here is a priority package which fell into a mud puddle somewhere in transit. Then once in the bag, it sat quietly somewhere growing some good old fashioned mold and mildew.

The first two show two sides of the body bag:



Here while there is no printed message, the USPS did postmark the clear plastic bag in many places which all only took a faint cancellation.




This image above is the same as the prior one with a different exposure to see if the cancellation would be more pronounced. Alas, no.



This is the worst of the impact damage on this one corner, the browns are coloration from soil and the moisture (water) does not show.



This was an ebay seller shipment of many purchases made in one day and sent in one box. The total sales were between $300-400.00. The seller made an immediate refund and was rather quickly reimbursed via insurance coverage by the USPS without hassle. sadly for me, a damaged in the mail postal history collector, this gem was just too big and too faint to be collected. The box heated the house and the bag was reused.

Body bags are helpful but before they can be used, there must be something left with an address. For example as shown here https://goscf.com/t/86362 there will be little need for body bags. Tough to forward ash with an readable address.