Posting a card without eating the corners

Most postal damage is not a dramatic crush. It is a corner tapping the inside of a loader, a card sliding out into the envelope, or tape glued to a sleeve. Build the parcel so the card cannot move and so nothing adhesive can reach it.

The stack

• Clear penny sleeve. This is the soft layer.
• Toploader that fits without force. 35pt for a normal sleeved card, thicker if you already double-sleeved it.
• The sleeve opening toward the bottom of the loader, so the card is not working its way out of the open end.
• A resealable team bag over the loader.
• If you tape, tape the bag. Painter’s tape. Not across the card, not on the penny sleeve.
• Sandwich the loader between two pieces of cardboard bigger than it is, or use a small box. A bubble mailer on its own still bends.

Several cards: each in its own loader, bagged, and packed so they cannot slide into each other. A rubber band around a stack of toploaders is still a bad idea. Write do-not-bend on the parcel in marker as well as using a sticker — stickers come off.