The most damaged postcard that I ever received! HOW TO avoid getting damaged postcards or maximum cards, with over-cancelling, scratches and missing chunks/corners?

I share here some useful info from the postcard exchange great website http://www.forum.postcrossing.com, where my username is dorinco.

That is also my username for the primary website http://www.postcrossing.com.
This website is good - it facilitates "blind" (you don't choose your partner) exchanges of postcards with addresses chosen at random by their computers.

But the forum http://www.forum.postcrossing.com is much better, in my opinion, because you can choose your exchange partners for postcards, stamps, maximum cards, and other items!

The messages below are about a Round Robin exchange of maximum cards - the thread path (sub-folders) is this:
Postcrossing Official Forum » General » Tags, Trades, Notebooks, Round Robins and Pen-Pals » Round Robins » NEW Maxicards/Maximum cards RR!! Group3 Need ONE for travelling!!New groups!!!(always OPEN)

dorinco [that's me, remember?] said:
"Thank you, gracefool, for the very cute MC from Gr.6!

Unfortunately, it is the most damaged postcard that I ever received! :flaming: [emoticon]

Australia Post/Adelaide put our MC face-down over a heavily-inked mailpiece, so ink migrated onto the face side of our kangaroo MC.
It also roller-stamped it across the address-side, although it says that it's PREPAID!

Then, between Australia Post and US Postal Service, a chunk was ripped of a corner!

See also some roll marks, near the left, at about 45 degrees angle.

Not your fault, but next time you either talk to your postal clerk, or you send it in a transparent bag to have the stamps on the postcard visible, or you just send it like a CIA agent - "undercover".

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gracefool replied:


"Dorinco - A self-made Wintery Lighthouse MC, I really love it thank you. Your cancellations are very nice.

Also, Dorin, I am so sorry about the condition the MaxiCard arrived to you in!! 
That is terrible!!! I have sent so so so many MCs and I have not had any report like this before. 
However I have received quite a few cards myself which have heavy cancellations on front and back (but not ripped), it is the risk we all take when putting mail through the postal system(s) I think. 
I have never sent in "transparent bag" before, can you explain this?"
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dorinco replied:

"Thank you, gracefool, I'm glad you like the unique/UNICATE/UNIKAT in the world MC that I created for you! :)

Transparent bag can be any transparent plastic bag that looks like a transparent envelope - you can cut and modify it to desired size.
After you get the needed postmarks on the due postage (that may or may not include the stamp for the MC), seal that bag with scotch tape.
Or you can use a re-sealable bag, like Ziploc - best option, since it allows postal postmarking in the arrival country, with re-insertion of your MC back in the bag to reach you.

This is a custom MC, that I made from a page from a book.
Why? Coz I like it! :)
To you (and any other viewer here) and my US Postal Service, it's just a postcard with a stamp.
It's not terribly thick, but it's thick enough to be accepted as a postcard by USPS.

Instead of mailing it as a naked postcard, subject to postal damage, I tested this: I inserted it in a transparent plastic bag/envelope and I put mailing address labels for sender and receiver (which is me in both cases) on the outside of the bag.
I could have postmarked it, but personalized stamps in USA don't necessarily require postmarking - their encrypted value (little B&W squares) is supposed to be voided by the scanner of the Post.

So I mailed it like this:

It arrived to me by mail, without any postmark and any damage.
The value of the stamp is presumably voided, as it should.

The point is that whenever you suspect that your MC sent as a naked postcard will get damaged or over-canceled, you can enclose it in a protective transparent bag, or a glassine envelope, etc.
You just tell your postal clerk that you have a "philatelic item, sent under protective cover/bag."
In USA, currently it's 98c to mail either a postcard or a First-Class (1 to 3.5oz) letter internationally, except Canada and Mexico.

The advantage of using a transparent bag instead of a normal opaque envelope is that:
you could use the maximaphily stamp as part of the postage, totaling from both sides,
IF that stamp is still valid for postage
and IF you get all the stamps postmarked with that date when you send it.

In your case, gracefool, I already had the MC stamp cancelled in December, so I had to put now 98c on the address side."

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Please visit http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/

Wordless is good, but if you simply look at the above images, you may miss some of the important aspects about them.

Some images are best left wordless, but some could use some meaningful words. :)

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http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/

Today,  J is for JOEY = baby kangaroo.

Also:

"JUNK MAIL? No, protect your mail! Don't let the Automated Postal System or the postal associates ruin your mail!" :)