In all seriousness, what do bubble mailers actually do?

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stajan55

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First off, I would like to say that I ALWAYS send in bubble mailers.

My question is what do bubble mailers actully do? I don't see why everyone hates white envolopes because they protect a card exactly the same as a bubble mailers do. Either way the card is going to get bent if pressure is applied to it. A couple of bubbles are not going to save a card from getting bent. A bubble mailer will not save the card for getting damaged corners...that is the toploaders job.

I guess I am just looking for a reason as to why they work better than a bubble mailer.

James
 
I may be wrong, but I don't think bubble mailers are put through the mail sorter. they are sorted by hand.
 
I use a Bubble mailer but support the card with a piece of cardboard.A bubble does not protect by itself as I've seen packages get stuffed in PO Boxes--one can imagine what happens in transit.
If packaged properly to ensure a card not be bent;I'm sure it would be safe as well in a White envelope.(just an assumption ).not that I practice as well)
Ron
 
i somtimes wonder the same thing. i use bubble envelopes for everything i send out. but i think if enough pressure is used to bend a card in a toploader, im pretty sure the card would bend no matter what envelope its in.
 
Isn't it harder to bend a bubble mailer rather than a envelope? Maybe a certain card will bend in a envelope but not in a bubble mailer?
 
A card can still get trashed in a bubble mailer. But a bubble mailer is designed to hold something thicker than a sheet of paper, and it goes through the mail system like that. A plain envelope goes through the sorting machines, and a top loader makes it substantially thicker than it is intended to be. Makes it more likely to get caught, and either the card gets damaged or the envelope rips open.
 
Bubble mailers don't provide a damn thing. Every card I've had seriously trashed came to me in a bubble mailer. A card in toploader with cardboard backing in a white envelope will fare just as well as a bubble mailer. I used to send everything that way, never had a single complaint. Not one card bent, mangled, trashed, or otherwise unacceptable to the recipient. Not one.

That said, we now have this culture of "bubble mailer is the standard", so god forbid anyone should be at variance with that.
 
I use them so people can't just look through them in light, and they are a lot tougher when being thrown around especially with hard loaders. I find it hard mailing a letter that's not in a bubble mailer anymore. lol
 
Bubble mailers are not perfect by a long shot. In fact, I don't know if I have ever had a card damaged in a PWE, but I've had a few killed in bubbles. In all fairness, about 98% have arrived in bubble envelopes, but still...

Just last week...

IMG_0001-1.jpg
 
quincy said:
Bubble mailers don't provide a damn thing. Every card I've had seriously trashed came to me in a bubble mailer. A card in toploader with cardboard backing in a white envelope will fare just as well as a bubble mailer. I used to send everything that way, never had a single complaint. Not one card bent, mangled, trashed, or otherwise unacceptable to the recipient. Not one.

That said, we now have this culture of "bubble mailer is the standard", so god forbid anyone should be at variance with that.
Click to expand...

Amen brotha!

D
 
Maybe i'm a little "out" for that question, but beeing in Switzerland and thinking about the travel a card has to do from here to North America, i would NEVER use a white envelope. I always put some extra protection like old pages of magazine around the toploader.
 
Ten years ago, I used to mail team sets of base cards in a white envelope, protected by comic-backing cardboard to buyers in Finland, Sweden and Germany. Not one complaint. Ever.
 
Cards can still get damaged in bubble mailers as said before but a card shipped in a white envelope can get damaged easier from being thrown around. Either way cards get damaged both ways but I still say a bubble mailer is better. I generall ship my cards in hard cases or one touches not in normal flimsy toploaders.
 
It's all a big conspiracy from the Big Bubble Industrial Complex while in conjunction with the Reverse Vampires and of course, the Gaborik Mafia ;)

FREE YOUR MIND PEOPLE! :owned:
 
What bothers me is when sellers dont disclose using a PWE and still charge $3.50 shipping !
Tell me its a PWE @ $1.25 shipping & I can make up my mind IF I want to take the chance.
 
Bubble mailers resist the kind of incidental damage that white paper envelopes don't.
Being torn or dropped, having something dropped on them, etc..

No, bubble mailers aren't perfect. Excessive pressure or a bad angle will break the wrapper, case, and card in almost any package. But the bubble mailers do provide somewhat better protection, even if it is marginal.

That said, I don't think it should be some kind of standard or anything, where people are looked down upon for using envelopes instead.
 
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White versus Bubble

quincy said:
Ten years ago, I used to mail team sets of base cards in a white envelope, protected by comic-backing cardboard to buyers in Finland, Sweden and Germany. Not one complaint. Ever.
Click to expand...


Mailing/shipping cards since 1971. The white envelopes worked well until the high speed/high pressure machines were introduced in post offices throughout the world. The process was simple. Make a sandwich with cardboard around the card(s) either in a topload, team bag or equivalent. Tape the four sides. Insert in the white envelope, seal, address, weigh, affix stickers, declarations, postage and send.

Ten years ago mail overseas was handled by hand at the post office. Clerk would put it in the international bag or container. Bag or container would go to central sorting location where the contents were sorted into a bag or container for each European country. At the destination country handled by hand thru customs and to the destination.

The high speed/high pressure machine made the white envelope problematic. The white envelope is not designed nor is it strong enough to withstand pressure that causes the semi hard plastic or cardboard sandwich to act as a projectile from the inside when pressure is applied from one end to the other.

This leaves two options. Bubble or padded. Padded envelopes are sturdier but weighs too much, is costlier, plus they lack flexibility and volume. Leaving bubble as the best choice, not the perfect choice. Bubble is easier to use - if you are making a cardboard sandwich to hold the contents you do not need precise cuts. Also it is cheaper.
 

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