Rules to shipping by lettermail?

[generatorgames]

I am new to selling and am unclear what the rules are to shipping by Canada Post Lettermail. In particular, for items like trading cards and game manuals, can these simply be mailed in a regular envelope with some rigid paper/thin cardstock to prevent damage? Is there anything else I should know that is vastly different from small parcel shipping? Thanks for any clarification.

[intimewithmusic]

I agree about  using Corplast but as well as being expensive it is fairly thick. It consumes valuable "real estate" in your package. As an alternative I use "Ram Board" which is much thinner and very tough. It's a construction product used to protect hardwood floors from damage. It has no "grain" or flutes like cardboard so it makes no difference which way you put it into the envelope. It's very strong and resitant to folds. It does add a bit of weight. I use it for all my expensive paper items that are already protected by acid free backers and plastic sleeves. Ram Board can be purchased at Home Depot in 2 different sized easy to store rolls. One size  is about $35 and the larger is about $60 but works out to be muchcheaper per square foot.  When cut into 9" x 13" sheets the approx cost per sheet is 35 cents. Be sure you get Ram Board and not the cheaper paper "sheathing" which is too flimsy. 

[femmefan1946]

Interesting. I was concerned about it coming in 'rolls' but I see how once flattened it would be rigid enough to be unfoldable.

[intimewithmusic]

It does have a slight curl when you unroll it. so far for magazines etc that's not a problem. I'll try to post a phots somewhere here. I'm starting to sell high quality enlargements of photos I took while working on stages. 12x16s and 12x12s. For those I put a very heavy iron vice on top of the Ram Board for a week or so to flatten them out. Ram Board is slightly thicker that 1mm.

[femmefan1946]

I'm going to add foamboard to the stiffeners that work well and are very lightweight. Again, price is a question. I used to harvest corplast from abandoned signs after elections, but politicians seem to have become much more eco-conscious than they once were.

[intimewithmusic]

Yes light is good. Most of my stuff runs over 300 grams so the 50 g from Ram Board makes no diff to the postage. I like your idea of the corplast for my flat 12 x 16 shipped photos. Lots lighter than Ram Board. Will try that. thanks!

[generatorgames]

Hey, thank you for this tip, I've never heard of ramboard and will be looking into it. The photo went through well. Thank you again!