Hi everyone! I should have another seed offer before too long. For the most part this one went great. There were a couple of things that could have gone better so I figured I'd write a little note to assist folks.
Be courteous. Don't send the person a list of the seeds you want and nothing else. Say "Hi" or "May I get some of the seeds you're offering". Just about anything will do. The ones that read "Trinidad Scorpion, Brain Strain, Chocolate BJ" and nothing else tend to put a damper on the givers generosity. Throw in a thanks too, hell it may get you a few extras!
Here's the big one, to me anyway. The SASBE. It stands for Self Addressed Stamped Bubble Envelope. There's a reason for it. First time I sent seeds in a trade I put them in a baggie then into the envelope and off they went. When they arrived they were mostly crumbs. The Post Office's automated sorters are brutal on unprotected seeds. BRUTAL. Bubble wrap tends to fix that. Some people figure if they send a piece of bubble wrap or foam to wrap the seeds in they'll be protected. That usually works fine too. The problem is they place one 44 cent stamp on the envelope. When you place pieces of bubble wrap or foam into a regular envelope it makes it fat. Too fat. You see the post office has this cheap little tool, it's a piece of cardboard with a slot in it, that measures the envelope to see if it can go through the sorting machines. If it won't go through the slot then it has to be sorted by hand and they ask, no they demand really, that you chip in another 44 cents. Now I know spending 44 cents isn't much. Heck even 10 of them isn't much. The point is I have to pay it. I was nice enough to offer up seeds but now I have to help pay to send them to you?
You can buy the small 4"x7" bubble envelopes for 74 cents at Wally world. It costs 88 cents to ship them. A $1.62 total. You can even mail it to me, for 88 cents, and I can use it to send your seeds back to you. How cool is that? So total cost to get seeds is $2.50. Tell me where you can get this many different types of seeds for $2.50?
That's it, that's my little tutorial on sending SASBE.
None of this is aimed toward anyone in particular and I don't mean to single anyone out. What's done is done. But I will change the way I do things the next time I offer seeds.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Be courteous. Don't send the person a list of the seeds you want and nothing else. Say "Hi" or "May I get some of the seeds you're offering". Just about anything will do. The ones that read "Trinidad Scorpion, Brain Strain, Chocolate BJ" and nothing else tend to put a damper on the givers generosity. Throw in a thanks too, hell it may get you a few extras!
Here's the big one, to me anyway. The SASBE. It stands for Self Addressed Stamped Bubble Envelope. There's a reason for it. First time I sent seeds in a trade I put them in a baggie then into the envelope and off they went. When they arrived they were mostly crumbs. The Post Office's automated sorters are brutal on unprotected seeds. BRUTAL. Bubble wrap tends to fix that. Some people figure if they send a piece of bubble wrap or foam to wrap the seeds in they'll be protected. That usually works fine too. The problem is they place one 44 cent stamp on the envelope. When you place pieces of bubble wrap or foam into a regular envelope it makes it fat. Too fat. You see the post office has this cheap little tool, it's a piece of cardboard with a slot in it, that measures the envelope to see if it can go through the sorting machines. If it won't go through the slot then it has to be sorted by hand and they ask, no they demand really, that you chip in another 44 cents. Now I know spending 44 cents isn't much. Heck even 10 of them isn't much. The point is I have to pay it. I was nice enough to offer up seeds but now I have to help pay to send them to you?
You can buy the small 4"x7" bubble envelopes for 74 cents at Wally world. It costs 88 cents to ship them. A $1.62 total. You can even mail it to me, for 88 cents, and I can use it to send your seeds back to you. How cool is that? So total cost to get seeds is $2.50. Tell me where you can get this many different types of seeds for $2.50?
That's it, that's my little tutorial on sending SASBE.
None of this is aimed toward anyone in particular and I don't mean to single anyone out. What's done is done. But I will change the way I do things the next time I offer seeds.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
