We have received several wonderful suggestions for packing and shipping books to other members. Our goal is to offer a simple solution that meets all the requirements of getting a book to another member at a low cost and with minimal effort. Our patent-pending labeled book wrapper meets these needs. We’ve had thousands and thousands of books successfully shipped through the system. However, some of our wonderful members have come up with various ideas and suggestions for wrapping and shipping a book safely. We thought we’d share some of these ideas with you:

Some members are beginning to wrap books in saran wrap before wrapping them in the club’s paper book wrappers. This really helps to prevent water from damaging the book while in transit. We think that this is a great idea and encourage you to try it!

Brown paper grocery bags are made of sturdy paper. As an alternative to the wrapper, some members have chosen to wrap books with these bags. The address label can be taped to the front of the bag, or the address information can be hand written.

Also, some members like to purchase bubble wrappers or other types of envelopes. There is no problem with doing this as long as you tape the printed “mail to” address on the outside.

It is very important to have the proper return address and Request ID on the label. This information is needed when there are problems with the shipment of a book. Please remember to include these on the package.

Please also keep in mind that lickable stamps sometimes do not hold up well, especially on top of tape applied to the book wrapper. PLEASE USE SELF ADHESIVE STAMPS. Be sure to place stamps on the book wrapper AFTER taping the book for shipment. If tape is on top of the stamps, the USPS will not mail the item because they have no ability to mark the stamps “canceled”.

We highly recommend clear packing tape to cover the wrapper, as it holds up wonderfully. However, some members have gotten too liberal with their tape and used it to tape the wrapper to the cover of the book. This causes the book cover to become damaged when unwrapping the book. Please use ONLY one small piece of scotch tape to secure the wrapper in place before wrapping the book. Then you can use clear packing tape for the rest of the job.

We will continue to share ideas with you as they are offered. Thank you in advance for wrapping all your books with care!

When using “Media Mail” wrapper system, most books will ship for $1.42. Occasionally one member will like a lot of books that another member has listed, and they will order multiple books from the same member. If you happen to have multiple books going to the same address, you may want to stop by the post office and mail these as a single package using the “Media Mail” rate. This will cost approximately $1.82, but you should have them weighed to be sure.