Yelena - I hope that ebayer made good on your order for you. I've only received an envelope of seeds once with no bubble wrap (and they were crushed). It was from a trade here. They were flat hosta seeds but they still didn't make it through the mail sorter. Dust! I think if they were more consistant with the rules and regs it would make it much easier for people that do an extensive amount of mailing. If you were just doing a few packages yearly, it wouldn't amount to very much. However, if you had a big SASE offer going and found you were short on postage for every bubbler, that potentially could amount to quite a bit. I'd certainly read the shipping rules if I was put into that situation and to try to send the packages out for the least amount as possible within their guidelines. (I wouldn't consider that tricking the post office). I don't think $1.13 is asking too much to ship a package either. Heavens, I just paid $5.45 to Gourmet seeds to ship 10 packs of seed! Really, the postage issue has to be put into perspective. If an extra stamp or two on a trade makes someone feel like it costs too much, it's not really worth doing the trade. Like everything else, shipping costs have gone up. It used to be worth it to trade for one pack of seed or a small plant exchange. It just would be less confusing for people it they stuck to the same rules at each PO. For instance Yelena, your PO lady won't leave her truck now. My PO guy was out delivering packages on a Sunday (yes Sunday!) the weekend before Xmas. He hand delivered them to everyone's door. My package would have fit in my box but he brought it up to the door and rang the bell! So, I guess they aren't as strict around here. I won't be putting my larger bubblers in to the drop box anymore though!

What you may be missing is that nothing should be followed to the letter. In WS or life for that matter IMHO. The purpose of following the instructions you posted was to see how you method worked. Following them "to the letter", is what anyone else would have done to give it a try the first time. After trying the method the first time following the instructions you posted, would be the time to make any changes that would improve the method as a whole or for an individual person. In this particular method of packing up seeds, there is nothing to improve on as it isn't one that is going to work, IMHO and experience. "You changed the conditions by using tape. Would that be an absolute? Was it even mentioned? Would some other kind of tape be a better choice? (if it were needed at all)" Yes, I added the tape that was not mentioned. and yes it is an absolute to need the tape. For bubble envelopes to go through the post office at the large envelope rate, there are certain requirements to meet. One of them is for them to be uniform in thickness and slightly bendable. The straws, once placed in the bubble envelope moved around. If there where more than 3 in the envelope, they moved around when the envelope was moved into different positions, bunched up at one end and the bubble envelope was no longer uniform in thickness. Mailing it this way, without the tape would end up having the bubble envelope cost more, go as parcel rate and if you tried to send it as first class, there wouldn't be enough postage on the envelope. The tape used, scotch magic tape, was and is the best tape to use to hold down anything and the easiest to remove from anything. "You said the seeds stuck in the straws. Were they 100% dry going in? Were the straws 100% dry? Any moisture in the seed would cause problems no matter what method you use to package them." Oh yes, my seeds are as dry as you can get and have been stored in paper coin envelopes made from scrap paper for months. Tiny seeds couldn't be any dryer either and they are stored in plastic prescription medicine bottles from the local pharmacy. None of the seeds stick to the inside of the bottles. The seeds are stored inside a house with forced hot air heat, can't get any dryer than that, and heat that has been running since mid October daily. The straws couldn't have been any dryer either. In newly purchased boxes that where never opened till Sunday and been in the house, in the dry heat for almost 3 months. The issue of the seeds stuck in the straws is not an issue of how dry the seeds are or not, or how dry the straws are or not. The issue with the straws is the same as with the ziplock baggies, static electricity that holds onto and all but cements the small and tiny seeds to them. The don't come out without shredding the baggie or flushing he seeds out of the straws. OR, you just give up and toss some of the seeds out. "Constant, steady, heavy pressure on the packets for extended periods of time? "I dont believe that this is, in any way, an accurate recreation of real world conditions trades may encounter as they traveled thru the postal system." This was a perfect recreation of the abuse that our mail gets going through the postal system. From what my letter carrier has described to me at various points in time, our flat mail, first class mail, bubble envelopes get tossed around as if they where balls, have heavy packages placed on top of them and get tortured through the postal system before being given to the local letter carrier for delivery. This is one of the many reasons that bubble envelopes need to be used to ensure the safest way of transporting seeds from one location to another. If I had young children in my home which I don't, my children are all grown adults in their mid twenties an early thirties, I would have had them playing catch with the bubble envelopes for an hour to simulate the abuse they would receive going through the postal system. "As far as time, cutting, and folding, and taping and writing and sealing seems it would be a little more time consuming than using a stapler." Though I don't find it time consuming, it is much easier than using the pressure of staples and worrying about the seeds getting stuck in the straws, caused by static electricity, which is the same thing that happens when using the ziplock baggies, especially when putting small and tiny seeds in them. I do my best to reduce my plastic consumption as well. The gallon ziploc bags I use to cover my containers for WS, all get dried in the sun, packed up and reused till they can't be reused again. Usually at least 2 WS seasons and sometimes more. The same with the glad press and seal that I use for WS as well. Printer paper is a non issue in my house as well, the printer is well used and going at least 3 times a week for various things and hubby's work. I print out at least 800 packets in less than 2 hours during the summer months and know what my gardens will produce in seeds, so the cutting, folding, labeling is done long before the seeds are collected. And yes, if the printer is not used once a week, you damage the printer heads, clog them up and need new ones. May as well be printing out seed packets to keep the printer heads running. Fran

Again, I wanted to add, for those of you who want to do both the bulbs and the seeds, they will be prepared around the same time so all of your stuff will be mailed together. heh, is there an echo in here?

I like them in individual envelopes and ready to go to the next person. I buy small plastic bags in the wedding department at Walmart for mine. As long as the seeds are dry they work fine. If someone has asked you for a specific thing and they are part of the swap, just put their name on that envelope that you send in. Yes, I volunteered to do the swap. It is a MUST to include your gardenweb USERNAME in your package. I will post as I receive things, and at the specified mailout time, I will post that they are being mailed. George suggested the number of seeds (25) for the swap. Now would someone like to specify the number of packets to send. Understand that you can send more than that if you want, but not less than the specified amount of packages. Just tell me what you want done with the excess, or otherwise I will just divide it up for everyone. Ilene, the old postage rate of $1.14 was the parcel post rate and sometimes you have to get a little tough with the post office over it. Seeds can travel in a bubble mailer as "large envelope rate" as long as you keep the envelope from being more than 3/4 inch thick. That might mean that you have to tape your bags to a piece of paper before you slide them in the mailer to keep them from shifting around. When you ship "large envelope rate" they will push the envelope through a template to make sure it is not too thick. I guess my feeling about the cost is this: Even if it cost $1.50 each way to get your seeds, you get to try a lot of things for $3.00. A lot of packages of seed cost that much or more, and some of them don't even have 25 seeds in them. Some of you are seed savers and can select right from your own plants. Others of us buy too many and have plenty to share. Some need only a few seed of one type for the season and the others don't get used. I think it is nice to be able to try a few of a variety to see if you like it or if it does well in your garden, before you invest in a bigger quantity....hot peppers come to mind. I would love to have dozens of ancho peppers, but a couple of chili peppers is plenty for me to plant in a season. This year I have about 3 dozen pepper plants, but they are probably 8 or 9 varities. This also provides a challenge for those people who don't normally plant from seed, and an opportunity for those who do to add a few new things to their garden. How many packs????? Also, I would like to limit it to everything being mailed in the same week to ten days, so I don't have them at my house forever. If we set a date, like mail between Nov 1st and 10th, then I could have them all on the way back to you by Thanksgiving and they wouldn't be in my way for the holidays. I think some of you will still be saving seed in October so we probably need to go later rather than earlier. Ideas?