I send cards, art prints and gift tags through the mail daily. They go to our wonderful wholesale customers, our Etsy customers and those that order from our website. I am at the post office daily, sometimes I visit more than one post office a day.
I will be honest that the shipping process with carriers is not always seamless. So, I can't imagine that it is perfect for those sending greeting cards or gifts to loved ones through the mail either.
What could go wrong? Let me be completely honest with you and share some of the issues we've had in the past. We strive to do everything we can to prevent these but some things are literally out of our hands after we drop packages off at the post office.
1. It can take a long time
It seems to depend on the day, the weather and what else is going on in the country. There could be a hurricane in Florida that is slowing the overall USPS process down or maybe Colorado got a huge snowstorm and a package is stuck there. It always surprises me when a package gets to the East Coast faster than it goes to southern California (just a short drive from where we're at!).
2. You never know who's touching it (ew, germs)
In the land of COVID times, you never know who has touched your package. The delivery person could have sneezed right before they brought it to your door. Gross to think about but this could happen!
3. It could get lost or damaged
USPS tries to be diligent with scanning packages at each location but sometimes they get missed! I've had packages go to Maine and they were only scanned at the final destination. I'm sure they had many stops on the way!
I've had packages returned even though the mailing address was correct. Some kind of USPS mix up happens and they think the address was wrong. This obviously caused delays but we get the card right back out in the mail with faster shipping than ordered.
And you never know if they put something heavy on top of the box and smash it or it gets damaged in the elements. We add cardboard and plenty of packaging paper to our boxes to help them not get bent or smashed but we can't control all delivery mishaps!
While we wish we were in the shipping business, because there is a ton of business for them these days, we do everything we can to make the shipping process quick and painless. We have a backlog of supply that I box up the same day and drop off at the post office. Unless it's nighttime, then I'll wait for the sun to support me.
Check out all the amazing products we could ship to your door quickly (or at least get it to the post office quickly) on our product page!
