I had 5 from TFAW arrive to me today in a gemini style mailer (replacements).
I do the same moving things to biweekly. Although I did have one of their boxes arrive with 20 damaged books that I posted about here. They were quick to refund me. Easy to work with.
The point is in my experiences TFAW is the only online comic book store that ships in these flimsy mailers. But they charge the same price for comics and shipping as the big boys, so why can’t they get with the program?
I believe they lose more business when people see those flimsy mailers than they get repeat business. If I can get something somewhere else for approximate the same price I do.
Sounds like 5 is the book quantity that kicks you up from the flimsy mailer with TFAW to something more substantial. I had four books arrive yesterday, and magically they are all in good condition. I have no idea how, though, as that mailer provides little protection. If they weren’t bagged/boarded, no chance.
I think my next order is 4. Yikes. Gotta pick another book quick.
Added a Batman 98 A. Fingers crossed. 
Don’t forget to add bags and board…I think they shoved 5 Books in a flimsy mailer
Once.
Why would i opt out of bags and boards? Because, in particular with Marvel, the ink of the back of books rubs off onto the backing boards when packed tight. Doesn’t seem to occur when it’s just comics stacked together.
I was more successful avoiding damaged books going with the non boarded option,
Personally.
I’ve had single books show up in the rigid mailer without bag and board (forgot to click the box at checkout) show up flawless before… just all depends on the mail carrier handling them or if they get stuck in a sorting machine, getting banged up by other packages flowing through until someone notices…
Backing boards don’t help in that case, IMO. So I choose for them to be delivered “naked.”
Not necessarily from TFAW, but I’ve gotten many comics that were saved by the silver age board taking the hit and the comic not touching the corner. If the comics were shipped unboarded, the comic would’ve taken the hit.
And TFAW does use silver age on all books which I do appreciate being my go to style.
Modern boards are a waste, in my opinion. It leaves the book exposed. A fresh silver bag and board is always my preference.
I haven’t used modern in forever. Silver all the way for me. Now they have the resealable bags which are ok. Saves on scotch tape orders to Costco I guess.
I’ve had a few accidents with that tape. I don’t care for the self seals. I just remove tape entirely now from the bag when removing a comic.
As of now, the policy is roughly ~4-5 comics gets sent in cardboard. Likely 4 if they’re bagged and boarded. It’s mainly dependent on the weight and being pushed to the slower and more expensive Ground vs BPM Expedited.
If ANY comic in the order is $8 or higher, it should be sent in a cardboard mailer even if it’s a single issue.
I love some of the new features in the pre-order options but a really cool one I think would be a minimum book amount. Like, I can put in say a value of 5… If the next order doesnt have a minimum of 5 books (so a cardboard mailer is used), it will skip and wait until there are 5 or more from future pre-orders.
All my venom 1:25 variants were sent in flimsy mailers. But that was a year ago. Has anyone been getting boxes with more expensive issues?
Yeah, but that could go one of two ways.
One way is that if you want your books faster, buy more books…that would be to TFAW benefit, obviously.
The other way is that someone like me who doesn’t order for a while has a book sitting there for months because they didn’t buy a 5th book…and TFAW is stuck with it.
So there has to be a limit, I would think. Like if there are not other books on pre-order over the course of the next 3 Weeks it gets shipped out as is.
I still think if it’s a cost thing why TFAW doesnt ship in boxes, then make it a solution that addresses cost. As in, passes that cost onto the consumer.
“Comic shipments less than 4 shipped in box?
Yes = add $1.00 per shipment
No = no added cost (defaults to current process).
I would think TFAW would want to conduct a survey before investing in such a change as I’m sure there’s software updates involved. Shouldn’t make big complicated changes to such things without demonstrating a desire/need from the customers.
Hey, Maybe @agentpoyo can offer his services for future purchases!
Yes, I have.
Perhaps if you have a limit of say, 5 books minimum and you sit there there for a month without adding any additional, after X amount of days they can charge and send you the books. I’d say a month is sufficient.
The rules for the more expensive variants is something I pushed for a few months ago, so anything pre-COVID likely still followed whatever the previous rules were. If anyone has ordered a single book that’s more expensive in the last few months and had it sent in an envelope mailer, please let me know.
As for making it an option to upgrade to a cardboard mailer, as I mentioned that’s something we’re discussing. The problem is our site has a lot of custom code and modifications to work with all the various systems needed to do things like have pre-orders, place backorders, etc. So any change that impacts the way orders are placed or charged touches a lot more things and requires more developer work than you’d think.
