mailing flies

[Polarbear78 0]

How do you mail your flies when in a swap? Up til now I just have used an envelope, but thinking theres gotta be a better way...just don't wanna spend too much. Thinking about an altoids tin....how would I mail that though? Wouldn't it be too big for a regular letter envelope?

[Mr. Vegas 0]

use an altoid tin and a small padded envelope. You can get them at walmart for 5 for a couple bucks

[Chris Patterson 0]

I just send an old fly box in one of the flat rate priority mail boxes. Turns out to be about ten bucks for the round trip.

[Mr. Vegas 0]

I have used the small priority and they work great! A pain to put together but work great

[Flytyer14 0]

I use tins and stuff with an envelope...there like 64 cents at Target.

[Chase Creek 0]

I've always used an Altoid tinm mailed in an unpadded 6x9 manila envelope, the cheap kind with the metal

clasp thingy that bends over to keep it closed. I lick the gummed flap, close it, bend the metal thingy over, and then put a strip of scotch tape over the flap, covering the metal thingy. Someone at the local post office told me to do the tape thing to prevent the clasp from getting goofed up in the sorting machines. Made sense to me.

Have been in 57 swaps and never had a problem.

[NJ All Day 0]

I use a Altoids can inside of a padded manila envelope, for those i pay about $1.50 each way... and you can get about 10 envelopes from walmart for like 3 bucks.

[bigdewy 0]

I'd definitely go with the clasp envelope, whether padded or not is up to the individual. That way you can send it "First Class" mail which will run you around $1.50 each direction as opposed to Priority Mail which will be 3 to 4 times that amount for the exact same service. First class & Priority get the same treatment. :headbang:

 

 

[Mr. Vegas 0]

I've always used an Altoid tinm mailed in an unpadded 6x9 manila envelope, the cheap kind with the metal

clasp thingy that bends over to keep it closed. I lick the gummed flap, close it, bend the metal thingy over, and then put a strip of scotch tape over the flap, covering the metal thingy. Someone at the local post office told me to do the tape thing to prevent the clasp from getting goofed up in the sorting machines. Made sense to me.

Have been in 57 swaps and never had a problem.

 

57?? WOW!

[snowranch 0]

Yep, tin and mailer. I usually buy mine at the post office $1.09 plus first class postage for about $1.50 and a couple bucks for return postage (don't forget the return postage), total of five bucks, quick and easy.

[flytire 0]

altoid tins can only get you so far. try putting 12 deer hair bass flies in an altoid tin without destroying them.

 

altoid tins = small flies

 

small bead storage box = dry flies and everything else

 

 

i use the purple one in the corner. about 3.5 x 5.5 x .75 and $1.29 at the big box craft store

 

 

vhs tape box = the largest flies

 

 

 

whatever container you use you need to size your padded envelope accordingly. the return envelope only needs to fit your box but the sending envelope needs to fit the box and the return envelope.

 

postage - i dont send swap flies in those shipping boxes. too much money. insert the swap box into your return envelope and ask the postal person for return postage from the zip code you are sending the swap flies to. affix the stamps to that envelope. do not seal the return envelope. insert that envelope into the sending envelope and seal it up. get the postage from the postal person. this will be a metered stamp of some kind. pay the postage.

[morfrost 0]

I make a shipping box out of old photo matt scraps and foam core board. The Matt scraps are cut to the size I want to form the top and bottom and foam core strips make up the sides. These strips are about 1/4" square, cut to suit and are glued to the matt bottom with Krazy Glue. The top ( lid) is secured to the box with a hinge made out of Duct Tape. I also cut small squares out of foam core board and glue them to the bottom matt board to stick the flies into for shipment. All this gets slipped into a padded mailer envelope for mailing.

 

You can easily make a 2 compartment box with 3 pieces of matt board and 2 sets of foam core strips sandwiched between the matt boards to send even more flies out.

 

I asked a local framing shop to save me their scraps and I got a nice sized box full at no cost, since they only throw out their waste. Foam core board is cheap too, availble at Craft and Dollae stores.

 

Plenty strong for the job at hand and don't weigh much, so this keeps the postage charges down.

[rich5665 0]

I use Altoids Tins, a 6x9 regular mailer when sending stuffed with a padded 4x6 envelope for the return trip. Postage on average has been $1.35. I usually go a little extra on the return postage, just in case.

[Polarbear78 0]

Thanks for all the input! Just wanted to know if I was doing something wrong with out anyone telling me. Think I'm gonna try using the larger manilla envelopes!

[JohnP 0]

As someone who has hosted a few swaps, let me put in a pitch for the altoids tin and simple toe tags, for most trout- and panfish-sized flies. While I appreciate the effort that some people put into creatively packaging their flies, it can really create headaches for the swapmeister in trying to fit the flies into the return envelopes provided by the other swappers.