SASE SUGGESTION

I just have a little suggestion, for when people send their padded, SASE's.

You can send the padded SASE, by itself, with the postage inside, and the person can re-use the envelope to send you your seeds. What would be very helpful, when doing this, though, would: write small enough so the person can cover up the original destination with a regular sized address label, or use a regular sized address label to begin with, that can easily be covered up.

I have received some SASE's in the past where the writing was so huge on the envelope, I had to plaster many white labels all over the envelope, to cover it up, to prepare to re-use and send.

White-out is easier!

Instructions on how to trade seeds can be found in the Trading Primer, see link below:

http://davesgarden.com/trading_primer/3/

Hope this is helpful :)

i send a label or card so it can merely be taped on to the old envelope.....

and put the sase postage in the envelope.

I have often wondered how many times an envelope can be reused.. as ive even used the back and covered all of the front when it looks messy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't like to use whiteout on yellow envelopes either - Just looks so tacky!

and dont forget any envelope or package has to have some stickers... flowers, etc.......................

Spray adhesive & 8 x 11 typing paper covers the whole front

cool idea tooo.. Ive heard of packages getting lost, as they are messy so its nice to have such good ideas...

One of the best hints is to just tape the envelope closed (if it is a new one) so the person can use the envelope's own stick-um when sending it back. Also, sending an address label that will cover the one on the envelope is a great time-saver. It is nice to make it as easy as possible for the person offering the seeds for sase. Including a list of what you are asking for, along with your dave'sgarden name and real name and address is also helpful. And sending a surprise package of seeds along for the ride is a nice gesture. Remember if the envelope is over 1/4 inch thick, extra postage is needed.

with that clear packaging tape on the address and stamp areas as well as sealing it with the tape on the first mailing you can often carefully peel off the stamp and labels.

A quick once-over with an iron will remove most adhesive labels. Or if you use a small, standard mailing label, the next person can simply cover yours with theirs if it's the same size.

As to white-out being tacky...well, I suspect if we asked our mail carriers, they'd much rather have an envelope slathered in white-out than one that they're not quite sure which address is the one they're supposed to deliver to, and what information they're supposed to disregard ;o)

Frankly,
I have used all of the above ideas and they all work, lol

Larkie

I think my original suggestion of "writing small" would help a great deal, so that there is less on the envelope to cover up, by whatever means you use to cover up with.

all in all, I'd say gardeners are a creative bunch!! :)

OH ISNT THIS FUN.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think i've used just about all of the methods above
i've received padded envelopes that had definitely seen better days!
reusing is great, though... imo
i've covered envelopes with regular typing paper to make them look better, and i've performed 'surgery' on some envelopes that had been taped back together, and the tape was peeling off, so someone put more tape ontop of the tape that was peeling..
weird stuff, sometimes, but it works! (for the most part, atleast)
i try to reuse padded envelopes as much as possible:
when i receive them, i peel off all labels and tape and put them in my "packing materials box" with all of my envelopes, labels, tape, pens, markers and other stuff i use for packing up plants and seeds
i really prefer when people use labels as opposed to writing on the envelopes, but if you're gonna write, i agree, please do it small (but legible!) so it can be covered easily
hrm.. i think i've rambled sufficiently now :)

Kim

yes there is an art to keeping those envelopes looking presentable....
and making sure that they make it to their destination.

Don't put tape over stamps. The post office people told me stamps are no good if they cannot be read by the machine.