I have gotten more brutal in terms of selling out of my library and hence I have run out of padded envelopes. No problem. I now make my own. Freecyclers seem to collect bubblewrap (as do I) so the first thing is to ask for some. People usually have so much they are glad to get rid of it. I then wrap the book with bubble wrap using a few pieces of scotch tape.

For the envelope, I take a used paper grocery bag and cut out a side. Then I wrap the bubblewraped book like a present using generous amounts of packing tape. The address can be written directly on the paperbag.

This is the method I use for amazon book sales. For paperbackswap and swaptree I use an inferior method without the bubblewrap (it’s in finite supply). In that case, I put the book in a plastic bag (here Walmart) and then wrap it with the paper bag. The reason I don’t use only the paper bag is that the coloring on the paper bag might rub off onto the book.

So there you have it. No more envelopes.

For smaller envelopes such as paying bills, sending letters, etc. see this post about envelope recycling.

Originally posted 2008-08-13 07:32:18.