Nope not the only one. I'm with you. Boxes are much more likely to sneak through without damage than long flat pieces of cardboard.

Joe, if you've got old B/W photos of pennants in action, I think you should post'em :)

Cornell had to have some of the best pennants ever made in the early 20th century. They were like the Detroit Tigers of the collegiate pennant market!

That is a nice looking pennant. What year was the pennant produced?

Thank you.

I just had to deal with this and figured we should brainstorm ideas. Unfortunately I think loosely rolling is the only solution. If anyone has any other suggestions I’m all ears. J

I received a pennant just today (from eBay). It was a 29" pennant in a 25" flat box. And yes.... 4" of the tip was sticking out of the box with no protection whatsoever.

Seems like eBay sellers are getting even more clueless (if that's even possible).

I got surprised by this on Monday at the post office and bit the bullet on a $39.90 shipping charge (included additional insurance). Yesterday, I was playing around on UPS.com and assuming I used their quote feature correctly, the same package with the same insurance would've been only $23.

Now there's an idea. It's only a matter of time before people start folding pennants...though that wasn't entirely uncommon before this surcharge started.

I imagine free shipping will become obsolete for most pennants...probably quite a few eBay sellers will learn the hard way before adjusting their listings.

Rob,
I don’t use it, but if you are buying the insurance I’ve heard you’re much better off getting an umbrella policy for sellers through one of the hobby specific insurance companies. USPS is pretty much worthless for insurance. Have you ever received money on a claim?

I received money on a USPS claim for a situation similar to what Mark described, of a flat-shipped pennant that had holes in the packaging and pennant. Clear damage on the pennant matching the holes in the packaging. Because I was the buyer, it was easy to show what I had paid on ebay.

I've heard that the process is much more difficult for the stuff that goes missing. They just keep saying that it is delayed.

Knock on wood...I'm almost afraid to say this because I heard that package I sent on Monday was delivered to the wrong address. Still waiting to hear all is good on it....but I have never had to file a claim with the USPS. Again...Knock on wood.