What Went Wrong with the Mailing

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What Went Wrong with the Mailing?

(6) The flaps of some envelopes stuck, heat-welded as they came out of the laser printer.

This Time: I cut a few sheets of paper into one-inch-wide slips and placed them in between the gummed layers; this prevented the envelopes from gluing themselves (I have had only limited success with the microwave-oven technique).

I started off by guillotining an eleven-inch sheet of used paper into eight strips. Each strip was eight-and-a-half inches wide and was therefore just under the width of an envelope.

Placing the strip, well-hidden, under the envelope flap is a few seconds work, but means that I’ll no longer wreck and envelope by trying to un-gum the flap after it has been heat-welded shut. And THAT means no more breaks-in-the-sequence that have to be carefully managed during the fold-and-stuff phase of the operation.

(I live in dread of stuffing 200+ envelopes and finding at the end that I am “out” by one letter. Where did I get out of step? It’s like standing up to make a speech and discovering that you offset your shirt buttons this morning.)

The envelopes are thus about one-third thicker, so I can fit one-third less in the tray, but it is still a batch of 40 of 50 envelopes at a time.

Once the envelopes are collected from the hopper, I stand them on edge, sharply, on the desk, and most of the slips fall out. I fan the envelopes to winkle out any remaining slips.

If I miss a slip it is no big deal; I just have one less slip for the next batch of envelopes, and the slip will re-appear once I start the stuffing operation.

Toronto and Mississauga, Sunday, December 05, 2010 3:27 PM