The box was delivered upside down. Apparently the bottom came open, so the carrier turned the box over and delivered it upside down and open as seen above. There was only one small strip of tape used on the bottom of the box, and this was a heavy package. It is little wonder that the tape split and the box came open.The seller used masking tape on the top of the box, and even the tape on the top of the box was torn.
Since the box arrived completely open, I had a sinking feeling that some of the books were missing. I was very surprised when I counted the books and found that all of them made it to me. The books may have been damaged by banging around in the box without any type of packing material, but I do not see anything obvious.
It is times like this when I wonder why I bother to pack well. It seems that I could just throw a bunch of books in a box, put a small strip of tape on the box, and send the box on its way. Only if I did that, the box would probably get destroyed in transit. I wouldn't get away with it. Besides, I like to do things the right way.
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Update: I finally went through the books and was very pleased with what I found. I bought this lot because I knew from the seller's picture that the books were all early or first printing Nancy Drew picture covers that list either to Fire Dragon or Pine Hill on the back cover. I have explained in some of my posts called "Buyer Confusion on Nancy Drew" how it is possible to determine the age of Nancy Drew books by observing the external appearance of the books. By what the spines looked like in the seller's picture, I knew what I would be getting. I never asked the seller a single question, but I knew with certainty how old the books were.
As I expected nearly every book lists to Fire Dragon on the back cover and just a few list to Whistling Bagpipes or Pine Hill. I knew the books were in excellent condition, which is why I bought them. With this lot, I upgraded twelve of my first printing picture covers. It is quite unusual for me to upgrade more than one book when I buy a lot like this one. I also upgraded my copy of Whistling Bagpipes with the trifold ad. The lot also contained Clue in the Diary with the 1932 text; I was unable to upgrade it since the book from this lot is in worse condition than the one I already had.
All in all, this is an outstanding group of early and first printing Nancy Drew picture covers, and they deserved to be better packaged than they were. It would have been a shame if some of the books had gone missing due to the open box.
1 comment:
My guess is that this box was not mailed from a major city. The "Media Mail" stickers tell me that the person had to have taken it to the PO rather than just dropping it in an automatic machine, but none of the four post offices which I use regularly in my metropolitan area would have accepted it with just masking tape! Even duct tape is rejected. (I haven't tried either myself, but I do see lots of problems while waiting in line.)
The chances are very great that these books would not have made it to me safely since often my packages are water-soaked. So I *really* appreciate the excellent job which Jennifer does!
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