We've had the winter from hell here.  I haven't been able to get to the post office for about a week, and came home last night in the middle of a huge thunderstorm with a pile of PBS packages.  As I was making a dash for the house, lightning hit nearby, I don't know if it threw me or I just jumped out of my skin, but I, and all my packages, went flying in the driveway -- with water three to six inches deep. 

It took awhile to get me back up, then to find the flashlight and go out and "rescue" all the packages, so they were soaking for a bit with all the rain and puddles.  I left them to dry out last night before I even tried to open them, but I was just sick that whole time wondering what I would find inside. 

Not a *single* book suffered *any* damage from this catastrophe!!!  Not ONE!!!!  They are all dry as a bone.  While most of them were wrapped in plastic, the ones that weren't were absolutely smoothered in tape. 

This had nothing to do with being lucky.  This was all about the thoughfulness of the people who sent these books to me. 

So tape away.  You won't hear even a suggestion of a complaint from me. 

Kris, while it is wonderful the books weren't wet, I'm hoping and happy that you weren't hurt in the fall...

As an avid taper, that is wonderful to hear about the books.  Are you ok? 

Sorry I didn't add something about that -- never occured to me!  It's a gravel driveway, so there's some scrapes and bruises, and I'm walking a little sideways -- LOL!  But nothing a little time won't fix.  Teeth, bones -- all intact.  :-D

I guess I can honestly say the books weathered the storm a lot better than my pride did!  LOL!!!

Thanks for asking!  :-) 

Your post may have inspired some empathy within me. I am one of the complainers regarding overtaping. I have lived in Florida my entire life and have only seen snow once (we always vacation in tropical climates). Also, I am 24 and do not watch the news. So I think I'm just oblivious to what packages may encounter. I think the people who send my packages taped well enough to last a flood are from up north. I do not overtape because to me, it's summer and will be summer until at least October. Then, even when it's winter, we are wearing short sleeved shirts by noon. So I apologize for my lack of realization. I will become a better taper from now on.

I too don't mind that litle extra tape :)  I have learned how to carefully nip an end with the scissors and get the book out safely.  I prefer that, to having one get soaked for whatever reason.....

A plastic bag inside around the book will be just as good as taping the outside completely.

I use plastic around the book AND tape it up with a pound of tape.  The tape reinforces the edges and the corners of the package and helps stabilize the book as well as maintaining the integrity of the wrapping and helping to waterproof the package.

A plastic bag inside around the book will be just as good as taping the outside completely.

I realize my graceful experience is pretty unusual, but I don't think some of them would have come out so well in this one case, what with all the rocks, and a spectacular launch -- some of them traveled a good distance!  LOL! 

Even if you live in Florida - you have hurricanes that bring lots of rain and other bad weather.  Those in the southwest have a "monsoon" season.  And the midwest has tornadoes that usually bring rain and hail. So there's always weather no matter where you are.  Not all outdoor mailboxes are very weather-tight.  And then theres the PO (mis)handling obstacle course that these books wrapped in 2 sheets of bond paper have to endure.  I say this because today I got a book that had it's PBS wrapper ripped to shreds.  Thanks to the sender who did wrap the book in plastic and tape the wrapper to the plastic or I'd bet it wouldn't have gotten here.  Besides that, although she put a normal amount of tape on the book, the PO had managed to twist the book to the point that it's a little - well, twisted!  Really it's warped now.  I won't be putting it back into the PBS system.  I can still read it - and will do so, but a little more tape MIGHT (can't say for certain) have helped to prevent this.  It's a 500+ page book so there had to have been a very heavy package twisting it out of shape for a long time somewhere!   Its definitely the PO's fault not the sender's.  I didn't file a RWAP.

The ONLY books I've ever had ruined by rain came a day when we had the FIRST and ONLY rain shower in 3 months!  lol   I'm not sure what my mail carrier was doing that day but those books were soaked!     Even in sunny, wonderful San Diego, we do have rain NOW AND THEN.

lol I should print this out for my husband to read! lol

He has complained at how much tape I use up! lol Even my kids have said "Mom! That is enough!" or "Bet know one will get that one open!" lol

I can't tell you how many times I have gotten envolopes or packages saying "Recieved damaged and opened in (name of my city)". I have been pretty annoyed at the little effort the person put in taping them. I've had a lot marked "Recieved unsealed" too.

But my last straw was when one post man left a book I had carefully wrapped or so I thought outside someones house. While it was sitting on the porch some animal peed on it. The person wrote me back a very nasty message thinking I had mailed it that way! But after some talking to her I found out it had sat outside unattended and sent my cats can't jump into my mailbox that was the only thing that could have happened. lol So the book was damaged due & smelled.

So since then I make a point to wrap each book in a plastic bag and use plenty of tape on the outside.

I am glad to know that if my packages happen to land in water they' may survive.

Ruth, leave the book out on the table overnite. I got a book twisted once, and I put it aside, not knowing what to do with it, and miraculously it untwisted itself.

Thank you , Jan.  It isn't on my priority TBR pile...!   Lots of books to read before that one..so it will definitely have time to resume it's normal shape. :)

Living here in New England - weather is unpredicable! We could have snow one day and 70 degrees the next - When I first started I always wrapped my books in plastic wrap (never could find any other use for it in the kitchen - it doesn't stick to anything but itself!) AND used as much tape as I could.

I have since upgraded to bubble wrappers - They are so much easier to use and I always appreciate when I receive a book in one, because if it's brand new, I can get another use out of it - and all I have to do is tape the label on it and stick it in the mail! ;)

I'm an extreme taper....I always wonder when wrapping a book, is this too much . Guess I'll keep taping away.

Kris said: Teeth, bones -- all intact.

And obviously your sense of humor survived quite well, too! :-)

Sometimes I feel like I need a sledgehammer to get into books taped more securely than Fort Knox, but I'm grateful people put so much work, elbow grease, and money into wrapping. My mailbox doesn't hold much, so my books are often left on my doorstep in bad weather.

The sad fact is that I'm not as worried about the bad weather as I am worried that some book hungry neighbor may hop to my apartment doorstep and run off with my books while my husband or I am asleep or away. :)

I tape my books like a fiend because I received a couple of books damamged by rain en route, and it *sucked*.  Those books had flimsy packaging.  I don't want that happening to anyone who gets books from me.

I try to strike a balance between too much tape and not enough. I don't mummify the packages but I don't put a minimum of tape on either. Too much or too little tape is really subjective. To me, if I get a book that's been hermetically sealed in tape, I'd say that that's too much, though it's always gratifying to get a perfectly dry book as a result. If, on the other hand, someone sends me a manila envelope with a strip of tape across the flap and no plastic to protect it from getting wet, then that's much too little.

I like the idea that someone had on the other "Pound of Tape" thread to mark an untaped area where the requestor can slide scissors in to open the packaging. I think I will start doing that.