The situation got taken care of...thanks to everyone who replied

Did you say that it was damaged by the USPS or by the sender. The sender used less than stellar packaging but the damage is the POs fault. If you said the PO was at fault then you did the right thing. It does suck to get a damaged package I once got a book that had been sitting in the bottom of a mail bag that was full of water.

Id send a note to the sender to let them know that their packaging wasnt very good and give them tips on how to package better. Like using brown grocery bags or heavy wrapping paper and using a layer of plastic.

If the packaging got wet (not the sender's fault), that could have caused it to rip.  Even heavy bubble mailers will rip if they get really wet.  I would probably mark it "damaged by USPS."

I did mark as damaged by the post.  The sender got right back to me, so everything is taken care of.