First, I would like to say I agree with you on the bubble mailers. When you consider the cost of damage of items being mailed the cost of bubble mailers would be insignificant. I question how many of those eBay sellers that use standard envelopes would replace a chip if it was cracked when it arrived. I have seen many eBay ads in the past where the seller specifically states that they are not responsible for damaged merchandise unless you pay for insurance. Over priced insurance I might add. Then they send you the chip in a standard envelope. I don't usally take insurance because my purchases are inexpensive and I can afford the risk. From my experience if you use bubble mailers the need for insurance dramatically decreases. I have actually seen some dealers, most in fact, who reinforce the envelope with Packing tape on the ends and edges. I, can't even open them sometimes. There is almost no way they could accidentally open and have the chips fall out.

Your issue though seems more like theft. While an envelope can tear open, Bubble Mailers usually don't, you mentioned that the envelope appeared to be sliced open. A bubble mailer can be deliberately cut into also. I would make a complaint to the Postal Service. If the cut is clean and not a tear than I would think the tokens were stolen. If it was ripped or otherwise damaged the tokens could have fallen out of the holder. Assuming a cut as you discribed the problem, I would think that would be from the post office or someone has been able to intercept outgoing mail from the seller or incoming to you and knowing or suspecting the contents has taken the tokens. This is one reason why I am now more happy that I use a P.O. Box. First off people don't know my address so they would be less likely to target me and steal or tamper with my packages and secondly, when receiving shipments there are only two places that my mail can be stolen or damaged or searched. In transit by the Postal Service or by the seller. If the seller hand delivered the package to the PO or gave it to a letter carrier than there is no question that it would be an employee of the postal service that committed the offence. In my case, my mail does not sit in a mailbox where anyone can get to it before me. I would also mention regarding a statement to follow, With a P.O. Box someone can not go through and search your mail for information like types of magazine subscriptions, bills etc.

I am going into this detail because I think it is important that everyone think about security when it comes to their chips etc. Maybe I am of a paranoid personality but I see a lot of mention here of things that I would be uncomfortable with. It should be remembered that this board and eBay are public forums and that there may be people out there casing for opportunities to steal some coins or chips. I recall a friend who had coin collections stolen several times. It was mentioned that the thieves had gotten his name and address from magazine subscriptions to coin magazines and knew he would be a good target. I have also heard of people on eBay who follow collectables auctions harvesting information of known collectors to target. There are many ways they do this from looking at people who use their full email address as their user name to selling non existant collectables to get addresses, check numbers and credit card numbers. Posting information here like addresses, phone numbers, travel plans etc. can be valuable information to thieves who will then know when you are traveling and away from home, where you are staying etc. You should transmit this kind of info through email to those you know. I do see many people do this. They will make contact here then say Email me your address or something like that. Bubble mailers do have one drawback. They are a dead give away of the contents of an envelope when arriving to a known collector. The key is to either have a secure mail drop or not let info out there that would make you a noticable target for thieves. None of this may be relevent to the actual incident described in this thread but there have been a few incidents recently that make me question how carful some people are about the safety and security of their collections.

There have been two posts in the last 6 (?) months about stolen collections. One was at a coin show where someone knew that there was a collection in a hotel room while the owner was at breakfast. I remember this because there were a few jewelry thefts in my area at the same time. A radio talk show was talking about them and it was mentioned of how organized thieves can be. They know about the types of briefcases that the salesmen had and could spot them walking down the street. One guy mentioned how that is why he carried his samples in a simple non descript backpack. I had also seen many posts about info of where certain dealers and collectors were going to be during the convention. When they were arriving etc. All that just seems to concern me a little.

Hope this information can be helpful. I hope people are all safe out there.

Bill Schelhas