Guys, I'm addressing an issue that's come up a few times since I opened orders for the Joe Posters.

A few people wrote to say their posters arrived with some bent edges, and that confused me since I was very careful with each poster and I taped each mailing tube shut to prevent loss or tampering.

But I saw a recent photo posted by Jinx723 on Hisstank.com (Thank you!), and although nobody on that forum thread said much about it, I do see the issue and I will take steps to prevent this. http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-joe-general-discussion/342314-awesome-g-i-joe-poster.html

When each poster is rolled up in the tube, the top and bottom sides are facing the ends of the tubes and have some wiggle room. With an excess of activity during whatever sorting and processing that USPS does, that wiggle room might become a liability. It probably could have been avoided with foam blocks or bubble blisters on each side.

Sorry, guys, I've never actually mailed tubes before, so I didn't anticipate the amount of abuse to expect  during shipment. From this point on I'll be adding bubble wrap on each side of the mailing tubes to lock the posters in safely.

On reflection, however, I'm glad I left a quarter-inch border around each picture as a buffer zone for just this kind of unpredictable stuff.

I've had a number of requests from different countries regarding International shipping. That is a great surprise and I continue to be amazed and humbled at this. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to reply to everyone about this, but I wanted to nail down a few more details before considering it.

I discussed International Rates with my local Post Office crew regarding First Class deliveries, and the shipping cost is an incredible jump, even for something as small as a mailing tube.

I'm afraid with my current schedule I can't take the time to separate shipping costs to each country, but it appears the cost doesn't fluctuate much between countries, so I just took an average and that's what I'll use for the following expenses. Whenever possible I'll include Delivery Confirmation.

The estimates for sending a single 11x17 poster Internationally are as follows:

$1.50   - Mailing tube
$15.50 - First Class shipping
$1.50   - Misc. overhead (materials, printing, etc)
$18.50 - TOTAL

I'm posting these estimates here first, before I even consider putting up a new Paypal button, so you guys can mull this over. After looking at this breakdown of costs, I'd like to hear from anyone still interested in International Orders.

And by the way, if anyone has suggestions for reducing this shipping cost, please send me a Note. I'm happy to research other options but I have to work within my own schedule and any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers!

It's been awhile since my last update, but this announcement is important for anyone planning to order a poster starting Monday, May 6th.

The arrangement I had with the printing service for the previous expense of $0.50 per poster has ended, and the rate has now gone up to $1.50 per poster. I apologize for this sudden change and to be honest it caught me off-guard, too. I simply hadn't anticipated the sheer number of requests pouring in over the last month and that allotment exceeded the special rate I'd originally arranged, by a really wide margin.

However, I can assure everyone that the printing quality will remain the same as before, and I've updated the new breakdowns on the "Storefront" page.

The other change is to Canadian orders.

Something I hadn't mentioned before, to avoid confusion, was that Paypal always takes their percentage of every payment I receive and they do it instantly. To offset that I was folding the Paypal fees into the shipping expenses that I listed for each U.S. and Canadian order, so nothing would be cut from the final shipping coverage.

Unfortunately, I miscalculated this percentage for the Canadian orders and I have to correct that. I apologize, guys, but as I've said before I'm only asking whatever is required to cover the final costs, and these adjustments were solely to cover your own payments.

So the new Domestic Total is now $6 and the new Canada Total is now $11.50 for each poster.

As always, I love reading every Comment and Note from each Joe fan, and I'm happy to address any questions about these changes.

Cheers!