++The 'here's hoping' traveling teabox!! SIGN UPS are now CLOSED

I have no idea on the shipping costs. I didn’t want to go by weight, since I have no way to weigh it until I got to the post office. I sent another teabox a couple months ago that was maybe 2/3 this size, to the other side of the country (meaning the shipping zone furthest from me) and it cost $11+ I think. That’s why I’m thinking I won’t include a small notebook with it, and just have everyone update what they add and take out of the box here. After I ship it to the first person, I will post the weight and the cost, but it will vary in weight and cost from person to person.

What about one of those standard shipping ones, then people can cram it as much as they want and as long as it closes, it ships! Then, plus, if one box gets banged up it’s easy to replace?

Great idea, Madeline!

Do you know if they have one around the size I mentioned for $10? 10 × 11.5 × 7 inches? You’d know more than I do about it!

Edited to add: But the previous example was one I mailed to the furthest zone. It might be cheaper than $10 to a closer zone.

For something as light as tea, a flat rate box will probably be really pricy compared to non-flat rate unless you’re shipping all the way across the country.

i think they have a small box for about 5.00 not sure on size. Alpha you are probably right on the weight basis. i just like boxes because they usually hold up better in the shipping system.

There’s a few advantages to the flat rate boxes:
1) Weight doesn’t matter and the price is fixed, so people can throw heavy stuff in there and not worry about the weight
2) Automatically comes with tracking
3) Can easily be replaced if old box gets too beat up.

When I had the last tea box in my possession, we didn’t have to use priority, but I ended up shipping it that way since the cost was pretty much the same. I used the already established tea box, though.

I should read entire thread next time before responding Haha :-x

How fun! It looks like some great teas were shared.

So is the idea to throw in a larger quantity of one or more of your favorite teas? I guess that makes sense.

yappychappy, Tea Sipper would say for sure, but the box I participated in was flexible – there was everything from one serving to whole tins in there.

yappychappy + JacquelineM — yes, it could have everything from one serving to whole tins (though the tins might make it expensive to ship.) You can put your favorite teas in the box, ones that weren’t your cup of tea you’d think others would like, or a bit of both. Basically, if it’s tea and the smell won’t contaminate the other teas, it can go in the box.

You know I find that kind of rude of you to say. That one person ruined the experience for me because I put in a LOT of work into getting these boxes started, thank you very much.

I did not mean to offend, momo.

It is truly terrible that someone could steal so blatantly from the community. I know you put a ton of work into organizing it, and I can totally understand why you would be jaded from the experience. I’ve been lucky that my experiences with people here have been so wonderful and positive. The traveling tea box is an awesome idea and I loved living vicariously through the stories and tasting notes. I am happy it is continuing on, despite the jerkthief, and I didn’t mean that to be a rip on you at all. I get angry everytime I see her name and can’t believe she ruined such a good thing for everyone.

He hee it has taken me since 2009 to get over the drama of the first one! This time I’m going in with absolutely no expectations except to share my tea if it ever gets to me.

Oh no, just because someone isn’t picked, I don’t assume they might keep the box. I’d like to assume everyone showing interest would send it, but there is only limited room and I would rather have the people who I know for sure would have less of a chance holding it up. If that makes sense? Thanks for the well wishes though!

I wouldn’t be offended because it’s just as much fun to read about it. Like those garden gnomes that end up all over the world!

I wasn’t here for the first one, has this failed similarly before? Do you think having shorter trips would help prevent loss? I always send out my stuff assuming I’ll get nothing back, but amazingly on steepster that has never happened to me. Maybe I’ve been really lucky :\

@ candlelite I have not been a part of any, but these seem to have failed more then once.

From what I’ve gathered, even friending people on Facebook isn’t enough… :(

I mean there’s no way to guarantee. But at least it’s another way to contact and monitor the person if they fall off Steepster.

That is true! Especially in the case of someone who disappears not due to wanting to steal the box, but due to temporary personal problems.

Thank you for doing this. It took me over a year to join in on swaps because I had been burnt a few times on another board. Being able to see who the reliable swappers are will be nice!

I deleted the thread because I must have not been able to understand something that to me is quite crucial. I am hoping someone else who better understands how to link to specific tea traders will set up a new one. :) The thread was getting so cluttered with our conversation that it would have needed cleaned up anyway.

They may be able to add to the site a way to rate people the same way you rate a tea. They do this on eBay. :-)

Well, thanks for trying. Reading through the swap thread gave me an idea of who the good swappers are. I do wish there was a way to give consistently good swappers recognition.

Yeah they also do it on a non tea related form I belong to as well. But that forum is quite different in the way it is designed. Basically there is a thread called TRADE REVIEWS then under that you can create a sub thread for each person. Then in each person’s thread you can put your trade experience with them and rate them stars if you want as well.

The only way i can see that happening here is if we all become tea grin Maybe Jason and crew can figure something out for us sometime. For now, i guess it’s word of mouth :(

Well actually – why not? I mean we have ratings for the Zojurushi, the Breville, and other tea ITEMS why could we not also do a listing for ourselves? :) We could use our own photo and just put in the description for example:
Azzrian’s Trade Reviews.
As long as we all agree to use the exact same title _______’s Trade Reviews – it would be easy to look people up.
Your a genius!

you could also list them under the same “tea company” as trade review. That way you just go to the tea company: trade review and you have all the people in there :)

I like that idea chuckle….so they’re in one place.