I've purchased quite a few backgrounds in the
last 4 or 5 months, and sometimes I am amazed
that they even get out of the packaging in one
piece... 

I there there is a tie between the types of
packing I hate the most:

1.  Dealers who use cardboard that is very easily
bendable (cel/background is just shipped in THIN
cardboard and envelope, no box) and my 
eager-to-do-damage postal carrier always can
bend it into new-and-unusual shapes to make it
fit in my tiny mailbox.  Result?  Background
is practically destroyed.  (I no longer buy
anything from dealers who I've known to pack
like this...)

2.  Dealers who ship the cel/background flat
in one of those priority boxes - which would
probably be fine if there was something else
sturdy inside the box to keep it from bending!
Sometimes they just stick it in an envelope or
those pitiful flimsy priority mail cardboard
sleeves/envelopes and (here's the worst part)
tape or glue the blasted thing flat to the
inside of the box!  You have to practically
tear the box apart to get it out... and the
one I absolutely despise most is when they
use those #$^%##$# sticky adhesive flaps to
seal the box because most of the time the flimsy
envelope (and sometimes the backgrounds/cels
if they're not completely sealed inside the
envelope!!!!!!!) gets stuck to the adhesive, and
that stuff is like superglue... you really *do*
have to rip whatever is stuck to get it off.
(I have sadly seen some pieces of backgrounds
stuck to the adhesive...)

I have come to the point where I am starting to
avoid people who pack like #2 (some eBay sellers,
mainly) because I hate to spend 20 minutes 
screaming, sweating and (probably) finally
getting through the terrible packaging to see
a partially destroyed item.  ;_;

I do like these people, they're all very nice...
but couldn't they please try to open one of their
packed items to see how difficult it is to
open and find some other way to ship?  

Peace!
Kim
aka Lady Zatara