In the past 30 years I have mailed more than 2,500 parcels of shells.
During that time, only 8 parcels have disappeared without a trace.
Three of them were to Uruguay, some 20 years ago, during postal
problems they were having at the time.  The other five were to: Korea
(early 1980's), Israel (1989), Brazil (1994), Alaska (1992), and
Arkansas (1988).  I avoid surface mail, both domestic and foreign.  I
send domestic mail by first class or priority mail.  This not only
gets the packages there faster, but more important, it greatly
reduces the number of times the package has to be handled, and the
number of times it exchanges hands.  This, I believe, minimizes both
loss and breakage (I have had only two shells returned due to
breakage, in 30 years).  I insure valuable domestic parcels, but
usually for less than the true value.  This is less expensive than
insuring for full value, and my principle purpose is not to receive
remuneration if the parcel gets lost, but rather to create a paper
trail by which the parcel can be traced and found if lost.  This has
happened perhaps a half dozen times, and all but once the parcel was
found and either returned to me or forwarded to the addressee.
I ship foreign parcels by registered airmail only.  It's expensive,
but lost shells, lost time, and lost customer confidence are more
expensive, as I see it.  A parcel sent overseas by surface mail takes
an average of 10 weeks for delivery, sometimes much longer, during
which time it is stored in the hold of a ship, possibly among heavy
cases of products which are too heavy for air shipment.  A postal
strike or other problem in any of the intermediate countries which
have to handle the parcel can hold up delivery for months.  One
shipment I received from Senegal took over 10 months to reach me.  I
had given up hope on that one.  Most of that time of course, the
parcel wasn't moving at all.  It was sitting in a warehouse
someplace, awaiting the next ship, or in the hold of a ship in port
for several weeks or months at a time.  I believe that insured
surface mail is the worst way to send a parcel to another country.
Not only is it slow, but the parcel will be handled by dozens of
people, perhaps in several countries, and the insurance label
announces to all interested parties that the box contains something
valuable.  Not all countries have the same safeguards in place to
prevent mail theft.  A couple of my suppliers in a certain foreign
country have so little trust in their local postal system that they
will send me shells only by Federal Express.  They even send me
letters by FedEx.  Their shipments get here in about four days, and
the shipping costs are about $100 per box (a large box that is,
perhaps 30 to 40 pounds).  Incidentally, I have had no customs
problems with this type of shipment.  As far as I can see, the boxes
are not examined by customs.  The worst customs problems have been
with air freight and surface mail.  Far fewer, but still occasional
problems with airmail.  No problems with FedEx, or with another
carrier called "Johnnie Air Door to Door".
There are some things the sender can do to minimize loss and
breakage.  First, use a good strong carton.  People have sent me
shells in all sorts of containers - styrofoam, plastic, wood,
particle board, cardboard.  One shipment of Pectens from Italy
arrived in a mangled cardboard shoe box.  The postal service had
shrink-wrapped the whole thing in clear plastic, to keep it from
totally disintegrating.  One young novice in the Netherlands once
sent me some unwrapped shells in a manila envelope.  They were
transformed into shell grit enroute.  And I once received a near
world record Placopecten magellanicus in a crushed hat box.
Miraculously, the shell was undamaged.  These are rather extreme
cases, but I have received poorly packed shells in inappropriate
containers quite a few times.  I use only strong corrugated cardboard
cartons which are previously undamaged.  If the bottom flaps of the
box are not glued together, I glue them.  I also run a bead of glue
up the seam at the corner of the box, and put a few spots of glue on
the top flaps before sealing the box.  The address should be written
directly on the sealed carton, with an indelible, waterproof marker
which makes a good dark line - not a ballpoint pen, and NEVER a
pencil.  The address should be carefully printed, not written in
cursive. - especially the numbers!  If someone mistakes a 1 for a 7
or a 7 for a 9, your parcel may be delivered to the wrong address.
The address should not be written on a separate label that is taped
to the box, or on a paper wrapper.  If you do use a label, write the
address on the box itself first, then stick the label over that
address.  That way, if the label is torn off, the box still has an
address.  Likewise, if you must wrap the box in paper (I see no
advantage to this), print the address on the box first, then wrap it
and print the address again on the wrapper.
Paul Monfils
Rhode Island