Hi Erich, You asked: Have any of you ever tried shipping ripe pods to fellow list members (or anyone else, I suppose) without some type of fancy packaging??? Now this one I can answer. I recommend you go to a big USPS office & there you'll find all the Priority Mail boxes you can use, free for the taking. Why Priority? It's generally no more than a half a buck more than first class, fruit gets there fresh & they supply shipping materials. What more could you ask for? I recently shipped a large envelope to CA & it was ten cents more for Priority Mail over First Class. The postal worker told me the destination zip code determines the rate as long as the box doesn't exceed 1 lb. Hope this helps, Paul Erich wrote, Snip: but enough to share if a few people were interested in small amounts Aaaahhhh, want my snail mail addy, pod pal????