Gaian Tarot

[rwcarter]

My Gaian arrived today. Because Amazon put no cushioning between the outer box and shipping box, the outer box got smooshed. No biggee, but the last four cards in the deck were stuck together on one side and in separating them there's residue from the backs on the fronts and fronts on the backs, so the whole thing's gonna have to go back to Amazon for a replacement.

[olarte]

That is a shame.

My outer box was crushed as well, but luckily, the rest (cards and book) were ok.

It's a pain, but amazon should replace it with out any problem.

Good luck,
Ivan

[Astraea]

Same here - the box was completely crushed, no bubble wrap at all. The cards and book were okay, fortunately, but the pretty Gaian box was all crumpled up. I e-mailed Amazon through their customer support pages to let them know, since this is an unacceptable way to package card sets.

[olarte]

I wonder why this is happening with this particular deck. I also noticed it'd the only deck that amazon has supped via UPS... Coincidence? Uhm...

[cardlady22]

For the last 3 weeks or so, I've received amazon orders (even of small electronic items!) that were sent in enormous outer boxes without any padding or packing foam- just rattling around. So, it isn't just the books/cards. Makes me wonder if the various fulfillment partners are making do with sizes left on hand.

[delizt]

I received my Gaian tarot yesterday...it was in a largish box, with lots of paper buffer and in perfect condition! It's a wonderful deck and I am delighted...strange that some are being shipped with no buffering:-(

[Astraea]

Almost all of my Amazon orders over the years have been shipped by UPS or FedEx, and I've never had a damaged delivery from FedEx - but several through UPS, I'm sorry to say. Cardlady might well be onto something - maybe the fulfillment partners are making do with whatever is on hand in the way of boxes. It's strange that packaging materials/buffering are sometimes left out. Amazon needs to hear about it when this happens.

[HighPriestess]

My deck arrived a few minutes ago!

There were no problems with the delivery itself, no smooshed cards or anything. The only thing "wrong" with my deck is card four, which is labelled "The Emperor" instead of "The Builder". This isn't really a big deal for me, and it's labelled correctly in the companion book.

Speaking of the companion book; it's like the one for the "Tarot of Vampyres" in that there are no pictures, which is a shame, but I can deal with it. When compared to the Vampyres, the Gaian's cards are bigger, which is nice, but I think a lot of people will find the white borders obnoxious. The artwork is amazing, but I think the cards seem a bit darker on the website.

BTW, for those of you who were wondering which element corresponds to which suit, the companion book has Air = Swords and Fire = Wands. The book also includes eight spreads (plus instructions for one and three card readings).

Overall, I'd say it was totally worth selling a bunch of books I didn't like to every used bookstore around town to get it (it was time for a weeding. I'd say if you're looking for a "gentle", earth-based deck, pick it up! (You know you want to!)

[fyreflye]

I received a shipment notification this morning from Amazon.com with a delivery date of August 1. I have the LE so I'm in no particular hurry to receive it but I'm still annoyed by Amazon's lackadaisical attitude about getting these out. And I don't like them using tacky and careless UPS. I'll continue with Amazon for Kindle downloads since it saves money and storage space but more and more I'm inclined to take my buying and my selling elsewhere.

[delizt]

I'm really floored to read all these comments about Amazon...I've never had any problems with damaged or flimsy packaging from them...Barnes & Noble on the other hand, has sent smooshed things quite often..

however, aren't we getting off-topic? The thread is about the Gaian and I must say that while I do have the LE, I find the MM version WONDERFUL!! The size of the book actually is more user-friendly for me, nice and compact and the size of the deck perfect...big enough to still see all the gorgeous details in the art and yet small enough to shuffle easily!