to label it a theft? The issue of mailing chips in regular envelopes has been discussed ad infinitum on this Board with the concensus being "you are looking to lose your chips if you do that." Your uncle made a mistake by doing so. From your description of the envelope it appears that the chips were not secured sufficiently to prevent them from being squeezed out of the envelope as it went through the mail processing machine. The chips are probably broken into many pieces and not in someone's possession. Chuck Tomarchio