Contact Archie subscriber services.  Most publishers will get you a replacement copy and they need to know if there are problems in the mail.   There really is no reason for any publication to get wrecked in the mail - water damage is certainly not acceptable.  Unless you tell them, they won't know.

thanks, I sent an email to one of the archie people. They gave me the right email to send about subscription problems.

Yea I used to buy from my local comic book shop. But that stopped buying for me, and I missed out on 3 sets of comics. So it made me really upset. So I subscribe now instead.

The truth is, that true comicbook fans DO NOT get their comics via mail subscription, for the very reasons you describe. The U.S. Mails are just too hard on comics! Comicbook retail stores are a better place to get your comics.  They get their comics in bundles from a distributor, NOT via the U.S. Mail. The store has to deal with damaged goods, not you.
MJB

While that would be ideal, I don't have easy access to a local comic book store like I used to when I was living closer to Orlando. I've got a subscription to a few of the Archie titles because, despite my checking at the local shops that tend to carry them (grocery store/Wal-mart) there would be times when I'd miss an issue. My mail very often gets wet because of the type of community mailbox that we've got here, but, I've fortunately not had any problems with the Archie digests that I get getting damaged.

I guess the comic shop issue was partly my fault. I wanted all the archie comics, but had a problem paying for them. I would always get the ones I really really wanted. But then alot of them would sit there, until I had money, or christmas or my birthday came along. They finally got mad about me not buying fast enough, that they stopped getting them in for me, and sold my stack they had set aside for me. I didn't realize it till 3 months later, and I missed out on alot of issues.
Sopposidly there aren't many archie buyers that go there. So theres not need for archie comics there.
Going to the different comic shops. I feel real intimidated by some of the men there. They act like I'm just some dumb girl that doesn't know anything.
I've only met one comic shop owner that I really liked. He was in daytona beach. He is real nice, and always has archie comics available. Too bad I only get to go there once a year during vacation.

I must say, this is one reason why I'm kind of leery to subscribing to comics.  They can get lost, damaged, torn...but, I understand that Archie Comics is really good with reimbursing any damaged product, so I'd definitely go with what others have said here.

Myself?  I have the local convienience store save me a copy of each book so that I can easily pick it up! (I think I'm the only one who buys Archie comics at this store).

If you ever order the year sets from Archie - you'll be happy.  When I "returned" to collecting, I ordered about 400 comics in year sets from them and they came very well packaged.  In a box with cardboard in-between every 4 or 5 issues.  Very nice.

As for getting books from Comic Shops.  If you are subscribing, you could always pre-pay for your comics at the comic shop.  This will mean you won't be in an awkward situation if you can't pay, because you will have already paid.  Also, it will make sure you stay on budget.  It's too easy to say "get them all" without realizing that that will cost you a few hundred dollars a year.  Comic shops need to sell what they order because, unlike grocery stores, they can't send them back if they don't sell them.

Going with a good mail-order shop, or an established shop that does mail-order will certainly be the best bet.