MrScorpio

You'd go there and promptly shut your face after seeing this 

 

Did I quote you?? I wasn’t referring to you. But the fact that you responded to this and felt like you were personally attacked is exactly why this place is a fucking cess pool of shitty man children who live in a fucking Amazon world where you think things are and should be catered to you in a “certain amount of time”.  Are you fucking kidding me?!??!? 
 
When I started doing this, I sent actual money, goddam fucking change, sometimes, to Recess Records/Asian Man/etc and  I waited. Sometimes it took many many weeks. I live in San Diego, most of the companies I was buying from were in state and would still take 3 weeks to get you in 1997!
I’m not sure what everyone’s fucking malfunction is when it comes to something taking a little bit longer to get to you. Are you really that fucking dense or what??

How about this you stupid fucking man children(what the fuck are your wives doing when you’re complaining about these simple things?!? If you’re not married, keep that laptop camera covered) You order records, and have this insane tension about how they’re not getting to you as fast as “they should!” but your records are going to get to you! That’s it, full on, bottom line. If you’ve been doing this for for a decade or longer, you know what this is. But no, this forum is filled with a bunch of dudes who don’t know what the fuck is happening at all.
 
I come on here everyday and I just see the worse people complaining about what it is that makes things happen. People making things happen for YOU and you don’t fucking realize, or fucking appreciate it! You stupid, privilege pricks.
 
Anyone wanna talk shit about any USPS carrier...FUCK YOU!!!!! Bring it on!

That was me just tossing out a number, without too much thought. But if we’re being realistic, speaking as someone who did this very job for years, say you’re sending out a few thousand of records a year, if done correctly, it should be more along the lines of 98-99% per release.
 
80% of 5 is 4. Who do I look like Wasda? But the main issue with MN is that they are a company that is consistently having issues and doing nothing about it. Yes, I will continue to buy records from them because I’m an idiot and they have a monopoly.
 
BUT the real moral of the story, for
MerchNow, is, if it’s broke and people are constantly telling you it’s broke, you should fucking fix it. And not charge people an extra dollar for doing your job correctly. 
 
MN isn’t the real issue though, I’m not ordering every bullshit EVR reissue or Fearless record, it’s just lack of attention to detail or improper knowledge of how to pack a record correctly on a huge level, all over the board. Things definitely do happen, but you can bring that number down drastically if done properly.
 

Yeah, something like that. I’d say around 50, give or take, across all formats(7/10/12”s). I tried counting last night, on my Discogs and just couldn’t remember everything or make it through. Haha. But it definitely is a major issue for me, especially since the majority or records I did buy this year were shrink wrapped or just not taken out of jacket, when I specifically ask to do so, whenever I can.
 
Actually no. I got one package from Zia that was fucked, but everything else from them this year was good. Obviously anything I ordered from MerchNow there was a 80% it was going to be fucked up. In the same boat, but getting better, Fat. One crazy one from MerchTable with the Daughters reissue on that crazy heavy stock jacket. Had VMP send me 3 2xLPs and 1 LP in one of their regular mailers with nothing else. Crazy shit. I ordered from almost every goddamn place selling records this year, strange negligence all over the place. Haha. 
 
There are a few things that could stop, most of, this from happening: 1) Have someone that’s sending out records know what the fuck they’re doing. Give them the right materials, and I assure you there will be an, at least, 90% success rate. Very fuckin simple equation. Someone working customer service shouldn’t have to deal with seam splits or dog ears more than anything else. 2) Labels being smart. Smaller labels with a more hands on approach, especially, order everything you’re sending out of your office, or wherever, in poly bags. Whoever’s sending everything out, send accordingly. You can have everything going to stores sent this way too, but if they’re going straight from the plant, there’s the same chance of it getting fucked up so you may as well shrink wrap those. BUT if you go back to #1, you can still shrink everything and not have to worry about it if you have someone competent with the right materials sending out orders. I know moneys an issue, but if you keep getting emails and having to refund people, or send out replacement jackets, what’s going to cost more? 
 
Like most things, I can go on forever about this, but at it’s fucking core, there’s some real simple solutions labels/fulfillment companies can be doing to minimize most damage.

On average, I’ve gotten 8 records a week, for the last 52 weeks(this year). I’d say I’ve gotten a record with a seam split once a week this year, give or take.
 
Gets to be a real annoying issue when it happens this often. Especially since they can all be avoided with some people who actually care/collect records in charge. 

Didn't they give a Nobel Prize to a guy who cracked only the knuckles on one hand, and never cracked the knuckles on the other hand; all in order to determine if the old myth of knuckle cracking causing arthritis was true or not? 😄

Just ask the seller to open the record up and place it outside the jacket and you won't get a seam split. 

As everyone should. The way some folks in here are complaining makes it seem like every album they've gotten over the last year has had issues. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I (unfortunately) couldn't tell you the last time I actually got to go into a shop and buy a record, so most of my purchases over the last year have been via mail. Of those I can count on one hand the number that have had seam splits.
 
Sure, it's frustrating. I just think people in here blow this shit out of proportion.
 
Edit: I remembered the last thing I bought in store. I got a 1972 copy of Genesis - Foxtrot that turned out to be a misprint though it wasn't marked as such. Two Side-A's. ::womp woooomp::

I wish more people did this 

It seems to happen to me randomly. I don’t really care about jacket damage.
 
Warps bug me a little more as, these days, the option to resell a record when money is tight is always on my mind and a bad warp can be the difference between getting full market value or 50-60% market value when the day to let the record go inevitably comes. You can sell a used record for close to market value if all that’s wrong is a bend or split...most buyers don’t really care as long as you’re upfront.
 
Larger point, I used to think there were records I could never get rid of and that I’d own forever. Not so much anymore. Anything that comes in will probably, at some point, get sold off or passed to a friend/family member for their birthday/holidays.

It's December 23rd, and I have a lot of presents to wrap.... but a challenge like this has me itching to pull out my 180 gm vinyl to inspect those with printed inners (I store in Diskeepers after cleaning, and put the printed inner, into the outer jacket). I'll post one if I get a chance - and also if they are all split too!!

When I sell a record, I take 2-3 minutes or more to carefully pack it because it is usually rare, out of print, and not easily replaceable. I take a lot of effort to make sure the buyer gets it in the same condition it left. Always supply them in a poly sleeve and ship the records outside of the jacket.
 
I understand that the labels and distros we buy new records from don't have the time and resources to spend that much time packing. Some days they might need to ship 100's of records or more and they need to be really quick and efficient. You are lucky to get a piece of bubble wrap thrown in there. If one record out of a thousand gets messed up in transit, it's relatively easy for them to replace or refund. 
 
I think some of it might have to do with crappier quality jackets and inner-sleeves. I've noticed that the higher quality materials used on some of my more premium records don't have any seams splits or significant signs of wear. Whereas a lot of the stuff I have released by smaller labels on tighter budgets have more things like seam splits and ring wear. I presume it's because they opted for the cheaper jackets and such. 

Yeah, I truthfully don't think I've ever seen a whiplash mailer until this year. I like them. I'm not sure if I prefer them over standard mailers because they can sometimes be harder to repackage up (specifically if they're perforated) but if it means my record will get to me more safely I honestly can't complain
 

Sellers can always choose to ship how ever they want. Buyers can always choose to return if the items don't arrive in the stated condition. Yeah, sh*t does happen in transit. All the more reason to package with care. Album covers are part of the product. If I'm shipping vinyl to people in pizza boxes and then calling them babies when they want to return their damaged orders, that just makes me look like a bad seller. Bad sellers have been allowed to get away with a lot, but thankfully these days many sellers have been upgrading their packaging as we all know that standard LP mailers offer minimal protection. It doesn't take much for us to step up our shipping game. Just my two cents.

Yeah, this happened to me when buying a new record over seas. They didn't ship the records outside the jacket. I received the record in May with very bad split seams,  Contacted the small inde label, even offering to pay for shipping if they could send another cover, they said they would after the first message I sent them. I’ve followed up twice since then and still haven’t received anything. I’m kinda pissed. 

I always ask for records to be shipped outside sleeves, and that has almost completely eliminated it for me (even though I'm all the way in New Zealand). 
I figure if I always ask, and they don't do it and damage happens, that's on them and I did everything I could to avoid it - and I feel justified in asking for a new cover.

This. Should always be standard practice.

Seam splits dramatically increased with the popularity of fucking 180 gram vinyl.  I hate that shit.  No need for it other than to jack up the cost on the manufacturing end as well as for the end user.  There's zero sonic benefit.  I laugh when a store expects you to accept a record that arrives with seam splits and keep your mouth shut.  They don't consider it damaged when it's going from their hands to yours...but when you walk in to sell a record with a seam split jacket then they're sure as fuck going to ding you for it.  It's bullshit.  Seam splits on the jackets and inner sleeves are damaged product.  End of story.

Yeah can't complain. One thing I want to get better at is repairing seam splits. I feel like I saw someone on IG a month ago show their process and it was very impressive. Essentially using the same weight of paper, gluing it into the inside, and then painting it with the same color.

This is an old fairy.
 
Sorry, couldn't help.

This is an old fairy.
 
Sorry, couldn't help.

Looks like a few surplus copies of Redux II recently went up  on the band's webstore.
 
Butterfly
https://silversteinstore.com/collections/all-products/products/redux-ii-lp-butterfly
 
Tri-Color
https://silversteinstore.com/collections/all-products/products/redux-ii-lp-tri-color

Some killer releases for sure.... wallet is crying

Not sure if I'm biting this year.  Doesn't appear that any of those are exclusive to the sub, so each one should be readily available.  And honestly, I just don't care about the extra goodies.  I also don't buy nearly as much from them as in the past, so the 10% code is less enticing to get me to jump in.  I do agree that it is is a solid lineup of titles.  Very pumped for Killer Klowns.