To be fair, I have had damaged packages from Music Direct too. But I was also using the cheapest shipping (USPS). I don't think it's Music Direct, but USPS who just tosses the package and doesn't care.
I sympathize with you and don’t disagree with most of what you are saying. One point, however,....I owned a retail shop that sold a relatively small amount of high-value, fragile items via our website. We shipped roughly $2 million in merchandise a year (hence the “relatively small” qualifier). Bubble wrap, peanuts, corner protectors, custom boxes....all of which we purchased and used....aren’t cheap. ULine supplied most of my shipping products. With just $2m a year in internet sales I had an annual ULine bill that was five figures. I’m not saying companies shouldn’t pack “for the wars”....they should, but it’s likely that your price for their product will go up. Yes, the retailer will save money on the costs associated with returns, but doubtful it would be a net zero. I say that because even though it often seems like shipping damage is the norm....it really isn’t. My shop, for example, had less than 3% of its shipments damaged each year, but that usually resulted in a forum post about the experience by the customer. How many times in twenty years do you think I came across a forum post about an undamaged delivery? Not often. So, to say that it wouldn’t cost anyone anything to package product to endure whatever a shipping company can throw at a package just isn’t correct. I’m glad you were finally able to get an undamaged boxset. Happy endings are good!
We must be lucky here in the UK, this household has had hundreds of packages delivered over the past ten years or so, not once have we had anything that has had damage. Amazon, Royal Mail, UPS, Fed-ex, DPD, Hermes, others, you name them they have all been perfect.
It seems rare to get something that has been handled well. Most folks package things reasonably well. Some of the posties need to be beaten about the head and face though.... I happened to see one of the four that come to our work yesterday, just as he was about to put a heavy box on top of my cd in a plastic envelope I snatched it up and said "grow a brain mate" .... I don't think it translated well
Amazon sent me an LP yesterday in a plastic bag. Needless to say it was covered in creases etc so went straight back!
Not my experience from many US sellers - most LPs are posted in those awful deep square boxes with nothing else in the box, which essentially GUARANTEES damaged corners. Those ones with numerous perferations so you can make them a different depth are the worst, as it ensures the corners aren't rigid enough. If you are using those type of record mailers, you need to use 2 LP sizes pieces or card or bubblewrap inside. I recently bought a 10" EP from a US artist, and they sent it loose in a norma sizedl record mailer - incredible.
I have only bought a couple of records ... Mine were packaged ok, but handled terribly obviously. I have given up on records altogether, If I don't have it already, then I won't
There's no such thing as bad luck. Statistics and probability, yes. So I find hard to believe that there are people who order from the same online places than others and get no damaged items. When I order online (Amazon, B&N, small indie stores, you name it...) I feel lucky with a small ding or a slight seam split. That's the best I can get nowadays. Oh, and please don't thread crap. If you are OK with damaged items because "it's music that matters" open your own thread.
Packaging and handling. I question why a clearly damaged package is delivered in the first place; clearly, there is no procedure for that circumstance. However, my experience has been fortuitous, even orders coming from China, which have arrived on-time, undamaged.
Thank you! It is refreshing to see this stated publicly. I am one of "those discriminating buyers" on Discogs that would pay for "superior packaging protection".
This is why there's a sheet currently draped over the bookshelf holding a good chunk of my record collection since it was moved.
Good lord.....I just recently started ordering a few Music Matters lp titles from Elusive. They are practically using bank vaults to ship those suckers in. Super impressive.
Expecting deliveries to arrive undamaged is not realistic. Look at the delivery options; USPS - they don't give a rat's tuchis about the condition of a package. They'll literally (yes, literally) FOLD a package in order to cram it into a mailbox. FedEx - pretty much the same as USPS, except they do you the courtesy of hurling your fragile package from 30 feet away to your front door. UPS - even worse than FedEx. After digging your fragile package out from a mountain of heavy boxes stacked on top of it, they will leave your stuff in the deep puddle at the end of your walk leading to your front door.
I am sorry to hear your actual product had corner damage, but who cares about damage to a shipping box?
Seems like if you're consistently getting damaged goods, the culprit is more likely the mailman and/or UPS driver on your route than the shippers themselves. There was a period where I was really having trouble with mail deliveries -- for one thing, the cover mount CDs were consistently missing from my issues of Mojo -- but a couple of weeks after I filed a complaint at my post office, we suddenly had a new mailman walking our route and I haven't had a single thing go missing since. Although I admit I'm giggling over the idea of returning an LP over a slightly dinged corner while sitting in a house that has had generations of cats living in it.
I've ordered thousands of records through the mail from private sellers since the seventies (Goldmine, private lists, etc) and probably had less than a dozen records damaged. And they were usually the Post Office's fault (one broken LP I received had tire marks on the mailer!) Amazon is a different story. Items arrived dinged, scratched, gouged, split. Their packing usually consists of an item thrown in an oversized box with a few air pillows. That's why I rarely order directly from them anymore. I'll usually use a third party seller even if I have to pay more with the shipping.
My 2 cents..... A. You are either in business or you are not. B. Packing records is almost just as important as the sale. Recently I received some collectable vintage records from the UK & both were sent in essentially flat document mailers the sellers believed were good record mailers because they were 13" x 13". If a seller has an EX 50 year old record they feel is worth $100 & they also charge plenty to ship then why (post sale) pack it as if it is a replaceable $10 record? If iam sending it i respect the condition it is in after 50 years & will not compromise said condition with second rate packaging or materials. Then you get sellers that try hard with earest but are largely clueless with packaging that tell you that the way they pack never causes damage and then 4 weeks later tell you that you are the first buyer in all their years of selling that has reported a damaged record.
