@Starquest Yes - in my personal experience as a long time Prime member, the packaging has been terrible lately. I am not going to speculate why. But like some others, I have had things packed in oversize boxes with no packing materials and the contents get all dinged up. Cans of cat food on top of a vinyl LP etc.
someone posted a big thread on reddit, lots of similar stories of late on that it seems. mines been fine, maybe just depends on the shipping center. on the bright side i've never had any issues returning anything on amazon, vinyl they usually just refund and say keep it.
Just got my latest LP box set shipped to me without any packaging: The shrink-wrapped album box set with a shipping label on the shrink wrap.
I'll add my voice to the chorus. My $11 Blue Note 80 copy of Freddie Hubbard, Hubtones arrived loose in a huge box with three corners badly smashed. It was pretty badly warped too. I have bought quite a few records on Amazon over the years, and this is the first to arrive this poorly packaged and this badly damaged. Amazon only gave the option for return, not replacement. It's on its way back today.
My “Hubtones” arrived today in an oversized box with bubble wrap and inside that the LP was in a sturdy hard cardboard mailer. Zero damage. Weird. I’m in Ventura County (Los Angeles’ neighbor to the North).
Abbey Road 3 vinyl set arrived in big box and the set was still in it’s original sealed shipping box. So no damage.
Mine was the same way.... the second lp in the box was in "frustration free packaging" and the third lp I ordered was in the bottom of the box unprotected, BUT, they all arrived unscathed.
Knock on wood, but I have had great packing experiences with Amazon, as of late. Everything has come double boxed in individual record mailers.
My Abbey Road set arrived today, but it was just sent in a smaller whiplash-style mailer — no large box at all. Totally fine, just random how they ship the same set all these different ways!
Bought a copy of Gary numan replicas the original recordings. Price was good but they shipped to me in a big box with the pillows. It got a little dented up. However I'm still pretty happy with it. Surprised to see that it wasn't in one of those LP mailer type things though
FYI, if you bought the Let It Bleed 50th Anniversary set and you haven't opened it, you might want to check it. Mine came with 2 copies of the stereo LP and no mono. Amazon sent a replacement right away and all is good, but again, you should check if you haven't.
My 17 buck tone poet, chick corea, now he sings, now he sobs, came yesterday, cardboard mailer inside an outer box with air bags inside that one. top notch shipping package from amazon on this.
William Onyeabor - Body And Soul (vinyl): $14.72 https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B016NIMIBG Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold (vinyl): $8.77 https://smile.amazon.com/Center-Wont-Hold-SLEATER-KINNEY/dp/B07T5VVHB4
Received AC/DC Back In Black today in plain white plastic envelope. It wasn't even bubble wrap lined. All four corners were bent straight up like it was being folded like a paper airplane. I have requested at least 5 times that they package my records in individual mailers. I was in chat with Amazon for over and hour and in the end I received a refund and was told to keep the record. I wanted another copy but all the ones still listed are third party sellers.
Mark as a gift at checkout, then it should ship in a box. You won't receive the Auto-Rip feature though.