What happens to all the returned vinyl to Amazon?

They've gotta be eating some of them. Surely there are some returned LP's that are obviously not fit for resale.

 

I seriously doubt that there are many returns to Amazon anyway compared to the volume that they sell.

I have contacted them on a couple of occasions to return something and in both cases they told me to keep the item and they sent a replacement (both were as a result of poor packaging and I sent a photo in my email to them)

 

They're for popcorn!

It kinda frightens me that someone put this much thought into this.

 

Neil Young is re-roofing the Pono warehouse with them.

 

Half eaten food, expired dairy, used clothing....it's ridiculous. Before they changed their electronics return policy people would bring back TV's that were 3-4-5 years old and Costco would give them a full refund. I remember a guy bringing back a printer that was 10 yrs old. They tried to reason with him, but he pushed the policy at the time and they had no choice. Now it's only 90 days.

 

They SHOULD reseal, and resell as "especially for Crosley users."

 

Prices for vinyl records now are based on degree of greed. Just bought a couple of LP's from a local band. One was $15. and the other was $10. Both were pressed by GZ, the same company that pressed the Roxy Music LP's. The band has made money on their LP sales at their concerts and is ordering a 3rd pressing of their latest LP. A $30.+ LP is pure greed.

 

Back in the early 70s, I worked at a WEA warehouse outside of Cleveland (that's Warner-Elektra-Atlantic, as the behemoth was known at the time). A section of the warehouse was devoted to returns, with a few dozen turntables and an equal number of folks to operate them. They would visually examine and play every returned album. Damaged jackets/sleeves were replaced by new ones if that was the only problem. Returns that looked like the store had just opened the album and played it in-store were re-shrinkwrapped and put on the warehouse shelves.

Records that in fact had defects, along with unsold cut-outs, were loaded onto trucks in the middle of the night and buried in secret locations! That's right, folks, pure landfill, even though virgin vinyl could be recycled into low quality vinyl for budget labels. WEA made damn sure those records would never show up in a street vendor stall in Times Square.

 

Haven't you heard? Crosley is opening their our record pressing factory.

 

Worse if done by a "Crafty" person not into vinyl with a unique or Rare title picked up at a garage sale buyout or Thrift store (Butcher cover, Limited pressing, etc...)

It probably happens somewhere in this beautiful world of collecting!

 

Well, only last month I saw an original Immediate UK stereo Small Faces - Ogdens Nut Gone Flake frisbeed and left in the middle of the street smashed to pieces. Broke my record collecting heart...

 

Grind up the returns, label and all for Crisley to press new junk

 

I hear what you're saying, but $10 in 1980 would be $30 today.

 

My friend has a local store and he re-seals / re-sells at a slightly reduced price.

 

But, some new released albums can still be purchased for $10. , today, while records coming from the same factory are being sold for $30.+. Most record pressing plants are fully automated and have a minimum of manual involvement, as it was in the 80's. Vinyl prices have not gone up that much over the years and is still the smallest cost in pressing records.

 

IF you are a big enough retailer (Amazon, Urban Outfitters) you get to dictate your own terms.

They don't physically have to return anything, they don't have to pay for it, either.

 

Since I have a background in vinyl extrusion, my first thought is they're melted down, broken into pellets, and reused.
.

 

Not sure about Amazon, but when I worked at Columbia House we could buy returned CDs. They had a sale a couple of times a year

I bought Springsteen's Tracks that way. There was nothing wrong with it.

 

I was at Barnes and Noble today, and somebody brought in one of the new Pink Floyd reissues because he ordered it through the mail and the hype sticker was wrinkled.

 

Did you get his sh.tv user name?

 

I bought a Beatles Past Masters LP set from Warehouse Deals and one of the discs was actually cracked. I have a feeling that this was a return that wasn't checked carefully (perhaps only one disc was examined). Weirdly, an Eagles poster was included in the album instead of the correct insert! Needless to say, it all got returned for a refund.

On the other hand, I bought the Ties That Bind box that had a "small mark on disc" and besides the shrinkwrap being removed, the set was brand new.

 

Best post in weeks!

 

I hate to admit it but Amazon now is the only way I will buy expensive new reissues. Due to the fact that many are noisy (GZ) and digital on vinyl with questionable results and no amount of research will ever tell me how a recording will sound on my system leads me to a point where I can no longer spend my money at a local record store. The ease of Prime shipping and returns makes it unavoidable these days. I would much rather go to my local record store but I can no longer tolerate substandard releases and find myself driving back to a store or shop owner and continually expressing my dissatisfaction of a record that is not under their power to guarantee. I really wish it was different but such is the way with music these days.

 

Yes, dickheads ruin things for everyone.

 

Sadly the amount of bad pressungs have iincreased and due to high prices for so called Heavy Vinyl audiophile grade albums, that more often than normal pressings are plagued by surface noise, warps or other unwanted pressing mistakes have basically mashed up the business for the local recordshops. amzon simply gets refunds from their distributors, so they can easily offer payback a small shop has to wait a few month to get a refund for their losses- This makes the whole business useless. Strangely none of that happened during the last 15 years from 1996 to 2011 and even today by ordering Vinyl from specialist shope - Techno, House, Trip Hop, electronica, Dub and even Hip Hop is sold at shops like decksrecords.de web-records.com, hadwax.de/Rush Hour nl, JUNO.uk and so on. They sell mainly 12" Maxis and EP's and I never had any issues with the pressing or soundquality of an item I bought and I ordered more than 2.000 Vinyl records during those days. You heard DJ sets playing Vinyl and you never heard any skips, mash-ups or noisy records. Astonishing but it has to do with the mastering for Vinyl and the care by the pressing plants . Top notch are Dubplates & Mastering Berlin and MPO France !