Well, seems that bad winds are blowing to this direction.. and it is third week in row..
First I got this package from UK, and you can see with your naked eyes that there ain’t gonna be pristine stuff inside.
And surprisingly, I was right..
Two corners of the cover nicely smashed.. I just wanna say that it’s useless to blame post on these, this would have been prevented easily by using better mailer or at least by using some extra carton on corners as I have advised on my post months ago “About packing vinyl records… part xxxxxx“
Then I got this awesome looking package from US, but turned out that they had mistakenly sent me something I had never ordered (actually my copy came on Monday, the one I ordered). Some one somewhere is now wondering where her/his order is lurking, well it’s here with me and I’m gonna return this package tomorrow back to the source.
Yes, mistakes happen and I do not wanna take advantage of these things. I wrote the label about this immediately and we have agreed that I’m going to return these asap.
Two packages, one had damaged item and the other had records that does not belong to me. The stars are against me..
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Glad thing is that I found this long lost treasure from Discogs yesterday :D
mugwumb.com 
Bumpers would almost certainly have kept the corner damage from happening, but, aside form Southern Lord, I’ve yet to interact with any label/distro/band that takes the time to do something like this. Not as foolproof, but much better than cardboard alone, is bubblewrap + cardboard backing, and it’s much more doable/less time consuming for larger scale operations. Still it doesn’t happen enough.
Nowadays I have seen quite many record companies using these mailers with so called “bumper zones” , Mondo, Important Records, Southern Lord, Profound Lore and Easy Rider Records for example. In my opinion, it would be easier for companies to pack records little better just to avoid annoying and whining people like myself contacting them later. Sometimes I have paid quite much from the shipping and I assume that record will come in perfect shape, but not. Everlasting loop of damaged records..
From few years now -and because i’ve had the same issues than you- i systematically write to the labels, sellers etc after i ordered to them to be sure they are warned about those problems and to avoid at the maximun the bad surprises – something like : “as a tremendous fan of vinyl records, please would you well check that there aren’t cracks or seam splits on the spines of the vinyls covers before to pack them? I guess, you are aware how the Post sometimes can handle parcels ? So please please please, be sure to use the proper cardboard and to strengthen the whole lot and especially corners. Many many many thanks for that”. Actually i wrote it another time when i’ve paid with paypal… in the comments ! Does it prevent the damages ? No at 100%. But for 98 or 99% of the packages i get today, this is ok !
Actually I always ask to send record(s) and cover separated and I also kindly ask them to secure corners of the cover.. Does that work? Sometimes and sometimes not. It’s very frustrating to email afterwards about bumps, bends and seam splits..
For example, I mailed about this album with damaged cover (on this post) to record company yesterday even though I’m quite sure they will not answer. For me this was a lesson (once again) to avoid little (unfamiliar) companies when same product is available from familiar and trusted companies. My bad.
I guess it’s also because those little labels want to save on all possible expenses they have (paypal fees, cardboards, postages layers protection etc) but at the end this is a miscalculation because the buyer is frustated right ? This makes also the reputation of a company. Ok they have great artists and great music but their stuff is wrapped or sent unprofessionaly and if we buy vinyls, it is also for the “item” in itself right ? When you run such company like this one, you must be yourself a vinyl lover and then be experimented or having at least a kind of ”ethic” on such questions like those ones regarding your business… well imho anyway !