Ah, adventures in record collecting. You do the research, you hunt, you stretch the limits of your own patience and determination and then of course there are the many hurdles to overcome if your purchase is made online. Will the record arrive as described? Will it arrive at all? One never knows but hopes for the best.
Recently I stumbled across what appeared to be a decent copy of a Dutch 7” pressing of Nilsson’s All I Think About Is You / Old Bones on a Dutch web site.
A few emails back and forth and I proceeded with the purchase. Upon payment I sent a note to the seller just making sure they’d remove the record from the sleeve prior to shipment. Most sellers know to do this in order to avoid the disc slicing through the sleeve or cover during transit. I’m usually a little hesitant to mention it as it can be a bit insulting to a seasoned record seller but if I’ve never purchased from the seller before, it’s a common sense move. On this occassion the seller assured me he’d sent hundreds of records and never had a single complaint. You can see where this is going.
The packaged arrived in a record mailer designed for the shipment of 45s. That was a pretty good sign. What was not such a good sign was the sound of the record sliding around inside. The seller had not removed the record, had not added any stiffeners, had not placed the record and sleeve in a protective outer sleeve or anchored it in any way to the interior of the mailer. The bottom of the sleeve was of course split. Thankfully not too terribly bad but it could have easily been avoided. When I contacted the seller to let him know the record arrived (a courtesy I extend to anyone I buy from) I let him know about the damage and the disappointment I felt especially as I’d specifically asked him to remove the record. His response was that he was sorry but he’d already packed the record when he received my request. Hardly an excuse – especially as “packing” involved dropping everything in a box and adding a piece of tape but there you go.
I’ve written up a detailed article on how to clean records and now I’m thinking I might need to write up a tutorial on how to ship records. Still, it’s all part of the adventure of record collecting.