![]() Worse still, if your package isn't securely sealed, the content could spill out, get damaged, or simply get lost or seperated. Securely Sealed: Shipping 'antique' or rare vinyl? If a potential thief knows what to look for, your vinyls could become easy targets for pilfering in the mail.Do not compromise, use-corner reinforced packaging when shipping vinyl records at all times! (Lil Packaging vinyl mailers are designed to have reinforced corners.) If your vinyl sleeve corner gets damaged in transit, the value of the sleeve drops, and your customer will probably want a refund. Reinforced Corners: Reinforced package 'corners' are a must.Important Note: Lil Packaging FLP's and F-EP's are designed so that you shouldn't really have to do this, but it's your call! You need a 'snug-fit' mailer, that reduces movement inside, but by 'sandwiching' your vinyl OUTSIDE of the sleeves, between the inner and outer sleeves inside the package to maintain the vinyl surface, you can limit any damage done to the sleeves. Don't get caught out if this is a concern to you, or your vinyl sleeves are weak or old. Why? Because impacts can often cause the vinyl to knock, burst-through and generally degrade those all-important sleeves. Sleeve Removal and 'Sandwiching': At least half of the advice out there centres around removing vinyl records from sleeves before packaging and posting.The good advice seen in articles demonstrating how to ship vinyl records generally follows these trends: Use specially designed all-in-one mailers, rather than DIY 'bodge-jobs' with cheap materials. Don't compromise on secure and safe delivery, but do package smartly. But if you want to cut down on the costs of packaging and shipping vinyl records, you need to be savvy about it. It's a key part of satisfying your customers. Packaging Costs: Packaging costs money and can be a frustrating, but highly sensitive part of your e-commerce or postal business process.Cut down on your packaging, cut down on your postal costs - especially if you can take advantage of 'small parcel' price breaks etc. Extra packaging weighs more, and takes up more space - especially if you're using a box. Basically, the bigger and heavier your package, the more you'll pay in transit costs to get the parcel to your customer. Postal Costs: Post and Mailing costs are usually based around size tarriffs, or volume / weight calculations.So why use self-constructed packages that are not specifically designed to cater for impact protection and motion-restraint? Especially so with vinyls, and their often valuable-but-fragile inner and outer sleeves. Impact Protection: Impact protection is a key issue in the packaging world.Or do you? You need quick, and efficient options for sending out vinyl in the mail. Time: Apparently, everyone shipping vinyl records seems to have LOTS of time to package vinyl.Over-Packaging: Is all of that bubble-wrap necessary? Do you REALLY need stiffeners? How much tape are you going to go through using these options? Your customer is going to have to dig through all of this, potentially damaging the vinyl and sleeves inside.The examples above seem to miss out on these things: Vinyl Packaging Advice 8 (Old-school packaging!) Vinyl Packaging Advice 7 (Complex method, time consuming) Vinyl Packaging Advice 6 (Eek! Knives! Package chopping!) Vinyl Packaging Advice 5 (Better package options available, inefficient method.) Vinyl Packaging Advice 4 (Time consuming method) Vinyl Packaging Advice 3 (Good advice, but OTT on the bubble wrap!) Vinyl Packaging Advice 2 (Bubble-wrap armageddon) Vinyl Packaging Advice 1 (Good advice, but better options are available!) (I especially love the recommendation to use a pizza box!) Let me explain.Įxamples of over-enthusiastic vinyl packaging advice: ![]() But the other recommendations are also time-worn examples of taking things a little too far. I may have made the part about the stasis device up. There are many Blog articles (usually surrounded by ads for cheap packaging), as well as forum posts that proclaim to show you how to ship vinyl records - you need to wrap your vinyl in bubblewrap, tape, non-stick packing paper, doubly reinforced and stiffened board parcels, and then apparently you need to deploy a high-tech futuristic stasis device that negates the laws of physics, time, and delivery drivers steel-toe boots. With increasing pressure on delivery companies and couriers alike to pile more packages into each van per trip, it's no surprise that vinyl packaging issues are a hot topic on the net. Shipping vinyl records through the mail sounds like a harrowing experience. Do you want to know how to ship vinyl records safely, securely and still give your customer the best unboxing experience?
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