Shrink wrap

[remicks]

*****

Back in the days of vinyl, it used to be a given that when you bought an album .... you took the shrink wrap off .

It was common wisdom that if you didn't .... your records would warp.

This never made sense to me .... why would the record companies seal their records this way --- not knowing for how long they would remain so before being purchased --- if there was this big risk that the plastic wrap would warp them . :-?

So I didn't do it. Always left the plastic on .

Now all these years later .....many many albums of mine are still protected by the original shrink wrap .... which has therefore preserved the quality of the covers ....:D
and ...... with no warping !!

So , to all of those who kept bugging me over the years : "TAKE THE SHRINK WRAP OFF !!! " : :P :P :P

*****

[Bernie]

It should be kept in mind that some shrink wrap did really shrink and would curl the ends of the jacket up as well as warp the record. This is why one would see some loose fitting shrink wrap on the better records. I still have records with their shrink wrap on, but only because it has a unique price sticker. It's nice to see that you only paid $2.88 for a 12" single back in 1984! Otherwise I rip that stuff off and put the jacket into a nice clear protective sleeve.

[remicks]

Otherwise I rip that stuff off and put the jacket into a nice clear protective sleeve.

Good advice Bernie . I'm slowly getting all my records into protective sleeves ... no matter the value . But I'm still leaving the shrink on ... I think that may add to their value . I can honestly say that with my hundreds of purchases .... the warp thing just didn't happen .... or I'd have gone back and ripped the wrap off of everything . I think maybe the curling of the cover happened once or twice ... seems like it was when the album was left out of the jacket for a long time ....

Originally Posted by Bernie

"] It should be kept in mind that some shrink wrap did really shrink and would curl the ends of the jacket up as well as warp the record. This is why one would see some loose fitting shrink wrap on the better records. I still have records with their shrink wrap on, but only because it has a unique price sticker. It's nice to see that you only paid $2.88 for a 12" single back in 1984!

Absolutely !! I treasure anything that adds historical interest. I find records with price stickers to not be marred but instead have an additional layer of information. ( Such as how much I paid at Aloha records at times !!! 11.98 .... {as brand new} for Amanda Lear's yellow vinyl "FOLLOW ME " 12" ..... big ticket back then !! That's when you know you wanted it bad !! )

I have a still-sealed 12" of Arthur Prysock's "WHEN LOVE IS NEW " I casually bought it at Odssey records in the 3 for a dollar bin !!!! The big round discount sticker is still on it : Odyssey Records 3/1.00. This tells me alot about this record .

Back when it was released , record stores had limits on their returns It was a challenge to guestimate how many to buy in the first place --- and then ---- you had to be on top of your returns because only so much return time was permitted .... and even then only a limited per centage of your purchase was returnable at all.

Therefore record chains often ate lots of nonreturnable product. So they'd recycle them through their stores at rock bottom prices. These were not cut-outs .... they were in house product the chain was stuck with .
So in the case of " WHEN LOVE IS NEW " .... I know from this sticker that the record was basically a dud .....(rather at the time it didn't sell ) ....and Odyssey got stuck with a lot of copies they had to basically dump. Had I only bought boxes of such product at the time !!!

Just think a box or two of Arthur Prysock .....still sealed copies --- .33 cents apiece .... :(


*****