Lisa Sumner sells vintage vinyl on Etsy and spends as much half a day doing nothing but packaging vinyl to ship, one album at a time, to her customers. So it’s safe to say she knows a little bit about safely packaging, wrapping, and shipping vinyl records. And since some of her most lustworthy titles sell for upwards of $45, she’s got a fair amount of passion invested in doing it right, as you’ll read…

After my mailman delivered the SECOND broken record in a week, I was inspired to write a brief how-to on proper record packaging before my roiling anger got the best of me. This is not rocket science, people, and actually quite simple with the proper tools and a teensy, tiny bit of effort:

THE TOOLS:

1. Record Mailers – there are several websites and some record shops that carry them. OK, so they’re not the cheapest thing in the world -44 to 50 cents/ea. – but isn’t it worth the peace of mind that someone’s precious copy of (insert your personal Holy Grail here) is going to arrive in one piece–one SOLID piece?? If you must use pieces of cardboard cut into 13” X 13” squares, make sure to use thick, sturdy cardboard and NOT last night’s pizza box. I’m soo not kidding…

2. Padding/Filler – Bubble wrap, cardboard record mats, Styrofoam and even newspaper are all great fillers, and most of them can be found cheap or even free. Re-using packing materials should be your first choice as long as they’re CLEAN AND STURDY ENOUGH TO HANDLE ANOTHER ROUND OF RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH THE POSTAL SERVICE. Mix and match if you like, but use at least TWO pieces of any of the above.

THE PROCESS:

First of all, I am assuming that your record has a poly outer sleeve on it, and is put together properly with the record in its inner sleeve on top of the cover all within the poly outer sleeve. Do not make an ass out of me (and yourself) by wondering what a poly outer sleeve is…. I am also assuming that if you are on this website to begin with, you know what the essentials are.

If your vinyl is still sealed, then of course you should leave it that way unless the recipient has requested that you open it before shipping. It will still be well protected inside the cover. Why take the record out at all, you say? I asked this question in the beginning too; it’s to prevent the vinyl from shifting in transit and possibly slicing through one of the seams of the cover. And yes, I have seen this happen.

Lay your mailer out with the small flaps on the top and bottom then stack: filler/record/filler making sure that your vinyl is on TOP within the inner sleeve. This is important and I’ll tell you why; One of the broken records I received this week was packaged perfectly–almost.

The vinyl was placed on the back side within the inner sleeve so that whatever it was that punctured it, went right through the back of the box and padding into the vinyl, cracking it. There is much less chance of damage if the vinyl is on the same side as the address label. Fold everything up together snugly, but not tight enough to bend a corner, tape every side (using sturdy packing tape, of course) and you’re done.

Now was that so hard??

Just remember that a record deserves proper packaging no matter if it’s a $5 or $50 title. Spend the extra five seconds it takes to do it right. Besides, you don’t want someone like me bitching about your poor packing job on someone else’s website, right?

–-Lisa Sumner