Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)

Seems like the Matt trick has run its use. These emails get no more quicker response than anything else. Still waiting on shipping notice for last month. I know it is only the 11th, but I am not holding out much hope they will ship it before the end of this week.
 
So I'm waiting on John Mayer Continuum from last month, Fiona Bolt Cutters, and Fiona WTP.

Just got notice that Bolt Cutters (which I had selected the free shipping w/RotM option, by the way) has shipped by itself.

A) this is going to be a painful wait as they trickle these out to me.
B) if they want to charge $43 for month to month, they better do that whole "invest" thing and find a better distribution center. Holy hell, I can't imagine how expensive this gets for them; shipping everything separate and without charge.
 
Btsvinylfarm said:
So I'm waiting on John Mayer Continuum from last month, Fiona Bolt Cutters, and Fiona WTP.

Just got notice that Bolt Cutters (which I had selected the free shipping w/RotM option, by the way) has shipped by itself.

A) this is going to be a painful wait as they trickle these out to me.
B) if they want to charge $43 for month to month, they better do that whole "invest" thing and find a better distribution center. Holy hell, I can't imagine how expensive this gets for them; shipping everything separate and without charge.
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Its not the distribution centre, it’s them. They’ve spent so long bashing that place it’s unfunny. Basically up until the store transition in November you had no option but for everything to come at once in your AoTM parcel. Since it everything has come individually. I can’t help but think that this price rise is largely an attempt to recoup some of those costs, not vinyl licensing or pressing. They’ve shit the bed themselves on this, as with everything else.
 
Joe Mac said:
Its not the distribution centre, it’s them. They’ve spent so long bashing that place it’s unfunny. Basically up until the store transition in November you had no option but for everything to come at once in your AoTM parcel. Since it everything has come individually. I can’t help but think that this price rise is largely an attempt to recoup some of those costs, not vinyl licensing or pressing. They’ve shit the bed themselves on this, as with everything else.
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I resigned up for the 3 month deal last month and grabbed Blossom Dearie, HBMS and Holy Hive all in swaps for my monthly. I received all three records the same day but in different boxes. That’s mental. I know they are not paying the same shipping rates we do when we mail records but still...and I’ve seen that happen for international customers.

@Btsvinylfarm —it’s possible that either you’ll get those other records in the same box, which has happened to me, or the more likely scenario is that their shipping is screwed up again and their site doesn’t work AGAIN.
 
Joe Mac said:
Its not the distribution centre, it’s them. They’ve spent so long bashing that place it’s unfunny. Basically up until the store transition in November you had no option but for everything to come at once in your AoTM parcel. Since it everything has come individually. I can’t help but think that this price rise is largely an attempt to recoup some of those costs, not vinyl licensing or pressing. They’ve shit the bed themselves on this, as with everything else.
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My comment was mostly tongue-in-cheek; I agree it's on them. But, even if it WAS an issue with Saddle Creek as they claim, wouldn't that be an area they'd have "invested in improvements" like the company line all the CS reps have been fed to say?

Nothing this company does makes much sense these days. It's pretty sad to watch a business flounder like this. They lack vision, they lack talent and ability. They ran a pretty good club for a while but had no business sense to transform it to a good business.

I wonder sometimes what a competent team could do with it. Maybe we'll get to see what happens if they're mercifully bought out.
 
MikeH said:
I resigned up for the 3 month deal last month and grabbed Blossom Dearie, HBMS and Holy Hive all in swaps for my monthly. I received all three records the same day but in different boxes. That’s mental. I know they are not paying the same shipping rates we do when we mail records but still...and I’ve seen that happen for international customers.

@Btsvinylfarm —it’s possible that either you’ll get those other records in the same box, which has happened to me, or the more likely scenario is that their shipping is screwed up again and their site doesn’t work AGAIN.
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Yeah my last 2 months (December and January)were like that. Multiple boxes sent out to Ireland 🤦🏻. Now DHL have confirmed in past that the reason they take so long is due to it being the cheapest possible economy international shipping rate but even still, it’s transatlantic shipping!
 
Btsvinylfarm said:
My comment was mostly tongue-in-cheek; I agree it's on them. But, even if it WAS an issue with Saddle Creek as they claim, wouldn't that be an area they'd have "invested in improvements" like the company line all the CS reps have been fed to say?

Nothing this company does makes much sense these days. It's pretty sad to watch a business flounder like this. They lack vision, they lack talent and ability. They ran a pretty good club for a while but had no business sense to transform it to a good business.

I wonder sometimes what a competent team could do with it. Maybe we'll get to see what happens if they're mercifully bought out.
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I’m really surprised some competitors haven’t popped up. There are some great smaller options for clubs but how does nobody else step up? They claimed they were the 4th largest online vinyl retailer in the US and sell a ton of records. Maybe people realize it’s not an easy task or that the profits in it aren’t worth it?
 
MikeH said:
I’m really surprised some competitors haven’t popped up. There are some great smaller options for clubs but how does nobody else step up? They claimed they were the 4th largest online vinyl retailer in the US and sell a ton of records. Maybe people realize it’s not an easy task or that the profits in it aren’t worth it?
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Probably both when you don't have the right partners. I understand that it must be way cheaper to press their records in Czech Republic than anywhere in the US but, and there are different examples every month, they can't control the end product. Every month (week?) there is an issue with one of their exclusives (gatefold not gatefold, purple and white instead of white and purple, sound issues, etc...) and every month (week?) they must ship, free of charge, replacement copies all over the world. I sincerely have no idea of how big might be the price difference between pressing in EU or in the US but I can't believe this price difference is not killed by the cost of replacements.
 
Skalap said:
Probably both when you don't have the right partners. I understand that it must be way cheaper to press their records in Czech Republic than anywhere in the US but, and there are different examples every month, they can't control the end product. Every month (week?) there is an issue with one of their exclusives (gatefold not gatefold, purple and white instead of white and purple, sound issues, etc...) and every month (week?) they must ship, free of charge, replacement copies all over the world. I sincerely have no idea of how big might be the price difference between pressing in EU or in the US but I can't believe this price difference is not killed by the cost of replacements.
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The sad thing is that with their current volumes no other provider can keep up with their demand month in month out. They might get them to do a particular album that would benefit from it on a better companies quiet month but if GZ do one thing well it’s lots, and fast.
 
Joe Mac said:
The sad thing is that with their current volumes no other provider can keep up with their demand month in month out. They might get them to do a particular album that would benefit from it on a better companies quiet month but if GZ do one thing well it’s lots, and fast.
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Good point. In this case maybe they could split their production. Let's say they press the 3 AotM and real exclusives in the US and all colored variants in EU. Their margin will reduce a little bit by pressing in the US but at least they save thousands of dollars by having a better control on the records they sell the more and/or are "responsible" of.
 
Skalap said:
Good point. In this case maybe they could split their production. Let's say they press the 3 AotM and real exclusives in the US and all colored variants in EU. Their margin will reduce a little bit by pressing in the US but at least they save thousands of dollars by having a better control on the records they sell the more and/or are "responsible" of.
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I would wager that the coloured variants are just pressed by whichever pressing company the label is using and are supplied to VMP to sell. It’s the 30,000 subscribers for essentials that is likely necessitating GZ.
 
Joe Mac said:
The sad thing is that with their current volumes no other provider can keep up with their demand month in month out. They might get them to do a particular album that would benefit from it on a better companies quiet month but if GZ do one thing well it’s lots, and fast.
Click to expand...
We saw that with the White Stripes album. If something goes wrong, smaller places will miss deadlines needed to ship people their records on time. GZ can make 100,000 records in a single day if needed.
 
Btsvinylfarm said:
They lack vision, they lack talent and ability. They ran a pretty good club for a while but had no business sense to transform it to a good business.

I wonder sometimes what a competent team could do with it. Maybe we'll get to see what happens if they're mercifully bought out.
Click to expand...
It's been well noted that they took a big round or two of VC funding a couple of years back. I've got no business acumen and am only saying this because I watched how this played out in Silicon Valley, but I always wondered if that money came with strings attached:
  • the weird changes to the store and going from a monthly, to a weekly, to a series of randomly timed drops,
  • the sudden shift to store items being distributed out of KY,
  • the rewards program that never materialized,
  • the inconsistency in member exclusive purchasing windows,
  • the whiplash from promising to never repress records to repressing everything to only repressing a few special things to repressing whatever they felt like, whenever they felt like it,
  • the swings between doing lots of big release exclusives to promising to do smaller runs of more curated selections and then back again...
It felt to me like maybe there WAS vision, but it kept getting suppressed or distorted in favor of cash flow. If that were the case, then perhaps some of what we have chalked up to incompetence was really a failure to meet the shifting demands of those to whom they had some fiduciary obligations.
 
Selaws said:
So after seeing you guys mention items that are showing in stock I have gone through all my pre-orders (there a lot) and there's a total of 10 records (inc the 3 ROTM's/Swap) that are showing in stock which I haven't had tracking for. I have sent them an email to see when I can expect tracking but they still haven't responded to my email from when they upped the price last week.
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ChristoBee said:
Don't hold your breath, juste received an email from CS "we haven't forgotten you but we are swamped" for an email I sent with Matt cc'd last week.
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Well, I didn't get a reply but this did just flood my inbox.......

Screenshot 2020-08-11 at 13.45.28.png
 
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