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

TenderLovingKiller® said:
They have included international subs since the beginning in 2013, no? If they have been running in the red on international subs for over a decade and have never attempted to rejigger their business model before haphazardly pulling the plug this year, that is just bad business.
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They may not have known they were running international at a loss. I've seen this before - in bigger companies - that have no idea what cost of sales are for different customer types or even lines of business, because they are all in a single cost accounting pot on the income statement.

I'm willing to bet that, as the crisis grew, VMP brought in an outside consultant to look at the business, and uncovered this and other issues.

It is not a bad business move to jettison unprofitable customers. Optics are bad, but in a crisis, survival is foremost.

And, again having been in these situations in my career, when you are in survival mode, optics are bad all around anyways. You need to shed cost, and do it fast.

But shedding cost is by nature a negative activity. You have to do it carefully, and with experienced hands, or a death spiral can be created.
 
Selaws said:
THIS!

Its not even that tricky to understand. If they are saying that the shipping costs are too high then collate the records and send them out once a month in a single package rather than 3-4 in a month. Thats a huge saving right there.
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Also, I remember back in the days we Intl were charged $8 on any new purchase and $5 per additional item. At these prices, it was acceptable. Now, I have the idea they included the shipping costs in the pricing and every subscriber (Intl or not) was paying to balance the shipping costs.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The new pricing would not be “Not Terrible” if they were offering an audiophile product. They have produced some albums that would qualify as audiophile but it’s a bit of a gamble. Many have pressing errors or have sloppy QC issues. Not to mention If I am gonna pay nearly $50 an album I want to be buying an album that I know I am gonna love. Nothing about their recent curation has told me that I am gonna get 12 albums that I truly love.
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Great points. If you don’t think you’ll find 12 albums you want with the 36 annual ROTMs and various store drops, then it’s a clear no regardless of price. To the audiophile point, I guess that’s objective to a degree. VMP is audiophile enough for me to hear the difference between their AAA/ADA RKS or Balston cuts versus generic retail pressings. $31 for an exclusive VMP vs $25 Wal-Mart copy, I’m happy going with VMP version.
 
max_stacks said:
Great points. If you don’t think you’ll find 12 albums you want with the 36 annual ROTMs and various store drops, then it’s a clear no regardless of price. To the audiophile point, I guess that’s objective to a degree. VMP is audiophile enough for me to hear the difference between their AAA/ADA RKS or Balston cuts versus generic retail pressings. $31 for an exclusive VMP vs $25 Wal-Mart copy, I’m happy going with VMP version.
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90% of their exclusives are variants as Wal-Mart's or other retailer's though so unless you really love a specific color, soundwise it will be the same.
 
Skalap said:
90% of their exclusives are variants as Wal-Mart's or other retailer's though so unless you really love a specific color, soundwise it will be the same.
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And it'll take longer to ship.

I regret the two times I bought one of their variants just because I had credit to burn. Had to wait months after release to get them. Annoying.
 
max_stacks said:
Great points. If you don’t think you’ll find 12 albums you want with the 36 annual ROTMs and various store drops, then it’s a clear no regardless of price. To the audiophile point, I guess that’s objective to a degree. VMP is audiophile enough for me to hear the difference between their AAA/ADA RKS or Balston cuts versus generic retail pressings. $31 for an exclusive VMP vs $25 Wal-Mart copy, I’m happy going with VMP version.
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I agree that VMP can release definitive pressings, I own several and of albums that would normally not receive that sort of treatment. There are plenty of examples where the VMP pressings isn’t particularly superior to the other options available and even more examples where there CQ messed things up and their pressing contain actual flaws. There are also plenty of examples of VMP pressing audiophile editions of albums that seemingly no one is clamoring for. At this point in collecting, I would rather spend the $50 on things I know I love. Than gamble on VMP in hopes on saving a few bucks on at least a few things I likely won’t. If VMP puts out something that I must own, I will fork over the a little more for that specific title but that as much as I willing to invest at this point.

I signed up for Demon Day initially but with the understanding that if I didn’t care for a ROTM, I could swap out for Black Sabbath, Beck, Wilco, MMJ, etc.. and That Fiona Apple was coming the following month. I remember with Fiona I also got exclusive pressings of The National’s Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers and Nick Caves The Boatman’s Call. Both those exclusives were under $25. VMP just isn’t to that level quality or value anymore.
 
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