Burning Vinyl: A True Horror Story

This story hearkens back to a day when vinyl was still considered fodder in my region of the United States; way back to the summer of 2015. Please read that as sarcasm.

At that time, I had only been seriously rebuilding my collection for about 6 years. Since I was, and still am for the most part, Child-Support-Bankrupt, I had a very small collection of 100 vinyl records consisting of some Van Halen, Beatles, Johnny Cash, AC/DC and Scorpions as well as a few soundtracks and other "cheap" buys I could come across.

A friend of mine, who I shall call Melody (you know, to protect her and her father's identity, who, her father, I shall call Jim) called me up.

Well Melody's uncle, who I shall call Jack, passed away and left Jim a non-climate controlled storage unit the size of a single car garage. It was filled with vinyl. I wasn't hopeful that anything would be salvageable. I mean, Oregon can get hot in the summer time, but is always cool and wet in fall, winter and spring. These are not ideal conditions for vinyl and their sleeves and non-climate controlled storage units do little to protect the items stored within.

How about a little back story.

Jack, again, Melody's uncle, was known for going to garage sales on Sunday afternoons; within hours of closing for the weekend and buying out all their vinyl. Jack did this for 20+ years. He would go to the sales near closing because that was when he could score the best deals and by deals I mean, $5 for a box of records.

Now, if you do the math on that; one or two boxes per sale, hitting roughly three sales a weekend is upwards to six boxes of vinyl each weekend. Now multiple that 52 weeks in a year, as I am told he didn't miss a chance to go Sunday sales hopping, and you have 312 boxes a year.

But let's reduce that number to a quarter of that because some garage sales may have sold their vinyl before he got there, or refused to sell it so low, or hell everyone gets sick from time to time, so there may be two or three weekends a year that Jack didn't do his Sunday shopping.  So let's say that Jack scored 78 boxes of vinyl each year.

And Jack did this for 20+ years. But lets make the math easy... let's just say he did it for 20 years. That's 1560 boxes of vinyl over twenty years.

It's not that hard to do really, even today. To the common non-collector, the boxes are heavy, take up a lot of space. They are cumbersome and generally unwanted.

Nobody who isn't a "vinylphile" wants to haul those big, heavy boxes back into their garage at the end of a garage sale. Instead they can close out their garage sale with a little extra cash and a lot less to carry. It's a win/win scenario.

As it turn out, when Jim (again, Melody's dad) and his wife first arrived at the storage unit on their own it was filled floor to ceiling, front to back with boxes; boxes of vinyl and a few cassettes. Now this may seem like an exaggeration, but I promise you it is not.

Jim, his wife and a couple of kids began loading their cars and a trailer with literally tons of vinyl.

When they got to their country home and started going through the boxes they were mainly looking for Beatles albums... something they thought they could sell for high dollar amounts. Jim and his wife really didn't find much they thought would make them rich. They found a few, but they had no personal use for vinyl as they weren't collectors. At this point, Jim and his wife saw this as a huge burden.

The rest of the vinyl, the majority of it (98%)...

Well I don't know how to break this to you other than just to say it...

Jim threw them on the burn pile and set it ablaze.

I found out later that it had some Journey, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones and many others (those were the names they recognized, but not interested in). All that vinyl when up in flame and smoke.

Do you see why I changed their names?

It wasn't until a few weeks later that he let Melody in on the storage unit story, sharing it as a burden. Jim had not gone back to finish cleaning it, mainly because there was money owing on it and they were locked out until the back rent was paid. Melody instantly IM'd me and filled me on all the details, including the burn-party fiasco.

I immediately responded and said that I was in.

A week later I arrived at the storage unit, meeting Jim, Melody and the rest of family. The storage unit door was opened and it was still half full.

I was both elated and devastated at the same time. But in the end, there was no time for dilly-dallying in the horror of what happened before I got there, the summer sun was burning the sky, toasting our flesh, and we had some heavy lifting to do. Jim gathered us all together and gave us three instructions and only three instructions;

1. "First and foremost, any Beatles albums are mine."
2. "Load your car up and take it home. I never want to see it again; unless it's Beatles."
3. "Next week or two you can come over and go through all the remaining boxes."

And we did just that. My wife and I loaded our mid-sized SUV to the point that the suspension was compressed enough that the rear wheels of our car were at risk of rubbing in the inside of the wheel wells.

I grabbed some cassettes while I was at it.

We also loaded everyone else's cars as well, cause we aren't jackholes.

We didn't spend any time digging at that point, we just lugged boxes and boxes of anonymous music into our car, then on Jim's trailer and car and then into other family members cars. It took about an hour and a half for seven of us to load everything up.

But there was still 30 or 40 boxes that wouldn't fit anywhere.

So there needed to be return trip, but my wife and I wouldn't be involved with that trip.

After all the cars were loaded, we dug through some of the remaining boxes, to to see if there was anything worth scoring before we left, thinking this might be our only chance to do so... ya know, with Jim's penchant for fire.

And there was plenty to score during our digging. Star Wars, Popeye, American Graffiti soundtracks... a little rock, a little old country, some blues. There was just so much. And then, excited yet decidedly exhausted and hot, we went home with our bounty.

My wife and I spent the next couple of days going through our troves of boxes of records. No Beatles were to be found, but there was tons of other bits of joys.

For every 20 records we rejected, we added one to either my collection, or my wife's collection. The rejected records weren't rejected because of condition, but because of content. Stuff like Christian albums, duplicates, Christmas albums, big band albums, classical albums, etc. In total I added over one hundred records to my personal collection and my wife added around fifty.

Our den looked like we were being featured on an episode of Horders. But it was worth it.

In my collection I was able to add albums from artists like Johnny Cash,  Heart, The Go-Gos, James Cotton Blues Band, The Platters, Willie Nelson and many more. Easily, I doubled the size of my collection from this single car load.

Over the next two weeks, I took many of the rejects and duplicates to my friend Melody, who was already inundated with her score from that initial haul, but I wanted to give her chance to dig through. Once Melody cried uncle, I offered the remainder of the rejects to friend. Once they cried uncle, what was left of the rejects, thousands really, I donated to my local animal shelter's thrift shop.

And then, just as we were rid of all that unwanted vinyl, came the call came; it was time to go dig through the remaining vinyl that we didn't have room for during that initial load.

We arrived at Jim's property in the country. He has a few acres with a house, a barn, a goat, chickens and an old manufactured home on it. The manufactured home was used as storage.

We were led through the door of the manufactured home, and led into a back room where the familiar smell of musty boxes of records were stored. Hundreds of boxes of records holding tens of thousands of records just waiting to be gone through.

For three solid, literally non-stop, hours the four of us sifted through box after box after box after box. Pulling out some important pieces of jazz, blues, old country, rock, pop and Disney (for Melody)... albums were flying from storage boxes into milk crates and loaded into cars. Sorted boxes of rejected albums were methodically moved into a different room once the box had been looked through by one of us.

It was a grueling three hours of sweet dreams coming true.

Again there were tons of duplicates, Christmas albums, Christian albums, big band albums that nobody had an interest in. But my wife walked away with over one hundred albums of the stuff she loved; Sound of Music soundtrack, some opera, some pop, some newer country, Top Gun and Dirty Dancing soundtracks. She scored in a big way.

I also scored in a big, but much different way. I scored the likes of an original pressing of Bob Dylan's Highway '61 Revisited (plus even more Dylan), Rolling Stones' Out of Our Heads, Superman Soundtrack, Steve Miller's Greatest Hits, Ray Charles, Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, Johnny Cash (over 19 new albums of his in total), Otis Redding, Nina Simone, 20 different Nat King Cole albums, Miles Davis, The Kinks, The Kingsman, Kenny Rogers, Johnny Paycheck, Joan Baez, Jane Morgan, Helen Ready, Hank Williams Sr., Hank Jr., Elvis, The Doors, Dave Clark Five, Connie Francis, Chicago, Billy Joel...

And so many more.  

All in all, I grew my collection from just a hundred records to well over four hundred.

My wife, Melody and Jim pulled out a huge number of records as well.

Little did I know that in four months I would be moving across town and would have to pack, move and unpack all that vinyl once again.

I went in to this epic dig not expecting a lot in return. It was a non-climate controlled storage unit after all. I expected to find warped, scratched and water damaged records; something you'd expect from a collection stored in non-climate controlled conditions with cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other from floor to ceiling.

I also expected to find a lot of old gospel, big band stuff that my grandma would have loved; and I did find lots of that, but I found a lot of records that I loved as well. And while I cried on the inside at the records that were destroyed before I got involved, I still do, as a matter of fact, I rejoiced in the musical gems I did find and was able to save.

Over three hundred albums that I was able to save from the next inferno. I was able to to save over $9000 of music (if I had to purchase them from a record shop or online). I was able to add all this to my collection for nothing more than an investment of my time and energy.

Five hours.

That's all it cost me to acquire so much music that I love. Five hours and I more than tripled my music collection; and that's not even counting the two hundred my wife added to her collection or the uncounted number of records that my friend, Melody, added to her collection. It was well worth the investment.

Would I do it again?

Of course I would. In a heartbeat. It's a lot of work and a little heartbreak, but what started as a horror story, well, it ended more like a fairy tale for me.  

The Fraud of Insurance

***Update***

It is not my intention to slander insurance agents or companies in any way. My intent here is to inform people of some of the pitfalls of insurance and things that can bite you.

My generalized statements about insurance companies, their agents and their adjusters are based on a recent experience I had with a claim filed with my insurance company; one of the top rated in the united states for customer satisfaction.

So I mentioned in the last blog post that the only way to get retail value out of your vinyl is through an insurance claim. I wasn't talking about insurance fraud or anything, but rather, regarding the true value of vinyl in a collector's market. But, in that post, I also said there were caveats to insurance that would be discussed later.

Well this is later and here this that discussion.

Again, I'm not talking about committing insurance fraud, but rather, protecting yourself from your own insurance company and your personal ignorance. This post is about the caveats of home owner's and renter's insurance policies and some of the things you can do to protect yourself in the case that you have to file a claim.

This is not an exhaustive list of of insurance dos and don'ts, but rather some of the things I discovered as the result of recent dealings with a claim against my own insurance policy.

Before I get started I just want to make sure we are all on the same page.

• Insurance companies are just that, companies. They are for profit companies that typically answer to shareholders. An insurance company's job is make money, not pay it.
• It has been my experience that an insurance agent is not your friend. They are an agent of the insurance company, and they are meant to help the company meet it's first objective; make money. Again, based on my recent experience with an actual claim.
• Insurance is a socialized service, as in socialism. This is where the company, much like Affordable Healthcare Act, is betting that majority of the customers will not make a claim, all the while, paying premiums to the company. And for the most part, insurance companies are right. It's a lot like gambling, the insurance company is the house and we are the gamblers placing bets. And we all know the odds are stacked in the house's favor.

So with all that said, let's get going.
 
What is your record collection worth? What is it worth really? If you had to replace it, what would it cost you? This is not a question I am asking you to answer in the comments below, but a question you should be able to prove to your insurance company.

Fire... flood... earthquake... leaky roof... theft. These are just some of the possible demises of your record collection. And here is something to think about; if there is a fire, there is a good chance that there will be water damage as you are required by your insurance company to make every possible effort to prevent the spread of damage and in the case of a fire, this means calling the fire department who use water to put out a fire.

These are things that lovers of vinyl do not want to think about and shouldn't have to. But the reality is; if you have not verified that your insurance policy specifically covers your records individually or as a collection, you may have to address the 300 lb gorilla in the room; you may have to rebuild your collection on your own.

Here are some things to consider when reviewing your home owner/renter's insurance policy.

• What type of collection do you have?
• What is the estimated replacement cost? Did you include shipping?
• What situations does your insurance cover?
• What are the loopholes in your policy?
• How much is your deductible? 
• What proof is required to prove the loss?
• Alternative Insurance Providers

There are 101,000 different things that can go wrong and end up destroying part of, or all of your collection. Since we cannot predict the future or the unknown, it's important to at least cover what we do know. So let's start with the important question first.

What type of collection do you have?

Is your collection large or comprised of limited editions, promos and rare prints (read expensive). If so, you may want to talk about a specific policy to cover the collection. Some policies will not cover "collections" as a part of a general policy. In insurance company lingo, "collections" include art, guns, gold and jewelry, comic books and yes, can even include vinyl. Even if your collection is just normal pressings, the value of the collection may exceed the policy limited on "collection" value.

You will need to talk with your insurance agent about whether your vinyl falls under this special clause and if you need to modify your insurance coverage to ensure your collection is covered for it's replacement value. 

What should your insurance cover.

You need to ask specifically, and get in writing, what incidents your insurance will cover; fire, water damage, floods, earthquakes, landslides, etc. Basically whatever the possible scenario would be for where you live. Tsunami damage isn't likely in Iowa or Tennessee, but flooding and tornado damage is so make sure you are covered for where you live.

Your insurance policy should be able to replace your entire collection, minus your deductible regardless of the "expected" incident. So you need to talk to your insurance agent about reviewing your policy to ensure that this the case. 

It is that simple. 

While we are talking about what your insurance will cover, you need to make sure your deductible is reasonable based on your collection value. If you have $3000 deductible and your collection is only valued at $1000, it's likely that the replacement of your entire collection would fall entirely on you.

What are the loopholes in your policy?

When you purchase insurance, the insurance company will assume a value for rebuilding the home (in the case of a homeowners policy), based on the appraised value of the property and structure, as well as replacing the items in the home. This is called the 'Sum Value'.

And here is the first loophole; You, and only you, are responsible for ensuring this value is correct. While the cost of replacing the structure is based on the appraised value of the property, as property values go up, you need a appraisal to update the value for your insurance. For most insurance policies your house rebuild costs should be covered without challenge within the coverage amount listed in the policy.

But coverage for contents within the home (furniture, electronics, kitchen-ware and appliances, etc.), listed as a line item for the sum value, are usually found to be way below where they actually should be to protect the home owner.

You really need to calculate the value of your home's contents and do it room by room or by category, your choice.

• Furniture (beds, chairs/couches, dining set, desks, etc); $10k - $15k
• Electronics (desktops/laptops, tablets, xbox/playstation, cellphones, televisions, etc); $5 - $10k
• Toiletries (toothbrushes, linens, shower curtain, bath rugs, etc.) $1k - $5k
• Etc.

or

• Dining Room; $2k - 5k
• Kitchen; $10k - $15k (think appliances)
• Living Room; $8k - $12k 
• Master Bedroom; $5k - $8k
• Etc.

Artwork, guns and jewelry and other items considered expensive are generally treated differently and should be brought up as separate items with your insurance agent. This can include a vinyl collection.

Then there are the sneaky loopholes; things in your policy, that your agent will not always fully disclose, that can actually prevent your insurance company from being obligated to pay you the total value of your claim.

For instance, there is a common loophole of "Max Value for a single item". A collection, considered by many insurance companies as a single item, can cause you issues. Even a collection of 1000 records, is a single collection and a is commonly treated as a single item. If the Single Item Max Value in your policy is at $1000, you will only receive $1000 for that item or collection, even if it's worth seventeen times that.

A lot of people are bitten by this one.

This is why it is important to specifically bring up your collection and whether it is covered regardless if they are comics, baseball cards, motorcycles or vinyl records. One way you might be able to avoid this "single item" loophole is to create your own loophole by listing each and every item in your "collection" as separate items.

This means stating you have 1000 plus individual vinyl records providing a list containing all of the items. This means that you will have update that list frequently, like once or twice a year or even more frequently, depending on how fast you acquire, sell or trade records, but this is one possible way around the Max Value loophole.

Another sneaky insurance company loophole is Actual Cash Value (ACV). Actual Cash Value is a purposefully confusing phrase as it may lead a customer, unfamiliar with insurance lexicon, so assume this phrase means the cash value of an item. This is not the case. Actual Cash Value is where the insurance company applies the original cost of purchase of an item and then calculates a depreciation value based on it's age versus it's expect lifetime. For vinyl, this means an original Led Zeppelin's first album, released in 1969 for $3 would have an estimated actual cash value of about $0.18 based on the following;

• Purchase price of item when new = $3; 
• Current Age of item = 47 years; 
• Expected Life of Item = 50 years.

I used this online ACV calculator for the above estimate.

$0.18 is not even close to the true value of a copy in very good condition (sleeve and media) which sits at about $880 as of this writing.

This is is why it is critical to ensure that your policy covers the cost of replacement and not ACV. Replacement costs should also include shipping and handling, replacement of plastic sleeves, etc.. Cash value is; the depreciated cost of the record. To get $180 for a record collection that contains 1000 records worth upwards of about $15k to $20k would been completely and utterly devastating to anyone who loves their collection.

Your estimated value, the value you provide to your agent, should be based on what it would cost you to replace your collection, not what you paid for it. So that $60 KISS double platinum album you picked up at a garage sale for $2 would likely cost you $60 to replace if it were damaged because your chance of finding it again for $2 is not likely.

Again none of this is a guarantee, as all policies are different. It just something to talk with your agent about to ensure you are not going to be horribly disappointed because you didn't know.

What proof do you have to provide?

Well, this all depends on the company and policy. Some companies will claim to only require an itemized list. But some will outright require photos of each piece in your collection so their insurance adjuster can evaluate the grade of each piece.

Grading, as you know, is important to the value of a record, not only the grade of the vinyl itself (known as play-ability) but the grade of the cover and inner sleeve especially when you are talking rare, original or limited pressings of records.

Now grading is very subjective as there is no definitive guide for grading vinyl, but rather a collection of ideas, thoughts and methodologies and so it comes down to everyone having their own opinion. So your insurance adjuster may grade your albums much lower than you would, because it is the adjuster's job to save his company money. And there isn't much you can do about that.

Because of this little thing called insurance fraud, insurance companies are not very likely to just take your word for it, even if your agent claims they will. See people are known for claiming things like they had a mint condition Beatles White Album with a serial number "numbered 200 some thousand range" when in reality they had a 80s reprint with no serial number. So insurance companies will generally require some proof and the more valuable the collection or items in a collection, the more proof they will require.

In the case of water and smoke damage, the physical copy of the records still exists and can be verified by a claims adjuster, but if your collection is literally, physically destroyed by a home fire, you have lost any and all proof of their existence.    

You're best bet is to photograph or video tape every album, front cover, back cover, inner sleeve, inner bi-fold if applicable and both sides of each of the vinyl in the album, and even posters and other memorabilia that may have come with the album. This is the only way to show proof. Just a piece of advice, you will need to store these photos some place other than your home, as the same fire that destroyed your records could also destroy your proof. 

So, as an example of a recent album, Metallica's Hardwired Box Set, should include photos of the six buttons, four lithographs, all three vinyl (both sides of each of the three vinyl disks), front and back of each of the sleeves, the box, etc. This is because each component and the condition of each component of an album adds to the value of the album. You may have a near mint graded sleeve, but a very-good graded media and this would affect the grade of the vinyl and thereby affect the value.

Here are some pointers to documenting your collection.

• Each photo must be in focus.
• Each photo must be a full-size, quality image, e.g no cell phones (artifacts in the cellphone photo can degrade the visual estimate) or thumbnails. This is so the adjuster can look at the details of each part to determine scratches and damage before the incident. 
• Each photo should include the entire subject, specifically capturing printing numbers on sleeves and vinyl. And no cutting off a corner of the sleeve as it may appear that you are trying to hide something. 
• Each photo of each object must fill the frame. If you photograph the vinyl and sleeve from across the room, or as part of 20 LP montage to save time, the adjuster may claim that there is not enough detail to determine grade and just provide the lowest price for replacement, which in turn limits your ability to replace your lost collection. 

It is a daunting task that is both tedious and time consuming, especially for larger collections, but shortcuts in this process could cost you dearly. In the end, the more proof you have of your collection, the better your chance of getting your collection replaced.

Alternative Insurance Providers

Yes, there are companies that specialize in insuring anything and everything from J.Lo's butt to Lady Gaga's voice and yes, even your records. But be prepared to be hit with sticker-shock as the premiums prices of these policies (the price each month) tend to be as appalling as the process for submitting a claim with the company.

So that's it folks. This is my insights for properly insuring your record collection. Again this is not meant to be definitive list, just some pitfalls I have experienced. If there's anything I missed, make sure to leave it in a comment below.

Until next time... drop the needle and groove on baby... groove on.

Selling Vinyl - Dos and Don'ts

An Actual Image from the Craigslist Ad

Contrary to popular belief, for the most part, vinyl is not as valuable as gold. As the saying goes; "Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it." That holds especially true for vinyl.

I see these ads on Craigslist all the time... Words and phrases from a first term community college marketing class thrown in like "value", "deal", "Rare", "Original", "Antique". When the reality is, it isn't a deal, it isn't rare and it isn't an antique (defined as something that is at least 100 years old).

An actual ad on Craigslist...

"Selling my collection of vinyl records. Alot of classics from different genres like The Beatles, Cher, Journey, ACDC, Ritchie valens, and Alot more!! 70 records total! Each value around $20 per record each so its a really great deal. Only thing is that the cases are worn from being antiques. Anyone is free to come and look at them first but its selling as is. Thank you! Selling collection all together so please dont ask to just buy single ones."

The actual ad.

This "would-be seller" is asking $330 for this lot of "antique" vinyl records.

Now, let's ignore the marketing aspect of this ad and just focus on the facts.

If you look close at those sleeves, that wear 'n tear is not from being antiques. That is from decades of abuse and neglect. So what this seller is valuing as $1400 worth of vinyl (70 records times $20 each) I have actually seen most of the stuff in the photo, as well as the others the seller has listed, (in the condition they are presented) in the dollar bins at my local record shop and even the $0.10 bin at flea markets. Just because Discog's shows a value of $20 for a given record doesn't mean your record is worth that much.

As a matter of fact I have purchased the same Beatles album with the sleeve in better condition for $5 at a garage sale.

So in an attempt to educate not only sellers, but buyers as well, here is my guide to buying and selling records.

Here is what you need to know about vinyl and it's perceived value.

1. You may have an idea of what your record collection is worth, but I guarantee you that outside of limited edition pressings and rare albums, I can any "classic" album for $5 or less. The music is the same between releases for the most part. I can buy a brand new reissue of Let It Be for the $20 valuation of this particular Craigslist ad. And the vinyl and sleeve both will be in mint condition on the reissue. I can buy a decent copy of it at my local Goodwill for $2.99.
2. Outside of having a fire burn down your entire house or a flood swamp your record room and having your insurance pay you for the vinyl lost in the fire, you will probably never get full retail value for your collection; ever. That is unless you open your own record store, but then you have to rent to open your store, power, maybe gas, insurance, so yeah, no retail value there either. And even with the insurance claim for fire or water damage, you have the deductible and also have deal with very specific policy restrictions and burden of proof. More on that in another post. So just keep in mind that you will never get full retail value for your entire collection, accept it and move on.
3. You need to learn how your vinyl is identified. Just because you find Beatles' Let It Be on Discog, and your's looks old, so you "know" it's worth more, it doesn't mean you have a $350 album. Between 1970 and the time of this writing, there have been over 250 official releases of Let It Be on vinyl, and that's not counting the bootlegs. Serial numbers etched into the inner ring, very hard to read but they are there, are the pedigree of the vinyl as well as subtle and not so subtle color shifts and details in the covers. A reissue cover may have a light blue color instead of the dark blue color of the original pressing in the banner on the top left corner of the cover. You need to learn these and how to research them and learn how mismatched vinyl and covers affect the value as well.  
4. You need to learn how to properly grade your albums before trying to sell them. Grading happens not just on vinyl itself (based on how playable it is), but on the sleeve and labels as well. The sleeve is art. The art has value. Discog's website has a great grading guide. It's not perfect, but it is a decent way to understand how even the littlest bend or warp in the sleeve or light scratch on the vinyl can lower the value of the entire album.
5. You need to remember that your vinyl is only as valuable as what someone is willing to pay for it. You can hold your ground and stick with the $20 an album price valuation based on your principals (a.k.a. opinion)... but you likely won't sell a single album if you do that. Craigslist is nothing more than a digital garage sale. Would you go to a garage sale and pay retail prices for anything? Not likely. You go to garage sales to buy stuff that others don't want, and buy it cheap. And so does everyone else. If you want retail prices, try to sell them on Ebay, Discogs or Collector events, but again good luck with that. Don't expect people to come storming the gates to buy your over valuated collection of "antique" records. 

I hope that this posting is helpful. Next up... I will educate you on the pitfalls regarding insurance claims. 

Until then, put the needle in the groove and let it spin baby.