The Fix

Part Three: Some Friendly Advice

As stated in the first two editions of this series (see part one here and part two here), you really shouldn’t need rules to collect records. But if you are new to this undertaking, there’s some ethical advice I’d recommend that you follow. Even if you’ve been going at this your whole life, even if you’ve made this pastime into a career–and there’s no shame in that–these words of wisdom, collected by me in the field, are as good as gold to help you through the decisions and interactions you’re going to face while digging.

Know your place and accept your luck
Realize that you are just one of many people out there looking for records, and that nothing you can do will change that. You might be the first to get to a bin of new arrivals, but in all likelihood, you won’t. Some days you might scoop everybody else, and some days everybody else will scoop you. Deal. If you are impatient, and need security in the hunt, or simply wish to remove all elements of surprise from the pastime, please have fun sniping records off of eBay. You won’t learn much, but the people who would go about things in this fashion often feel they don’t need to. If you get there first, that’s cool. If you didn’t, no big deal. Breathe deeply and walk it off.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions
Sure, the record store clerks and the people talking to them can be surly and unapproachable. Some might even mock you for your purchases. This is not your concern, and never will be. Collecting and dealing records does strange things to people, but your good nature will be a deterrent to any snarky comeback these folks will have to say. Part of the real-life record shopping experience carries with it a vital counterpart of social interaction. These people should be excited about some music for sale in their stores. Ask them about it, about other places where they like to shop, and other small talk. Be nice! Engage them in a positive and non-antagonistic manner and you will sow the seeds of learning and trust. There are sometimes benefits–percentage discounts, hook-ups, inside information–that come with the experience. But, as in life, people know when they’re being taken advantage of. Don’t be the person who does that.

Budget your time wisely
Some days you will have hours to yourself to go through a store’s contents. Other days you will have people waiting patiently for you to finish. It’s been my experience that companions who have no interest in record shopping really resent having to wait around for you to finish up. Don’t force your companions into this situation. Shop when you can, and use the time allotted in advantageous ways. You’ll never cover a large store in 30 minutes, for example, so hit up the sections you know will interest you–new arrivals are always interesting–then whatever genres and/or formats float your boat.

Etiquette means A to Z, and waiting your turn
Pretty simple. If someone is digging in a section you wish you were in, you gotta wait your turn. If someone else is waiting before you, no cuts. Don’t pull that sort of crap where you start digging through the back of a bin currently being combed by someone from the other end. You need to be patient. As an addendum, there’s more to it than knowing what you want. You need to become familiar with the way certain records look so you will know in which areas you are wasting your time and can dig faster. It is therefore best if you do a complete scan of everything you’re interested in. This may take a while if you’re a beginner, as just about everything in a store may appear foreign to you. Your digging speed and competency will slowly increase over time. As another addendum, be as stern as you need to with others who are approaching the bins you’re going through. Don’t let people get away with the things that you wouldn’t do yourself. You have the right to call out people for breaking the rules of proper conduct. Exercise it judiciously.

If you want it, grab it
Provided you aren’t doing anything untoward, like digging through somebody’s hold pile, or going through stuff that hasn’t been priced yet, you need to come to grips that a record you want that is in your hands is a temporal object. It may not be there the next time you visit the store. It may be a steal. It also may be grossly overpriced, and at the next spot you hit, you may find it for substantially cheaper. Until you get your game up regarding prices and condition as they relate to regional record shopping (which will take years and years of research), be advised to keep it in the here and now. It’s just a record, and you don’t need it. But if you want it, have the money to cover it, have weighed the opportunity costs with what buying it will have on your budget and can live with it, then by all means, go for it. Sometimes I don’t follow my own logic in this regard and am still kicking myself for passing on what seemed like expensive items at the time, even at a store where I receive a pretty favorable employee discount. I let them slip by, and when regret sparked a return visit, the records I wanted were long gone. I knew better, and still this went down. I’m bummed, but I’ll deal with it, just by hoping such offers come across again. Point is, you really can’t think about desirable objects in terms of the money. Money comes and goes, and you wouldn’t be wasting it on records if you cared about such things.

It’s OK to not know about everything in the store
Chances are, nobody does. Trends in what’s popular and what’s rare come and go, and fluctuate with the market. Bear in mind that this market is very small and very diverse, but also very fluid. eBay and Internet sales, coupled with decreases in pressing quantities for newer product, have thrown two significant spikes in sales. To this end, it’s cool to make lists and follow them when you go to the store. Even easier, just do research online beforehand, if you feel up to it. But don’t act like you are some sort of inexhaustible font of knowledge on such topics if you’re not.

Get ready to be disappointed
We’re in an era where store clerks would just as soon take way more from some random person on eBay than sell it to you for the listed price. This sucks, and is a root cause of why record stores are failing: a lack of good terms with customers, and a subsequent drop in new collections coming in. Times are tough right now for anyone selling physical media. Tools like Popsike and Goldmine lists have wildly inflated what certain titles will sell for, and are used as the rule in far too many cases, as opposed to the prices for which they should sell. Chalk it up to greed. This operator will die off, and maybe you can swoop down in the hard-luck going out of business sale that will go down in the near future. In short, this is an unfair game played by a sampling of all types of people; within that sampling are people you and I might consider to be obsessives, nerds, and losers. If someone is going to try to take advantage of you, you don’t have to deal with them…but all the same, that’s one record you might have wanted that you’re not buying on principal, and if you don’t, somebody else will. Trust your gut. It’s always best to feel better than to give in.

Don’t gloat
You will have days where you are wildly successful. One time during college, I visited my local used record store and asked the owner if any Sun Ra records were coming in, as well as any copies of the rare and awesome John Cale/Terry Riley collaboration, Church of Anthrax. Knowing this was a wild pitch, I nearly shat myself when I walked in a couple of months later, right after Christmas, and was told “Doug, where you been? I’ve been holding onto these records for you!” Placed into my hands was a mint import of the latter, and six Sun Ra records, including a title called Beyond the Purple Star Zone, a1980 title on Saturn that had yet to be reissued, for $7 apiece. Coupled with finding an OG Agent Orange Living in Darkness for $5, this was clearly among the best days of record digging I’d ever had, and I told everyone I could. Soon after, I got dumped by the girl I was seeing (on New Year’s Eve, in my own goddamn house), I was fired from my student job, and the family dog I’d known since I was five years old had to be put to sleep. I don’t really believe in karma, or luck, but I had a sneaking suspicion that these events were somehow related. I’d go on to dig, and score, and my life has been filled with ups and downs since then, but I never forgot this incident. In the words of William DeVaughn, “be thankful for whatcha got.”

Make sure you check condition while you have the chance
Don’t overpay for hammered copies of records, water-damaged sleeves, warped vinyl, and other flaws in your finds. Know how to take care of records at home, including cleaning procedures, and learn the difference between dirty vinyl and actual scratches and flaws in a pressing. If you can feel the effects of a scratch or gouge on the vinyl, you will sure as hell hear it when you get it home. Chances are the store is not going to be so kind to you when you try to return it.

Listening stations are nice, but don’t hog them
Sometimes records are pressed wildly off-center, and in this regard will provide you with a flawed listening experience. Check out the things you’re interested in buying in the store if you can, but be respectful of other customers who are trying to do the same.

Don’t get greedy
There’s a difference between finding a deal and exploiting it. Do not turn into the type of person whose ridiculous demands and antagonistic shopping patterns earn you the enmity of store staff. There are a handful of these losers out there and they are universally hated. You don’t want to join their ranks.

Dig in unexpected places
I’d have never known that the video store near my apartment sold records unless I looked myself. Flea markets, garage sales, estate sales, storage unit auctions, and libraries are great, non-traditional places to dig for vinyl. Craigslist features a high number of crazies who think that they’re sitting on a goldmine with some worn out Sinatra LPs. It’s up to you to know the difference, but you won’t unless you look for yourself.

HAVE FUN!
When it all comes down to it, very few people rely on flipping vinyl at a profit to supplement their income. It’s a time, money, and space-consuming enterprise, but you probably know that already if you want to be part of it. So get out there and have a good time.