Shrinkwrapping and your FLGS

[HellHound]

One of my fave stores (Capitaine Quebec) does plastic-wrap their RPG books, but not shrink wrap. The spot where you open the plastic baggy has a sticker on it that says "STOP, ask for assistance".

If you bring the book to the front of the store, you can open it there and check it out.

This is because they insert anti-theft devices into the books, then put them in the baggies. You can take the devices out if you are going through the book unsupervised.

 

[L0rd_Dark0n]

We have two LGS here in the area I live in. One shrink wraps, the other does not. I only go to the one that does NOT shrink wrap. I made the mistake of going to the other store once, and I asked if I could take the shrinkwrap off to examine the product. Needless to say, the response was most unsatisfactory. I mean, come ON, they also do comic books, and they are NOT shrinkwrapped!!! Only the RPG material was shrinkwrapped! I'll never go there again. I do my level best to encourage others to go to the other store or get what they want online. I've never had a problem with creased or stained pages, or damaged book bindings by going to the more sensible store that allows customers to, gasp!, actually LOOK thru the product before buying it. Someone earlier mentioned gaming products like Candyland and such. I really don't see how this compares since the only reason I'd buy a board game, was if I'd already played it. Besides, a lot of those board games have a picture of everything that comes in it on the back. You can't illustrate everything that comes in a book on the covers. Books I won't buy unless I've thumbed through them. Besides, compared to RPGs, board games just leave me, well, bored

 

[Kichwas]

I've not found pizza stains in new books yet, but I do find wrinkles, creased pages, pages that have been pressed flat, and so on.

I've stood in the store and in my house and watched friends who swore up and down they treated books well do these things - seconds after swearing such.

When I point it out to them -sometimes I get: what, that's how you hold a book. (and I just think "no wonder you don't have a girl/boyfriend" )

Even if I show them how toeasily read it without hurting it, they often don't get it.

I just roll my eyes and keep silent when they tell me of all the publishers out there who have poorly bound books that they keep having to replace while I flip through my mint copies of Unearthed Arcana (1E), GURPS, or Champions 4E.

And I try to avoid letting anyone read any of my books until I've watched them or found they have a geek hobby like me, such as comics, that's taught them better.

The only books I've ever had binding problems with had the beginnings of those problems when I bought them -such as the SaS book I had to reglue recently. Or the GURPS book I bought in 89 that came with instructions telling you to rip it to shreds, that doing so would make it last forever, and that being before I'd learned better...

 

[Darkness]

A lot of people hold pages by the middle of book, and put a little crease or dent in the page where they push in their thumbs. I'd say 90% of roleplayers do this - I've never met one who wasn't a comic book collector who didn't do this.

About 70-80% of the general population does it as well, so if you think you don't it's probably because I didn't describe it well.

Hm. I'm trying to get a mental picture here...
Do you mean they flip pages in a book by putting one hand on the middle of the page and then kinda "shove" it over?

The second crime I see a lot is people who press pages flat to read - even in hardcovers this utterly shreds the binding glue.

Oh yeah. Would never do it myself but I've seen it in action.

 

[haiiro]

My FLGS (the Underworld in Ann Arbor, MI) shrinkwraps new and used boxed games, and that's about it. I've always viewed that as being pretty standard practice, and in their case I've never had a problem being allowed to open something up if I asked -- they just shrinkwrap it again later.

When I shop elsewhere, finding shrinkwrapped books really ticks me off. Anything that discourages a comfortable level of browsing is bad form, IMO.

 

[Gellion]

I think the people who are complaining about messed up books are ridicolous, for me as long as it is not severly messed up, i will still buy it. The store in my area does not shrinkwrap RPG prodcuts, and most of them are in good shape.

 

[Agamon]

I've never even seen a store that shrinkwraps, and I've been to a number of them. I think most b&m stores know that being able to thumb through a book before buying is one of the advantages they have over online stores. To do otherwise is silly.

 

[Uder]

Sometimes I put a booger between pages at the LGS, just to mess with folks like Arcady. Let me know if you get one of my "children".

I don't think I'm ever going to retire on my earnings from owning mint copies of WG10: Child's Play or Monster Cards: Set 2. If I want an investment, I'll make a real investment.

I buy these things to read in bed or over lunch, fold and hold in one hand while I orate dramatically from them, toss them on the concrete garage floor when I need to swiftly switch books, and scribble notes and house rules in. I've even been known to help color in pictures with colored pencils when my nieces and nephews visit.

So, I guess I'm sort of an argument for shrink wrapping, even though I'm against it.

Edit: To those interested in the link below, I do not now and have never knowlingly boogered a PC's sheet.

 

[bmcdaniel]

I've stood in the store and in my house and watched friends who swore up and down they treated books well do these things - seconds after swearing such.

When I point it out to them -sometimes I get: what, that's how you hold a book. (and I just think "no wonder you don't have a girl/boyfriend" )

Even if I show them how toeasily read it without hurting it, they often don't get it.

[....]
And I try to avoid letting anyone read any of my books until I've watched them or found they have a geek hobby like me, such as comics, that's taught them better.

Life's too short to worry about wear and tear on books.

 

[Gellion]

Sometimes I put a booger between pages at the LGS, just to mess with folks like Arcady. Let me know if you get one of my "children".



I deleted the second thingy so, it is all messed up.