Submitted by fangz_fabricated t3_zkmyh1 in todayilearned
Yes, “cut outs” or remainders are a real thing in music, video and even the book sales world. And, as mentioned, it has been a means for overstocked or hard-to-sell items to be sold cheaply and more quickly.
Some items were notoriously quick to go to cut-out or remainder status. In the world of LP’s, though it sold in the millions in pre-orders, the Peter Frampton/Bee Gees “Sgt. Pepper” soundtrack was put on remainder/cut-out status in weeks. For record collectors, some LP’s are easy to find with the cut-out “notch” or a hole drilled in the corner. Sometimes the upc is cut as well.
In the book world, these items are sometimes “best sellers” or items that loose interest quickly, like political memoirs or tell-all books. The “remainder” marking on books tends to be a magic marker swipe across the back spine. Sometimes the upc will be obliterated. One chain bookstore where I worked returned the covers of “unsold” or damaged paperbacks to the publisher, by the dozens. The publisher simply asked us to “discard” the rest of the book. Even now, you will sometimes see “used” books with “no cover. “ These are likely items that were discarded by the book retailers and claimed as not able to be sold.
I've had 45's and books with a hole punched on the sleeve / cover in the early 90's.
I worked at a music store and the staff got to keep them for free.
Weren't Soviet bootlegs on x-rays?
Yep, there's a great book on it called Bone Music.
That entire line up, I had all of them. ( technically the joy division tape was ‘unknown pleasures’) Add the cure , the smiths and Souxsie . I was told the punched tapes were promotional / radio station swag . punched so you couldn’t sell them or return to stores…or something like that. I’m so old.
That's what what do with promo cds to this day. Drill or cut the case
Some other sources on dakou tapes (cracked tapes/slashed tapes):
I had to hide my love of heavy metal in the 80s from my parents (they bought into the Satanic Panic hook, line, and sinker), so I often saved my lunch money to buy cassettes from the various discount bins in the stores. I had a TON of those cassettes with the slit cut in the spine. Now I know what those slits were about.
Radiolab did a three episode podcast on this very topic. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-mixtape
It's kinda like all of the tshirts that are printed with whoever lost the Superbowl. (That's right, NFL - I printed the word "Superbowl" without the express permission of the NFL. Get over it, or try to sue the blood out of THIS turnip) at least that "worthless merchandise" isn't floating around in the ocean. I'm glad that people can have free shirts, and I'm sad that the markup is so extreme that this model even makes sense.
The free thing is a total double-edged sword. yeah, people can get clothed, but it cuts the legs out from under retailers and producers in those countries and helps to prevent a domestic industry there that would improve the local economy.
Who lost the superb owl?
Heh. Dunno, but now we're all left with average owls.
The Carpenters and Abba brought China into 改革开放。 Epic。
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I can hook Russians up with a sweet collection of laserdiscs, but the shipping is gonna require an arms dealer.
Ah yes. OP the idiot.
gt0075b t1_j00m7wv wrote
I used to work at a music store. We used to sell 'cut outs' in the discount bins. I was told they had notches made in them so that they couldn't be sold at full price, and couldn't be returned for full price either.
Sometimes we would have the same tape or CD in the cutout bins and on the full price shelves for two very different prices.
When cutouts wouldn't sell at the discounted price, they would keep getting reduced until they were in the $1 bin. Can't ever remember packing them up to send to China.