The Sad Fate of "vintage" LP's

I took some 80 albums to two stores, Amoeba Music in the Haight and The Music Store in West Portal. They both rejected all but two albums as too moldy and scratched -- even though the records will play just fine. The value after all is largely in the jacket.

I made a grand total of $2 -- only $1 profit after $1 in parking meters at the two stores.

I actually feel kind'a silly for having been so attached. When I think about it, those albums survived a wood-stove heated house in Fort Bragg, a trailer home in Mendocino and finally San Francisco. So Joni, Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Donovan, Pink Floyd, etc. will meet their fate in a Goodwill or the "dollar bin" at Amoeba.

A Word About Boxes

If there’s anything this society has a surfeit of it’s boxes! Any store or business will shower you with free boxes. That said, I chose to buy fresh packing boxes for uniform stacking size.

Naturally, I searched on the Internet. I read reviews of local movers and tips on planning and checklists. I found several companies devoted just to boxes.

At first I was thrilled by the low prices of U-Line. But their pricing edge diminished significantly once shipping costs were added in. Even flat, corrugated boxes are bulky – hence costly to ship!

Living as I do in a densely populated megalopolis I was lucky to find a local vendor that could beat a large shipper’s pricing. Here in the Bay Area, I found Bay Area Box Express – BABE for short – a nice touch, I thought. Plus the dog's cute.

Moving out in slow motion

It's not unlike cleaning the refrigerator or a closet. You make a big mess and remove everything from it's place.

The difference is that I'm not going to return things back in their places. It took 15 boxes to pack my books --- just my books!

I was going to pack my books by TOPIC -- but quickly realized that size and weight were the more important properties. The first boxes weighed in at 75 pounds! After a little research and soul-searching I re-packed the boxes to balance the weight and keep it to something I could lift. It's not just the movers who will lift these boxes. They'll be moved from room to room (by me) both before and after I move.