Need new option for 45 sleeves

[MopTopMike]

I've never been a fan of those generic, white paper-thin storage sleeves for 45s. I will match the company sleeve, if applicable, but for the countless vanity and independent labels, I had been "sleeving" the 45s in Bags Unlimited heavyweight S7Gold sleeves for many years. A former collector had been using them, and when I bought a portion of his garage/instro/rocker collection about 20 years ago, the 45s were all stored in these sleeves. I liked the heavy feel and roominess, so I purchased a large lot to replace paper sleeves, and those thin lousy brown paper sleeves collectors seem to fawn over (the faux lookalike new ones are so thin they will tear).

I just submitted a reorder last week for a minimum count (50) and when I opened the plastic bag to examine the sleeves, I noticed that these s7gold sleeves are not made to the same standards as the sleeves I had purchased 3 years ago.
* The centerhole is about 1/16 smaller in diameter, the inside dimensions of the sleeve after adhering the seams have been reduced to where the 45 fits too tight or won't fit inside at all. The older s7gold sleeves allow the 45 to fit with room to move it side to side just a bit.
* The topside opening is a straight cut, not a front side concave / back side convex cut like you find on most generic sleeves, even the better grade plain white sleeves. This also causes the edge of the 45 to slightly protrude from the sleeve. The old sleeves are cut concave / convex, and the backside of the sleeve is higher in height than the edge of the 45 inside of it.
* Lastly, the paper composition is much more flimsy - i would certainly not hype these s7gold sleeves as 'heavyweight' as the Bags catalog claims.

So, I am searching for a better option.
Any ideas?

I do not want sleeves from Bags U anymore. i just wrote them a note to say I'm completely dissatisfied with this product.
Perhaps BossHoss can answer something - how much would it / did it cost when you asked for a custom sized paper sleeve? The grade of paper, dimensions, etc?
When you have a pretty hefty archive of 45s that could/would sell for big bucks, I kinda prefer to store them accordingly.

 

[gregk25]

I keep putting off finding a "sleeve solution", mainly for lack of satisfying choices. So if there were a bespoke-option with lable-size middle-holes (instead of the standard ones that cover a part of the lable), quality paper and cut etc.pp., I'd order a good pile. Maybe this could reconcile the sceptics with the crowd-funding idea: pool cash of interested members and have the perfect paper-sleeves manufactured? Count me in.

 

[bosshoss]

Perhaps BossHoss can answer something - how much would it / did it cost when you asked for a custom sized paper sleeve? The grade of paper, dimensions, etc?
When you have a pretty hefty archive of 45s that could/would sell for big bucks, I kinda prefer to store them accordingly.

It's about 15 years since I ordered 10,000 paper sleeves to be custom manufactured from one of our paper product suppliers. They probably cost about 10c each at that time I imagine. the major cost was for the cutting die to be manufactured. After that, each sleeve was very cheap to make. But the problem was, they could only diecut and score the paper to my specifications, they could not glue them. It's a problem with the machinery available in Australia, which can only glue board weight, not paper weight. So I had to glue them by hand myself in batches over the years. Obviously i don't want to do that ever again.

These days our business deals with a manufacturer in China. I'm sure they could cut and glue the paper sleeves, if there was a minimum quantity ordered. I need some new ones myself, but not 10,000. In order to produce in China, the quantity would have to be at least that, preferably more. You need a large quantity to justify the cost of making the die, and shipping the order.

 

[gregk25]

These days our business deals with a manufacturer in China. I'm sure they could glue the paper sleeves, if there was a minimum quantity ordered. I need some new ones myself, but not 10,000. In order to produce in China, the quantity would have to be at least that, preferably more.

So you know the Chinese manufacturer can deliver the goods? If you're happy with the result, then I certainly should be, too. So assuming that they could ship a batch of 2000 to Europe, I'd probably be up for that.

 

[Mr.Segment]

We could easily do 10,000 to Norway if the cut is right. But do I trust what the Chinese put into the mix? Not sure...

 

[mojogogo]

I just had the same experience MTM described. I had a few hundred of the old heavy weight gold sleeves from Bags Unlimited and ordered another batch. I noticed the difference right away. I am not as displeased as MTM, as the new sleeves are "adequate," but the lack of product consistency is bothersome. I saw no mention in their catalog that the product specifications had changed.
Mike, did you get a reply from Bags U about your complaint? Maybe they got a bad batch from their manufacturer. In any case, I would be interested if there were an alternative available, comparable to the classic gold sleeves. My quantity requirements are quite low though.

 

[MopTopMike]

No, I've not heard from the folks at Bags U. They do not seem to care for any criticisms handed their way. I only received an automated response asking me to grade my most recent order.
I buy from them for business (mailer boxes and plastic sleeves for shipments of TBM) so I'm somewhat of a regular customer.
It wasn't a bad batch, because I've gotten the same substandard s7gold sleeves previously. i ordered 25 last year, and they were lousy. Typical response would likely be "the cost of paper is rising" and they want to milk as much of each sheet as possible - thus, poor cuts, smaller size, and thinner paper stock.

I'm in for the custom sleeve deal from China should we ever get that ball rolling.

 

[buckeyebeat]

I also have the older slightly larger gold sleeves and the newer ones. I bought a bunch - several hundred - of the newer ones and was disappointed and will not reorder them. The fit is tight but not terrible. I prefer that the hole be slightly smaller than the label as it prevents some label to label contact with adjacent records. I don't have a pressing need for sleeves now but I would be interested in some probably within the next year, so I will be watching for a better option.

 

[EXPO67]

I use Covers33 here in England

http://covers33.co.uk/index.php/

 

[CollectorScum]

I've actually always gotten excellent customer service from Bags Unlimited, which is one of the reasons I've stuck with them despite the fact they are not the cheapest out there. A year or two back they had a batch of LP mailers that would sometimes split on the seams. They asked me to estimate how much of my order was bad, and immediately sent replacements for free.

 

[Heitkotter77]

I've also had nothing but good service from Bags.
On a recent large shipment, I got shorted on LP filler pads. I called and gave a rep the info and she had the missing quantity out for delivery the same day.

 

[mojogogo]

With the exception noted above, my experiences with Bags U have always been positive. They have sent me free samples of sleeves when requested. Usually their products are consistent quality and service is prompt.

 

[cass]

Stumptown Printing in Portland has some decent options in this realm. They've done the recent sleeves for the Sun Records singles on Third Man and seem to hit a lot of the requirements posed here.

 

[Nightrocker]

I too got tight gold sleeves from Bags U last year. I suppose they're fine enough (I didn't complain), but it takes an extra nudge to get the record inside. Annoying.

I've noticed that the actual product has been very inconsistent over the past few years... the last batch of white paper sleeves I got before my current one were flat at the top on both sides as opposed to curved on one edge. And the 6mil plastic sleeves seem like a different (shoddier/stiffer?) material than years before. And my last batch of 4mil plastic sleeves were all considerably taller than my other ones. It's almost like they get them from different suppliers each time.

But props to their customer service the two times I've had issues - they replaced the items right away without any hassle.

I tried a 10-pack of colored paper sleeves from "sleeviewonder" on ebay but the center holes were off-center. Would not recommend.

Count me in for the Chinaman deal! (Though I'd probably only need around 200-300.)

 

[Mr.Segment]

The odd, or just plain annoying, thing about a lot of the companies/shops that offer a plethora of protective solutions for preserving your records, they just do not seem to really care about the actual customer group they are catering to. Shoddy jobs are in abundance, no one knows if the paper is acid free or not (probably not), they want to sell you polyethylen sleeves but have no idea of the actual chemical concoction used in the production of such. My local biggie vinyl dealer still actively pushes PVC sleeves and had never heard of hazing.

 

[MopTopMike]

I ditched all of my pvc sleeves years ago.
I now only buy the archival mylar sleeves as needed. too expensive to house every 45!

 

[mojogogo]

The odd, or just plain annoying, thing about a lot of the companies/shops that offer a plethora of protective solutions for preserving your records, they just do not seem to really care about the actual customer group they are catering to. Shoddy jobs are in abundance, no one knows if the paper is acid free or not (probably not), they want to sell you polyethylen sleeves but have no idea of the actual chemical concoction used in the production of such.

Very trenchant observation. Since collectors buying "protective sleeves" are often indulging their OCD tendencies, minor variations in product sizes, colors, and manufacturing quality can be quite troublesome to such nit-picky folks.

 

[bosshoss]

Our Chinese manufacturer can't glue paper sleeves. Same problem as here in Australia, which is lack of machinery to handle paper weights. It's easy to glue thicker board (150 gsm and above), anyone can do it. But it seems that gluing paper (80 to 100 gsm) is a specialist job and very few machines can handle it. Our supplier is going to see if they can locate a different Chnese manufacturer who might be able to do it.

 

[gregk25]

Thanks for asking around, Bosshoss!