German vinyl sellers to be hit by "exponential rise" in DHL shipping prices
Record shop owners are now coming together to petition the change that will come into place from July 1
Record store owners and distributing labels in Germany may run into problems in July when the cost of shipping vinyl-sized parcels will be amended by DHL.
From July 1, shipping costs are set to change impacting the sales of 12-inch records, which could ultimately put many German stores out of business.
Right now, posting one or two records from Germany to the rest of the world — including countries as far as Australia — costs just €5, which is subject to reach as high as €19.89 with tracking come next month. Sending a record to the UK could cost as much as €16.70.
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The cheapest option left, record store owners argue, is Päckchen M International, which could still cost two to three times the amount of Warenpost.
“Currently, I can send two 12" records to the US, Canada, or even Australia for €5. From July, that same parcel will cost €20 to ship,” says Andy Vaz, owner of German record shop Yore Store, chatting to Mixmag.
“They changed the format size of the parcel in a way that vinyl records wont fit for that cheapest rate - we’re missing about 5cm. There’s no way people will want to pay €20 for shipping on a €10 or €15 record. That’s going to affect all German labels of all genres, everyone who sends records via Bandcamp or Discogs, you name it,” he adds.
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Vaz, along with other record store owners in Germany whose lifeline banks on this change, have now created a petition asking for the government to recognise what could be incredibly damaging for the German vinyl industry.
“I’ve been doing this since 1998, and the US is our strongest market for selling records. No record shops will be able to survive without that, because we can’t survive just from walk-in customers,” Vaz adds.
Find out how to help, and sign the petition here.
Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter