A record is a flat, heavy, slightly flexible disc in a paper jacket. Every way it fails in transit follows from that sentence.
Take the record out of the sleeve
Not out of its inner sleeve — out of the jacket. Put the disc, in its inner sleeve, alongside the jacket rather than inside it.
This is the single most important thing on this page. A record left inside its jacket works against the seam for the whole journey and splits it, and the seam is sleeve condition, which is money.
Then
- Disc in its inner sleeve, in a plastic sleeve
- Jacket in its own plastic sleeve
- Both together, flat, with stiff board on each face
- Into a proper record mailer — a box that folds around the record and leaves no room to move
A flat parcel with no board is a record waiting for a corner impact.
Heat
Vinyl warps. A parcel left on a loading dock or a roof rack in an Indian summer afternoon can come out of the van bent. You cannot control the van, so: do not post into the worst of the heat if you can schedule around it, mark the parcel as you would anything fragile, and consider collection for anything genuinely scarce.
Weight
Records are heavy and the weight scales fast with the count. Work it out before you quote a combined rate on a multi-record win. How delivery is charged.
Questions people ask
Why not just post it in the sleeve?
Because that is how seams split. It is the most common avoidable damage in this category.
Is a padded envelope ever enough?
No. A record needs flat rigidity, not padding.
Should I post several records in one box?
Yes, flat and interleaved with board, up to what you can lift comfortably. Then check the weight before you quote.
More: how to pack an order, item weights and delivery rates.