B&P Rules and Recommendations

If you haven’t partaken in a B&P before, you should go to etree.org’s B&P instruction site for a general overview. My rules are below (nothing groundbreaking):

• You may not request more than 20 discs. If you do, your e-mail will be deleted.
• It usually takes less than a week for me to turn around your discs. Some may make it out quicker. I will send you an e-mail when your discs are in the mail.
• Do not send cash, checks, money orders, extra stamps, or any other forms of money. If you do, I will throw away your ENTIRE package, or return the discs to you blank, depending on my mood.
• Do not send extra discs and expect me to burn something additional for you. If you do, I will return your discs blank.
• Do not send envelopes bigger than 11”x14”. No “hard” cardboard envelopes and no boxes. If you do, your package will be thrown away.
• I don’t retrack or modify shows in any way.
• You must put something in the package that gives me your e-mail address and what show(s) I’m supposed to burn. If you don’t, your discs will be returned blank.

A couple other things:

• Your discs and note should be placed inside the return envelope. The stamps should be affixed to the return envelope.
• Don’t use fiber-padded envelopes. If the interior lining breaks apart, the fibers will attach themselves to the CDs, and could potentially harm my burner or your player if they become attached to the burning/reading device.
• Please do not change your request between what we agreed upon via e-mail and what’s on your note.
• If you need to tell me something, e-mail me, don’t write it on the note you send along. I only look at them for the dates of the shows I’m burning.
• If you change your mind and are not sending your discs, please e-mail me and let me know, so I don’t continue to hold your slot. If I don’t receive your discs, you will be notified in approximately four weeks after I accepted your B&P.

Please try to send your discs in a couple days after the offer. In order to keep turnaround time quick, I try to keep my backlog down. I offer additional B&Ps based on how many discs I’m waiting for. This system falls apart if people sit on their discs for a few weeks before sending.

I get a lot of questions when doing B&Ps, so this is my best attempt to answer them all:

• My burner doesn’t have any problems with any brands. I don’t recommend Maxells or generic discs, but my burner has burned every brand.
• Don’t send naked discs, because they will get scratched up and may not burn.
• Make sure you send a return mailer with sufficient stamps affixed. It should be addressed to you with my address as the return address.
• Do not send jewel cases. They add to shipping costs and the regular-sized ones seem to crack or break the majority of the time. You can get 15 to 25 double-sided sleeves at most office supply stores for around $5. These will protect the discs fine.
• Only the return mailer needs to be padded. The outer envelope can be a standard-issue manila envelope.
• Unless you’re extremely impatient, there’s really no reason to send Priority Mail. Especially if you’re on the east coast, the discs will usually get here in two to three days no matter how they’re sent, and Priority Mail costs $3.50 vs. $.57 or $.80 for regular mail (assuming one show).
• Lastly, please ask if you have a question.