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gt0075b t1_j00m7wv wrote

I used to work at a music store. We used to sell 'cut outs' in the discount bins. I was told they had notches made in them so that they couldn't be sold at full price, and couldn't be returned for full price either.

Sometimes we would have the same tape or CD in the cutout bins and on the full price shelves for two very different prices.

When cutouts wouldn't sell at the discounted price, they would keep getting reduced until they were in the $1 bin. Can't ever remember packing them up to send to China.

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DavoTB t1_j00oqgb wrote

Yes, “cut outs” or remainders are a real thing in music, video and even the book sales world. And, as mentioned, it has been a means for overstocked or hard-to-sell items to be sold cheaply and more quickly.

Some items were notoriously quick to go to cut-out or remainder status. In the world of LP’s, though it sold in the millions in pre-orders, the Peter Frampton/Bee Gees “Sgt. Pepper” soundtrack was put on remainder/cut-out status in weeks. For record collectors, some LP’s are easy to find with the cut-out “notch” or a hole drilled in the corner. Sometimes the upc is cut as well.

In the book world, these items are sometimes “best sellers” or items that loose interest quickly, like political memoirs or tell-all books. The “remainder” marking on books tends to be a magic marker swipe across the back spine. Sometimes the upc will be obliterated. One chain bookstore where I worked returned the covers of “unsold” or damaged paperbacks to the publisher, by the dozens. The publisher simply asked us to “discard” the rest of the book. Even now, you will sometimes see “used” books with “no cover. “ These are likely items that were discarded by the book retailers and claimed as not able to be sold.

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Amount_Business t1_j05k6qv wrote

I've had 45's and books with a hole punched on the sleeve / cover in the early 90's.

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