$24 shipping is absolutely insane even if it was in a box...in a thin plastic bag is even worse.
That's pathetic.
This seems to be their standard go-to now. Receive a damaged item? We can't replace it so here's a fraction of its worth.
Yes, I'm still upset about my damaged 'Streets of Rage 4' steelbook.
I think the issue with refusing replacements is that they only produce a certain amount of extra and their shipping practices have led them to a point where they now need more than that small percentage of extra to cover damages. Rather than bite the bullet and hurt their bottom line they'd rather just screw the consumer.
Related, I got the copy of Meat Boy I ordered today and despite paying $2 for a box (on top of the existing $5.79 shipping charge) it had 0 protective material. Just rattling around because they couldn't be bothered.
If memory serves me correctly, they used to hold back 10% of an overall run to replace damages and the like, and whatever wasn't used on replacements, always got sold at a later date. I'm not sure if those same rules apply anymore, but if they do, a LE book run of 500, would have 50 held back to replace any damages. If all 450 books are sent in bubble mailers, 50 is going to be gobbled up pretty quickly, and I'm sure that's when the "Sorry, can't replace, so take a 10% refund, or piss off" comments come in to play.
Sadly, this is all a numbers game, and even with a high number of replacements, LRG won't care, as it's pretty much free money for them, even if their final profits are less than planned. I can't speak for Jeremy, but I would assume since he left Fangamer for LRG, he has a similar mind set. Maybe they could store more, are sell faster, or charge more and then put more funds in all parties pockets, who knows? Maybe they offered more profits over what Fangamer could, sadly, not all money, is good money, but I guess that's to each individual or organization to decide for themselves.
Using a bubble mailer when this kind of money is charged for shipping, really amounts to robbery in my opinion(plus the value of the books). All I can do is wait and and see how mine get shipped at this point, but I'm expecting a shit show, and that's OK, as I stopped ordering from LRG awhile back over their hostage holding of Vita software. So if this goes bad, I'll get my CC involved, get my refund, and they can blacklist me, as I would consider that a badge of honor at this point.