Buzz
Image credit: Daniel R. Tobias/Wikimedia Commons
In the late 1980s, I worked at Tower Records during the time when compact discs began replacing vinyl LPs. Aside from the ongoing debate between analog and digital sound (which continues to this day) and the higher cost of CDs, there was the challenge of figuring out how to display them in stores.
Between 1988 and 1993, CDs were sold in what were called longboxes — measuring 6 x 12 inches, made of cardboard, and hollow inside. The longbox acted as a temporary container for the smaller jewel case that held the CD. This transitional design was made so two longboxes could fit side by side in the same bins that once held vinyl records (12 x 12 inches). The issue was, longboxes didn’t always cooperate in the bins. As a stock clerk, I spent a lot of time rearranging them and getting them into neat rows. Sometimes, when customers flipped through them, they would spill out of the racks like dominoes. And when there was too much stock, trying to squeeze the longboxes into a bin would lead to their corners getting bent or scrunched up.
Longboxes also served as a theft deterrent. Since CDs in their jewel cases could easily be slipped into a jacket pocket, the longboxes were designed to make theft harder. For the most part, they worked. However, at Tower, determined thieves would still pop the CDs out of the boxes and leave the empty longboxes behind.
Longboxes are right up there with tamper-proof foil seals on medicine bottles and those thirty-two ball-tipped pins used to hold folded dress shirts together when it comes to the list of least-loved packaging elements in retail history. Graphic designers criticized how the longboxes awkwardly framed their sleeve artwork, while record buyers would simply toss them in the trash. In 1992, when David Byrne released his latest album, he attached a sticker to the longbox that read: “This is garbage. This box, that is. The American record business insists on it though. If you agree that it's wasteful, let your store management know how you feel.”
And the longbox was indeed wasteful. By 1990, it was estimated that longboxes contributed to a staggering 18.5 million pounds of waste every year. The backlash against this waste, combined with the added cost (which increased the price of each CD by up to $1), led to the demise of the longbox in 1993. Some stores resorted to using “keepers” — clear plastic holders the same size as a longbox that could be unlocked at the register. This was just another temporary solution until stores revamped their bins, and CDs could be tagged electronically (remember those little plastic stickers on the back?) to prevent theft.
Nowadays, when you come across a longbox at a Goodwill store or a yard sale, they look as outdated and comical as 8-track tapes. However, it seems they have found a niche following. I couldn’t help but laugh when I found the website for The Longbox Society of America, "an organization dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the Longbox (aka those long boxes that CDs used to come in)."
Looking at listings on eBay, it seems CDs in their original longboxes are being sold as collectibles, with starting prices ranging from $20 to $100.
