I hate kits...

[RubyV]

Anyone else frustrated at the trend by llewelyn to only release certain decks in kits?

I don't want the whole deal, I just want the deck.

Some decks, the book is very useful (sacred circle, Legend), but mostly, I want to be able to afford the deck.

I'd love the Gilded without the book.

I'm tired of this trend. AARRRRRRRGH!

End Rant

(next rant: small hands, not enogh cool mini decks)

 

[Barbaras Ahajusts]

I find after I have a deck, I want the book.
But by the time I am able to get a deck I want, the price of its book has gone down, so I end up saving money by having to wait to purchase a deck!

Its just another way to make that almightly dollar, and make sure everyone gets a book! LOL!

Barbara Ann

 

[Jeannette]

I agree with your frustration, RubyV. There are so many times it seems to me that being able to offer a deck without the book would make sense.

But -- I have to look at it from a publisher's point of view. Llewellyn (and others in that vein -- St. Martin's, for example, or Bear & Co.) consider themselves book publishers. To them, they aren't publishing a deck -- they're publishing a book, and you get a "bonus" deck with it. Contrast that with companies like U.S. Games and Lo Scarabeo, who consider themselves "card" publishers. For those companies, the deck comes first -- and then a book might come along later, if it seems there's a market for it. But for the latter, decks come "unbundled" because the deck remains "the product," first and foremost.

As tarotists, most of us probably tend to think of tarot in terms of "the deck." But that's not how book publishers see it. They want to publish what they know -- books. Thus far, it's seemed to me to be a fruitless pursuit to convince them to adjust their thinking on the matter.

-- Jeannette
The Tarot Garden

 

[RubyV]

I totally get that, and some of the books are quality stuff, but the price hurts. and the packaging is ovrkill. Why not just shrinkwrap them together?

 

[Jeannette]

Actually, my big beef with the Llewellyn kits lately is that the packaging is underwhelming. Those big, bulky boxes with those smaller, one-size-fits-none boxes inside with the book. I agree that if the boxes end up being pointless for storing the product once its out of the shrinkwrap (which is how I'd characterize the current Llewellyn kits), then yeah -- you might as well just shrinkwrap the cards to the book. Personally, I like a good box, as it helps me keep things stored neatly on the shelf. Quite frankly, I miss the Llewellyn "mini kit" format -- nice, clean, compact, attractive packaging. But as titles sell out and they have to reprint, they're going to that awful, rattling box format again. (See the Nigel Jackson Tarot, now the Medieval Enchantment Tarot, and the World Spirit Tarot by way of example.)

Personally, I think some of these guys could take a lesson or two from U.S. Games, whose approach to packaging has been rather impressive of late. The Golden Tarot and the Lover's Path Tarot kit are two examples of designing packaging that's proper for the products they serve.

(Which is, I suppose, all beside the point of simply skipping the deck/book combo format all together -- but if they have to do it, they ought to try to do it right! Of course, quality packaging does tend to drive the price up more.. thus, on the other hand...

Eh... I'm so wishy-washy!)

-- Jeannette
The Tarot Garden

 

[Balsamo]

Not quite a kit, but - many years ago, I aquired a Dali Tarot Universal - and ditched the outermost packaging to save space.

The deck has been moved with my stuff several times, and spent a couple of years in storage, but I've hardly consulted it at all.


And the fuzzy wine colored box is quite beat up looking.

Now, I want to start to work with this pack, and I'm concerned that this slipcase won't hold up.

 

[Mitchichen]

As a new student to Tarot, i persoanlly find the books to be helpful...then again, i like to see what other people interpret the symbolism in the cards as, in case i get a bit stuck and cant figure things out.


I DO hate how they package that insipid little carboard box that does more harm than good. I mean, i appriciate the little bag they had in the Animals divine set, it was cheap, but it's okay until i make a better bag...but the box...the cards just bouncse around in there and ot annoys me. I want a box that's snug and can keep all the cards together.

I'm not one to complain about the price, after all, i'm a bargain hunter, and only get cards from used book stores....you know, like going to an animal shelter to adopt an abandoned pet (which i also do). I mean, just because someoen else didnt want these cards doesnt mean they shouldn't get love!

 

[catlin]

Quite frankly, I miss the Llewellyn "mini kit" format -- nice, clean, compact, attractive packaging.

Oh, yes, these kits were simply cool!!!

I have to admit that I still like Llwellyn sets, ok, the cardboard box they nowadays include is way too large to fit Llewellyn cards properly, even when they are packed into the organdy bags (I wonder why they make the box so large?) and I hate it when cards tumble loosely in a box. They must fit in snugly.

As for getting a replacement deck, now this is really difficult with the Llewellyn products, because I usually only need one book and not 2 copies of the same one but there are still Anetties looking for books etc

 

[Elven]

I have a beautiful collection of boxes

As soon as I recieve a deck and book set - the cards go into a bag or wrap, and then I make a box for them - the book goes onto the book shelf with the rest of the Tarot books and never the two shall meet again unless I need to do some study or research.

If it comes with a LWB - that sits at the bottom of the box with the tarot cards.

Now the boxes are collected up, and some of them will have their pictures cut from them and decoupaged onto a wooden box later.

I like the Oracle decks like Toni Carmine Salerno Crystal Oracle which is really thick board box with a little magnetic catch on the 'door'. The deck and the book are a perfect fit, and I can cloth cover the box. Nice packaging - and portable for when I take them to work.

Blessings
Elven x

 

[baba-prague]

Hmm. Well, we are continuing to produce both kits and separate decks (with LWB). We find that it's surprising how many people prefer to buy a kit AND a deck - it means there is one deck to use and one to keep, which seems to make sense if it's a heavily used deck.

Also, we sell more and more to places like Japan and Taiwan these days - and mostly they don't read English and so aren't interested in buying the books (yes, one day maybe they will be translated...).

By the way, we did in fact originally consider shrink-wrap for the Tarot of Prague book and deck and were given a firm "NO" by the distributors. Apparently it's far too likely to be damaged in transit (shippers don't handle books all that carefully, however much we'd like it to be otherwise). So what we went for was sturdiness - a good strong card box - but with as little unnecessary packaging as possible. The basic problem with packaging though is that every penny that goes into it doesn't go into the cards - we've always tried to put the vast bulk of production costs into the cards themselves.