I hate kits...

[Brock Johnson]

I've always wanted the sharman-caselli deck but I read it and it said that it came with the book only. It's frustrating because I don't use the book much if at all. I read intuitively and so I don't need these books to tell me I'm wrong if I get the strong feeling that the chariot is a job promotion.

I understand your grief....

 

[Sophie]

Yes, those large, flimsy Llewellyn boxes are the pits! And that pitiful cardboard box inside that doesn't fit any deck...why bother? If you want two decks - tough. I never keep either boxes, they are just too poor.

It's also odd that they don't package decks separately - even if they are booksellers.

I much prefer Magic Realist boxes - sturdy, attractive and the cards are snug (although these days I tend to put them in bags, books on shelves, and boxes tidied away).

 

[catlin]

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).

I hate sets which come in shrink wrap because they often are battered in transport (bent edges).

 

[baba-prague]

I hate sets which come in shrink wrap because they often are battered in transport (bent edges).

Oh, our sets are shrink-wrapped on the outside (they have to be to protect against damp etc) but we don't do it very tightly, if you know what I mean. What we were told NOT to do was just have shrink-wrap but no box. It sounds a good idea (saves trees and the buyer can see exactly what they are buying) but as I say, we were told it's too prone to bad damage and a box was absolutely necessary. At least in a box, even if the box corner does get bashed (we have such thick card for the box body that it doesn't happen much) the book and cards inside are safe.

But oh, packaging! We have been thinking about a "mini-kit" style ourselves, but so far our current packaging just seems stronger.

Don't laugh please, but we talk packaging here quite often - it was part of Alex's original training (he did Graphics with an option in packaging design) and so we do things like buying Japanese things just for the gorgeous and ingenious boxes. Strange but true!

 

[Nocturnal Lure]

I looooove kits

I love kits, over here the kit v.s. "just deck" pricing differs only about 20 to 30%. So on a deck of 20 euro (wich is the usual price) you get the book for something like 10 Euro extra and often less, which in my opinion is a reasonable price for a book.

Also the book is ussually written by someone who has studied (or even created) the deck in question, so their experiences and insights offer a good starting point for my own experiences with the deck. It also often elaborates on certain choices made in the imagery used or the ideas behind some of the differences with other decks.

And I totally love kits tht take that step further with adding spread sheets, CD's and stuff like that.

I also love the big boxes, I have the deck itself in my travel case. But the box (if it looks good) stands proudly in my bookcase. Then again I also love big boxes on computer games and special editions of DVD's.

I guess I'm just a big box sort of person.

 

[catlin]

Yes, Karen, packagíng is essential.

I have seen some of the only shrinkwrapped books + cards such as one tarot by Liz Dean (not her love tarot, the other one I don't know the English name of it). Nearly all packs were damaged, took me a hell of time to dig through the stack at my book seller to find a set which was ok. It i s really much better to keep the cardboard box around (and yours are lovely).

 

[full deck]

You know, I wonder if one were to create a deck and then offer access to a site that is a sort of virtual "kit" for a couple of bucks, I wonder if such would be too much maintenance to be worth the effort. If not, how about offering an optional CD that contains a kit for a few bucks?

 

[RubyV]

Yes, those large, flimsy Llewellyn boxes are the pits! And that pitiful cardboard box inside that doesn't fit any deck...why bother? If you want two decks - tough. I never keep either boxes, they are just too poor.

Absolutely. The quality is the pits. Grrrr.

A much better format is definately in order. All that dead space.

 

[femalegamer]

Ironically, it is the decks that are available only as decks with a little white booklet that irritate me. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm still learning, but I love to have the details of the picture pointed out to me, and the artist's intent, too. And then there are the little extras, like the Bohemian Baroque Cat's "Cat's Perspective" tidbits, or some bit of tarot history I didn't realize, or additional card spreads.

I got the Tarot of the New Vision in a trade, and I'm probably going to trade that away as soon as I buy the kit with a book.

 

[September Pixie]

I don't really think I have an opinion on the matter.. but I seldom ever read the books that come with the tarot kits.... so maybe I feel the same way