Dansco Plastic Slides And Damage.

Any Album that uses plastic slides to protect the coins is also a possible place to get them scratched by those same slides. Naturally if you do not put them in and out frequently, the chances decrease of damage.
The main problem people encounter is the very end of the slides. In some Albums they are rounded off to make them go past the edges of each slot. Some are just cut off sharp on the corners. What happens frequently is the sharp edged ones get stuck in the corners of a slot and people tend to push hard to get them in and bend the edges. Next time they are taken out or put back in, those bent edges can and sometime do cut accross a coin.
Pushing them down as you do helps protect them from that but that is as long as you don't move the rear ones frequently too.
Other problems that are not as common are small bumps in the slides that also could do as noted above. These are usually from people placing them on something sharp or bumpy when changing of adding coins to an Album.
AND, not all Albums are made the same. Dansco's are made rather well with the slides the right size. Some Albums are made with slides that are a bit to small so they move around in their slots.

Thanks guys, I feel better after all these years :-)
I have only done it one way, coin is placed in it's slot, push down top of coin first, then both sides of coin (on VF cents, I don't wear gloves but rather use the tip of my finger...gives me a better feel of how far down coin is) and slide very slowly, the plastic slide. Sometimes it gets very close to top of coin but goes flat right over it...I make sure!

I don't see a problem with VF cents and slides at all. You should always wear gloves. If you don't have gloves use a tissue. If the coins are already completely brown you might never notice. If the VF coins are RB, then you're going to see those fingerprints look terrible after a few years.

The reason plastic slides can cause damage is dust. Most airborne dust is silca, hardness of 7, much higher than coinage metals. Plastics also tend to develop static charges which attract dust. If the slide makes contact with the coin, as it is moved it drags that nearly microscopic dust across the surface like sandpaper. once or twice you would probably never notice, but over time it has a cumulative effect.

The only thing I'm worried about is my 1921 Peace dollar in my 7070. It was a real challenge getting the slide to even go over the coin. I'll just wait until I have the rest of the coins for that section to take the slide out again.

I always worry about damage in dansco's--I guess just be very careful!

I have never seen replacement slides sold separately. However, you can improvise by purchasing cellulose acetate sheets at most art or office supply stores. If you are of a certain age, you may remember overhead projector transparency sheets used by grade school and high school teachers. They are also used as protective covers for artwork. Album slides are composed of cellulose acetate as well but the downside is that you will have to cut the full sheets down to the proper size for an album.

Allegedly you can ask the manufacturer for a replacement set and they'll sell them to you, even though they're not really advertised as a separate product.