The record is lifted out, and the next one is ready to go in. Incidentally, the occasional reversal of labels on records can easily be understood, since the operator of a pressing machine must put the labels and the biscuit into the press by hand. Nothing is easier than to reach for the wrong pile first, or to put the right pile in the wrong spot in the first place. My wonder in watching these operations was aroused by the positively staggering opportunities confusion that were present - what with dozens, hundreds of piles of labels, biscuits of various sorts, unattached stampers, loaded presses, all of a kind looking more or less alike, and easily interchangeable. Yet in almost every case the right pair of stampers connects with the proper piles of labels and the correct biscuits to produce an acceptable record that reproduces the music it says it will.
Drastic mistakes are altogether rare.
If you think that perhaps record companies are less careful than they should be, witness the inspection process for yourself. I took notes on the percentage of records rejected by visual inspection and by actually playing checks, but I won't burden you with these figures. Visual inspection is done by workers who look closely at every disk that comes to them on conveyer belts, sorting out duds by the binful. Considering the terrifying possibilities for trouble in this whole mass-production operation, I'd say we consumers were reasonably well protected. I did not realize what a versatile instrument the record pressing machine is.