@wjbraden:
Guys, you have to snap out of it here a little bit. Those recap episodes are ACTUAL episodes, as in they do have at least SOME NEW CONTENT.
3 minutes of new content (Straw Hat Theater) out of a 23 minute episode is literally 13% of new content. Even in the worst-paced episodes of One Piece, they have more than 13% new content.
They are "actual" episodes in name only. They were aired when OP was moved to a new time slot to help new viewers catch on, that and the anime was ludicrously close to the manga at that point.
@wjbraden:
If the skipped those they'd be skipping episodes just like 4kids did, and we don't want that do we?
Please do not at all try to compare 4Kids' skipping to omitting 5 recaps.
4Kids skipped two arcs and merged episodes together up until Drum Island, where they finally stopped editing. 4Kids skipped content that was actually in the manga.
What I'm asking for is literally the farthest thing from that.
@wjbraden:
And besides look at this http://www.kanahomevideo.com/one-piece-water-seven-vol-5,134,5.html. That's the French DVD release and it has the recap episodes on them. And if you look on their site, there releases are very similar to ours, almost right down to the covers, so don't feel like we're the only one's who aren't skipping them or something.
What they do has nothing to do with what other countries do 
@wjbraden:
If you don't like it don't buy it.
Indeed, because the 8 episodes of real actual episodes I want on this set, I should skip on principle. That argument does not work. This isn't about losing sleep, it's simply about calling out the lameness where it's at, and asking Mike to reconsider omitting it. Some of us want to pay for episodes that actually have content, fresh content that doesn't exist on previous voyages or collections (this fact becomes incredibly relevant for Robin's flashback episode).
UPDATE: Got a response from Mike:
Not at all up to me.
Whelp, it was worth a try, anyway. Hooray double-dipping!