I've had a few good turntables. My Thorens never thumped. My Rega always thumped, and my Linn never thumps.
In my opinion, it's a flaw in turntable design. It's easy enough to implement a properly sized capacitor across the on/off switch so that this is never a problem. As a TT Manufacurer, VPI is aware of the thump potential and should design their tables to never thump.
Just another reason why to me VPI always see,s like a work in progress.