• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

closed
0

175 posts in this topic

37 minutes ago, chrisco37 said:

Yep.   I always assumed it works like this....

LCS has to order their books a few months in advance.   They offer a pull service.   Say there are 20 customers that have Amazing Super-Guy on their pull (15 guys have requested 1 copy of each issue per month and the other 5 are 2 copy guys).   The store knows they have to order 25 copies to fill their pull.   

Depending on how popular the title is, they order some additional shelf copies each month.  Let's say in our example, they always order 10 shelf copies.

So, each month the store should be ordering 35 total copies (25 for pulls, 10 for shelf).   The pull customers should never be shorted their copy/copies (barring the distributor really screwing something up).   Seems a bit convenient that a distributor issue happened on this particular book for many people.  

No shop is ordering 10 extra copies any more of a book that's up to #193. A book like Walking Dead, which likely had a pretty consistent sales record for the past couple of years might have 1 or 2 copies on the stand at most

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, RonS2112 said:

Gonna assume that the author of this post (and many like it on this forum) doesn't follow TWD comic.  Kirkman pulled a surprise ending of the title, going so far as to issue fake solicits for issues 194 and 195.  I'm going to guess that MANY stores who order a near-constant number of this title from month to month were caught off-guard, when this issue LITERALLY became an instant collectors' item last week.

4 minutes ago, RonS2112 said:

It appears reading comprehension maybe a contributor to your problem.  A) I wasn't talking to you and B) as I said in my post, there was NEVER going to be an "issue 200," but only Robert Kirkman knew that.  Ending the series at issue 193 was a surprise to everyone until last Wednesday morning.

I guess it was a surprise to you on Wednesday, unlike many on this forum who knew Monday or Tuesday.

But yeah, giphy.gif

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We ordered our usual numbers (which, since sales have been gradually declining for us, was fewer then, say, a year ago).  No reason to believe anything special about it.  No advance warning it was the last issue.  All of our pull customers got their issues (but that's just because this week something else was damaged and had to be returned, not TWD).  I can't know the actual chain of events on this situation, of course.  And though I have heard of small operators pulling hot books from customer files, I doubt an established or large operation would intentionally do this just to make the extra bucks on the issue.  It's just not worth it.  You don't blow a reputation over a trivial amount of money.  Our overhead is approx. $250 per hour.  Whether I get $4 or $40 for a handful of comics doesn't really amount to a hill of beans in this crazy retail world.  Accidents happen.  Sometimes it's the store's fault, more often it's the distributor (or the delivery service).  Regardless of where the fault lies, most larger operations will do their best to make it right.  (And yes... this book will not likely hold its current value... how many final issues do bring premiums without them being cancelled due to low sales and thus low distribution?  And that wasn't the case here).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, RCheli said:

No shop is ordering 10 extra copies any more of a book that's up to #193. A book like Walking Dead, which likely had a pretty consistent sales record for the past couple of years might have 1 or 2 copies on the stand at most

OK.   The number of shelf copies wasn't really the point.  It was just an example of how I figured store ordering worked.  

Using my pull subscribers and your shelf numbers, the shop would need to order 27 copies to fill their pull and stock the shelf.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, chrisco37 said:

OK.   The number of shelf copies wasn't really the point.  It was just an example of how I figured store ordering worked.  

Using my pull subscribers and your shelf numbers, the shop would need to order 27 copies to fill their pull and stock the shelf.  

Right -- but when things change, it can be a problem. And most shops try and make sure the people who ordered the book first get it, but it isn't always that easy. I don't know how this shop is run, but a challenge to make sure everyone gets a hot book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Phil Boyle said:

Shortages happen every week. Diamond distributors puts hundreds of thousands of books in boxes and every week there are inevitably shortages and damages. When that happens, Diamond is diligent in getting replacements out.
Coliseum ordered extras on this book as Image was offering returnability. So we ordered up and sold every copy that each store received at cover price. We limited them one per person off the stands in the 7 stores that did not get shorted. The shorted store has since received the replacements and yes, they went out at cover price after filling the shortages. That's how we've always done these things.
The above ordering equations above are not quite as black and white when ordering new comics. 20 people order a book but the week after orders are finalized, Marvel announces the first appearance of Wolverine's daughter and we get 3 times the requests overnight than we have coming. No reorders available so 2/3 of people are disappointed. This happens far too often (every other week?) and the speculators just wanting to flip them on eBay eat up all the copies. Demand changes drastically between issues so 20 is sometimes too many on #4 but 50 on #5 can leave us short.

 

Thanks for the clarification. Glad Coliseum of Comics handled it correctly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

I guess it was a surprise to you on Wednesday, unlike many on this forum who knew Monday or Tuesday.

 

 

Monday vs. Wednesday doesn't make a difference, genius.  The LCSs orders would have gone in up to 2 months ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

>>store didn't offer to make good even after I sent the owner a nasty gram. <<

Per above, we love helping our customers any ways we can. Rudeness, however, doesn't have a place in our stores. Rudeness means we've hit an end to our relationship, which is our last desire.

I do hope you find a comic store that better suits your personality.

Best,

Phil


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, RCheli said:

Right -- but when things change, it can be a problem. And most shops try and make sure the people who ordered the book first get it, but it isn't always that easy. I don't know how this shop is run, but a challenge to make sure everyone gets a hot book.

The only real way to avoid speculators diving in at the last minute and getting a hot book added to the pull is to cut off new sub requests at FoC. One of my old shops did this, and it seemed to work out well for them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Phil Boyle said:

>>store didn't offer to make good even after I sent the owner a nasty gram. <<

Per above, we love helping our customers any ways we can. Rudeness, however, doesn't have a place in our stores. Rudeness means we've hit an end to our relationship, which is our last desire.

I do hope you find a comic store that better suits your personality.

Best,

Phil


 

Dissatisfied customers often become what could be described as 'rude'.  So you are telling dissatisfied customers to hit the road?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, awakeintheashes said:

The only real way to avoid speculators diving in at the last minute and getting a hot book added to the pull is to cut off new sub requests at FoC. One of my old shops did this, and it seemed to work out well for them. 

I suspect this is the ideal. But if you're a big shop and have hundreds of subscribers, it can get tricky. It seems here there was some communication issues for sure, but I don't see this being malicious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, RonS2112 said:

Monday vs. Wednesday doesn't make a difference, genius.  The LCSs orders would have gone in up to 2 months ago.

I guess your awe at my elevated intellect precluded you from fully understanding the point I was making. 

Carry on. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, awakeintheashes said:

I guess your awe at my elevated intellect precluded you from fully understanding the point I was making. 

Carry on. 

(worship)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, RCheli said:
4 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

The only real way to avoid speculators diving in at the last minute and getting a hot book added to the pull is to cut off new sub requests at FoC. One of my old shops did this, and it seemed to work out well for them. 

I suspect this is the ideal. But if you're a big shop and have hundreds of subscribers, it can get tricky. It seems here there was some communication issues for sure, but I don't see this being malicious.

The way that shop did it was through an online portal run by Comixology before Amazon bought the company. I'm not sure how it functions now, but it was pretty easy to navigate and read about upcoming issues, too. 

That shop was quite small, so I don't think the cost to maintain was an issue. Definitely an option to consider for a shop trying to eliminate issues such as this.

Edited by awakeintheashes
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

I guess your awe at my elevated intellect precluded you from fully understanding the point I was making. 

Carry on. 

Didn't this shop even say they found out Monday and were able to put in more of an order?

I went to my shop on the 4th and generally asked about the book to which they said there sold out, but ordered more... I asked if the order would be 1st prints, and they seemed to think so...

But anyway awake your point was not lost... thanks for being big about it :foryou:

 

Edited by ADAMANTIUM
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

I guess your awe at my elevated intellect precluded you from fully understanding the point I was making. 

Carry on. 

What point? That because you knew TWO WHOLE DAYS before some others that Kirkman was pulling a switcheroo, you are somehow more in the know than people who do this for a living?  There's a reason this story made national news -- and again, in this case Monday vs. Wednesday doesn't make a difference in the number of books they would have ordered.

Got it now?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Phil Boyle said:

>>store didn't offer to make good even after I sent the owner a nasty gram. <<

Per above, we love helping our customers any ways we can. Rudeness, however, doesn't have a place in our stores. Rudeness means we've hit an end to our relationship, which is our last desire.

I do hope you find a comic store that better suits your personality.

Best,

Phil


 

Wow, you just keep going on don't you, sure did find a shop that isn't mismanaged. My point is proven!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, 1p36DSA said:

Wow, you just keep going on don't you, sure did find a shop that isn't mismanaged. My point is proven!

You could go to my LCS!  He filled all the pull boxes then put 10 copies on the shelf where they sold quickly!  It never crossed his mind to hold onto any of the copies except his own, which he buys every month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
0