Comments on: Should Tuesday Be New Comic Day?

By: Diamond Announces Street Date Option, May Charge for the Privilege » Comics Worth Reading

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:30:34 +0000

[...] to prepare for sale. Thankfully, they are not changing the standard Wednesday new comic day, an idea they floated two months [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:23:03 +0000

The rationale is that big chains get one order and have to break it down for their various outlets. Which makes sense, but it does seem to help the big get bigger at the expense of the little guy retailer.

By: Thad

Thad — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:16:08 +0000

Yeah, I wasn’t aware until recently that big comic shops get stock a day early. I was at Atomic Comics a few Tuesdays ago and saw them already going through the next day’s inventory — quite different from the scramble I’d so often seen when I used to show up at my usual shop on Wednesdays at noon.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:36:33 +0000

Punishing most retailers because a few are immature and might scan the issues is the wrong decision, which I think we agree on.

How to rack new comics is a topic retailers have different opinions on. Some prefer intermixing them with other comics so that there’s more chance a customer buys some of the non-”new this week” as well.

By: Kenny Cather

Kenny Cather — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:51:43 +0000

No matter what’s done, if comics are shipped a day early, they’ll show up on the pirating sites a day early. That being said, there’s no good excuse for not shipping comics to stores a day or two early so retailers can actually do all the responsible retailer things like sort through their merchandise, set aside damaged goods, and set up displays of the comics they plan to sell in attractive lay-outs. Nothing bothers me more in comic stores than seeing rows and rows of comics with nothing more than a “New This Week” sticker below a bunch of seemingly randomly placed comics.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:38:30 +0000

It’s a good idea for prospective comic shop owners to get retail experience in some other field, but for this reason and others, they often have to relearn or unlearn things. Yes, comic stores face a lot of uphill battles these days.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:08:51 +0000

I can’t believe that comic shops have to do all of that in the same day. I used to work for Best Buy and it was difficult enough with our process.

This is just another reason why comics stores are hard to keep open (mine closed when I was in middle school).

Make the change. ‘Nuff said.

By: Suzene

Suzene — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:20:56 +0000

“…still had to open an hour late”, ‘scuse me.

By: Suzene

Suzene — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:20:14 +0000

Gad, yes. Working a shop Wednesday mornings was so friggin’ stressful. Even busting our humps and showing up hours early, we still had to open an hour early just to get bins filled and books on the shelves.

I don’t think Monday delivery with Tuesday sale would help much, but it seems like most people don’t seem to mind the idea of Tuesday delivery with Wednesday sale. It would mean that the shop staff could stay a couple of hours late to stock instead, or split the workload between a late Tuesday and not-as-insanely-early Wednesday.

The $5 enforcement charge I’m split on. One the one hand, it is kind of insulting. One the other, the last time Diamond handed their customers early product, it also wound up all over the torrents before day of sale…