Briefly // Concerning Missed Shipments and Missing Content
This past week, a delivery truck hit the ditch in between Diamond’s shipping point in Ontario and Alberta. The results were a situation supposedly unheard of in Diamond’s reign as the sole distributor in the direct comic book market - comics and product promised were not delivered to shops all over Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. At all.
Stores were alerted that something was amiss on Monday when the delivery did not show up at the drop point. We were told they didn’t know where the shipment was, or how long it would take to get in. Things continued to remain hazy (albeit less and less as time marched on) until late Thursday, when the shipment was finally put in motion once again. Having been promised - at various times during the week - a shipment on Wednesday, and the Thursday, we all crossed our fingers that product would arrive as promised early on Friday, in order to salvage some form of sales over the course of the weekend. As it stands, I am probably at the comic shop right now dealing with the product almost a full week after we were meant to have it in our hands. Fun, right?
All in all, not a lot of immediate damage was done by this delay. The shipment (as far as we’ve been told) is supposedly fine, as was the driver making the delivery. The truck… well, not so much, hence the delay. By and large, customers felt out of sorts, but were willing to wait along with us for updates on when product would arrive. All in all, things are… okay. That said, there is a lot of lingering damage that might still reveal itself over time. One of my most immediate concerns, is simply this: why the hell didn’t Diamond have a plan for when something like this happens? Supposedly, this is the first time something like this has happened to the company. Allowing some suspension of disbelief (because I don’t believe that statement at all), why did it happen at all? Why did retailers have to wait until late Thursday to find out a concrete expected shipping time? Why was every other note we got from Diamond “sorry, we have no idea what’s happening”? Why wasn’t there a contingency in place for truck damages? The answer is simple: Diamond is terrible at their job. The industry really survives despite their deeply flawed and inherently harmful business model, and I often wonder just what kind of shape the industry would have been in had everyone made a few different choices in how and where to distribute product… but such fantasies are better held for other days. Less stressful days.
As you might have already guessed, this lack of product is going to result in a lack of weekly awards. James and I have yet to read any comics this week (unless you count the small handful I bought digitally, because I couldn’t wait). In it’s place… something else, probably. I know that I fully intend to following up on this situation to let you all know how it shook out. There are so many different variable that this hiccup can effect, beginning at a lack of immediate cash flow, and leaking all the way through how we place this week’s Final Order Cut Offs (adjusting numbers for sales figures we couldn’t gather), to the fact that the digital market had no problem handing out product on time, potentially resulting in less physical sales for product we can not return. Small cuts, yes, but if you get cut enough times, you’re gonna’ bleed to death anyway, and I’d really like for our demise to occur on our own terms, rather than due to the ineptitude of others.
More as the week progresses.
I haven’t followed it too closely, but if I understand it correctly - the shift to Diamond exclusive is a large reason why comics left the small convenience stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. If so, I have never understood it.
I know Chapters and Wal-Mart carry a few comics, but I got into comics because they were just… there. Everywhere. One day, when I was around 12-14, they just… weren’t.
(Whether that is the result of the Diamond deal or separate, it’s still baffling to me).
This is info from me working at a book store before I got the job at the comic shop: stores, by and large, stopped carrying comics because of their low price point - the idea being, why eat up shelf space for a $2.99 comic, when you can put a $5.99 magazine there? This is part of the reason why, if you look at the comics at the newsstand, they are almost uniformly more money than they are in comic shops. (Or were, as recently as a few years back.) Silly, yes, but it’s the same reason why many book stores stopped carrying newspapers - takes up a large space, and completely screws up the “dollars-per-purchase” ratio with a low number, which drives chains CRAZY.
right… well… either way it sucks. when you put non-comic people into a position where generally, they have to go to a “Comic Book Store” to get comics… the impulse buy aspect is gone, the ‘spend some allowance on it’ bit is harder to come by. The ability to just try a comic and say this is cool, you know? The introduction is harder these days. It’s obviously more complicated but from a kid’s point of view, I mean, what is there?
(and sadly, why would you spend 4-5 bucks on a comic you can read in about five minutes when you can get video games for ten-twenty… the value isn’t the same as when they were two bucks. i know it can’t go back. but it doesn’t help the situation.)