Comments on: Publishers react to bar code decree

By: Christopher Moonlight

Christopher Moonlight — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:27:24 +0000

“Couldn’t a publisher provide barcode stickers (or a PDF on their website) for retailers to put on copies they bag?”

Atomic Comics in AZ has been doing just that for years now, including many of Slave Labor’s titles, which is why (I think) some people have been a little snippy lately.

By: Elin Winkler

Elin Winkler — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:02:18 +0000

“Couldn’t a publisher provide barcode stickers (or a PDF on their website) for retailers to put on copies they bag?”

The PDF thing is a good idea, the hard part is getting that information to retailers. Providing barcode stickers can be trickier, since publishers don’t actually know which stores are stocking their products unless they do the legwork themselves, or pay Diamond for that information. Having Diamond distribute such stickers would probably also cost money, since Diamond charges for similar services, like distributing advertising materials.

Really, just putting the barcode on the front cover of the comic saves the maximum amount of time and hassle for everyone involved. If it expedites the sales transactions for the retailer, then it’s worth it.

By: WarmOtter

WarmOtter — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:41:27 +0000

>>>1. Barcodes can be entered by hand. If a comic is bagged, a postit note can be taped to the front listing the code and price.

Couldn’t a publisher provide barcode stickers (or a PDF on their website) for retailers to put on copies they bag?

By: Nat Gertler

Nat Gertler — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:34:59 +0000

Brian: and how are those comics selling compared to how they sold before they had the bar code on the cover?

By: Matthew High

Matthew High — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:46:21 +0000

Interesting anecdote. Back another lifetime ago, when I worked for Antarctic Press, I went around and visited virtually every comic book store in a 6-state area – maybe 500-600 stores total. I kept a written tally of the stores, how they were laid out, what they carried, etc. One out of every three stores automatically bagged their new comics *before* putting them out for sale. Not just back issues – I mean everything. While it seems kinda anti-consumer-friendly to me, apparently a large chunk of the comic-buying public deals with it that way all the time.

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:09:05 +0000

I have been a Head Cashier, during the holidays, at one of the highest volume Barnes & Noble store in the country. We carry many products which have special ISBN barcode stickers because the publisher didn’t put one on the product. (board games, greeting cards, plush dolls) Yes, it causes problems when we have to stop and look up product. But we have the luxury of staffing and multiple registers. As a consumer and a resident of New York City, I can tolerate waiting in line. As I often joke with the customers, at least they have something to read while they wait!
I taught myself tenkey typing when I worked in a library and had to search ISBNs by hand. recommended.
I wonder how many art and design magazines place the code on the cover? As a reader, I ignore it, along with any corner treatment, like the Image I, or the Marvel issue number box. EXCEPT for MAD Magazine! They made the barcode a running gag, starting with the first UPC cover back in 1977!

By: Jeff Mason

Jeff Mason — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:19:09 +0000

We started using barcodes years ago, and have found that they help sales. The big cost is NOT putting on a barcode, but rather getting set up with ISBNs for all of your books. Having an ISBN for your book puts it into the real world of “Books in Print” etc

By: Brian Hibbs

Brian Hibbs — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:37:40 +0000

Nat: Given that the absolute best selling comics on the market almost always have a barcode on the front, I’m going to guess that answer is “No”

Toren: while you’re technically correct that one could manually type in a barcode, one could also use the “lookup” feature any reasonable POS system is going to have… but both slow down the transaction, and, typically, heavy comic buyers are buying 10+ comics at a time. On a busy Wednesday, when you already have a line five people deep, you’re looking to dramatically speed UP the process, not slow it down.

(plus I find manually typing barcodes to be… difficult at best. You really need to be focused on that, AND be an accomplished typist to not screw it up (and sell the “wrong” thing [from the computer's POV]), or maybe have to start over, slowing things down either further.)

-B

By: Christopher Moonlight

Christopher Moonlight — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:32:00 +0000

“The Internet is full of people who are too busy to care about seeming foolish.”

Or polite, it would seem.

By: Nat Gertler

Nat Gertler — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:23:19 +0000

The desire not to put the bar code on the cover is not inherently a desire not to subvert art for commerce. It can be a desire to protect commerce — the front cover of a comic is actually the primary advertisement that a comic book has. It should attract and entice. That’s commerce. The bar code is inherently distractive — it is required not only to take up a certain amount of space, but also to be high in contrast, creating a strong visual noise. (Notice that few of the products at your local supermarket have the UPC on the front display space.)

So the question is: by putting the bar code on the front cover, are we easing processing of the book at the cost of selling copies of it?

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:06:31 +0000

1. Barcodes can be entered by hand. If a comic is bagged, a postit note can be taped to the front listing the code and price.
2. Diamond could create their own barcodes, either using their own numbering system or by generating ISBNs under an umbrella code. Barnes & Noble does that for remainders, using 0-641- .
3. Technically, you don’t need a barcode, just the number. The barcode makes things easier, but eventually Radio Frequency IDentification will make barcodes obsolete.
4. If Diamond generates a barcode, will they pass the cost on to the publisher? Will they create a barcode which the publisher can photoshop into the production art?
5. I agree that the barcode defaces the cover! And so does the price! This is Art, not commerce! And the title should go too! Readers should be able to recognize the work by the artwork alone! And the staples distract the reader! Begone! [end satire]

By: Joe Williams

Joe Williams — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:17:16 +0000

One would think Diamond would have contacted their current “vendors” prior to announcing the damn thing to retailers since the publishers need to hurry up and prepare while it won’t affect most retailers since many don’t use scanners yet anyway and the new rule doesn’t burden them in the least. Which is one reason why it does seem a bit more like Diamond creating a nice roadblock to small publishers which they likely hope won’t raise their ire in the same way the increased minimum order did a while back because most people won’t dispute the need for this. I question once again how Diamond has treated the people who create the products they make good money to distribute and can’t help but wonder if this isn’t another step in their publicly stated aim at slimming down the catalog by removing the smaller publishers from being able to meet their demands.

By: Jennifer de Guzman

Jennifer de Guzman — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:37:31 +0000

Elin — Dan was just saying how odd it was that no one from Diamond contacted us about this. You would think that if they were requiring publishers to put barcodes on comics, they would have assembled some sort of FAQ about how to go about this.

ISSNs seem like a good way to go for small publishers — for comics, anyway. They’re free. We use a program called Easy Barcode Creator to make barcodes.

And off-topic:

Sorry, but I don’t have time to read every link. Hope it didn’t ruin your day.

I think if you’re going to comment on something, you should try to be more than cursorily informed as to what is going on. But whatever. The Internet is full of people who are too busy to care about seeming foolish.

By: Simon Jones

Simon Jones — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:33:04 +0000

Elin–>
You probably already know this, but UPC barcodes can be safely shrunken down to around 82%~85% and still be compatible with most scanners. The regular UPC A is about 1.91″ x 1.015″, at 82% magnification it’s 1.565″ x 0.833″. The absolute minimum is 80%, I’m told, but it isn’t recommended.

You can also truncate the barcode vertically, which doesn’t affect the readability of the barcode at all (just a smaller target to scan.) But depending on how it’s done, you might cut off the human-readable portion of the 2 digit addon.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:58:57 +0000

I admit it, I’m one of those people on occasion, but I try and at least all the comments first.

Here, for instance, I was about to go off on how sinister this seemed and that, once again, Diamond was the culprit, trying to ream the small guy while boasting about Marvel and DC.

I’m not sure that’s still not the case, but after reading what Jennifer and Elin had to say it does seem like more of an inconvenience for some rather than sinister plot.