That’s two (NYC) or three (everywhere else) cups of joe a week.

There was. It wasn’t specifically called out as such, just like there wasn’t a “janitor” fee. It was baked into the rest of the cost.

In Diamond’s case, they’re being (surprisingly) forthright about this. That five dollars was going to be necessary no matter what, so they’re telling retailers from the very start that it’s an element in the decision.

-J

The stores here post the new books Wednesday night after 8pm, so new comics day for me is effectively Thursday anyway.

Especially when you’re in possession of a Blockbuster rental card. Everyone flocks to grab the newest releases on Tuesday evening before they all get sold out on the following weekend.

And Sunday newspaper circulars for Target or Best Buy pretty much cements it.

~

Coat

I don’t know if anyone was ever punished (anything in the Publisher Weekly archives?), but it was followed strictly by us.

I know from experience that retailers violating the street date on new music releases have been fined. I wasn’t informed as to the dollar amount — it would hardly be the same as a fine for a criminal offense — but the fine would be a deterrent.

One reason for adherence to street dates: Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Kmart, and other retailers place ads in newspapers for upcoming releases, often in combination with sales. The system, with stores matching each other’s advertised price, offering substitutes in case of sellouts, and having sales for specific lengths of time, only works when stores follow the rules. Adhering to street dates makes good business sense. If a comics shop relied on advertising and sales to bring in customers for specific products on specific dates, the owner would be ticked off by competition violating street dates.

SRS

Not really. I think you have to have the order in by noon Wednesday to get it for Friday. That is tough to do on a Wednesday. But if the new release day was Tuesday, you could come in Weds morning to see what you need for the weekend and get the order in. But, that is assuming there are any left at Diamond, what with Marvel announcing sell-out the day before the books ship lately.

I can only speak from my own experience, but I worked at a record store for 5 years, and our customers sure knew Tuesday was new release day. We would get a TON of business on Tuesdays (Tuesdays and Saturdays battled it out as our biggest day of the week) especially for new rap releases (our store’s biggest sellers).

I don’t know if anyone was ever punished (anything in the Publisher Weekly archives?), but it was followed strictly by us.

Aside from the big media titles (Harry Potter, Stephen King, Hilary Clinton), we never had customers waiting in line to buy the latest title. We closed at Midnight every day, so if someone really wanted the book, we had them wait in line, then rang them up at 12:01 AM.

I don’t think the general public knows that Tuesday is “new release day” for books, CDs, and DVDs. It’s not like Soylent Green, with people storming the shelves, trying to get the latest new release before it sells out. (And let’s be honest… if someone wants something before it ships, they can always download it illegally.)

Were I voting, I would opt for:
* Tuesday shipping, Wednesday sale
* Monetary fines to fund the policing, along with shipping and discount penalties. (You get caught, you get treated like a new account, with worse discounts.) Public notice as well. Thursday shipping. Make it a nuclear option, so nobody tries to break the date.

Wednesday sales have another positive aspect: various news outlets promote books on Sundays (usually 60 Minutes) and Mondays, for sale on Tuesday. If comics ship Wednesday, media outlets will cover press releases on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. (Remember Captain America #25? It hit that morning via the Daily News and other sources.)

Can Diamond refill orders quickly to hit the weekend? Suppose a local store sells out of a title on Wednesday. Can it get more stock in time for Friday evening or Saturday?

I know a few stores that used to put dvds on sale when they were delivered, usually a week before a street date. Those stores were the go-to-stores if someone didn’t want to wait until the following week for high demand product, which means the stores which adhered to the street date lost customers to those who put them on sale at the time of delivery.

And talking about comic delivery dates, I’m dating myself now when I say, I remember when new comics day was on Friday and I remember when they were delivered 2x a week, on Tuesday and Friday.

It didn’t make a difference what day new comic day was back then, people adjusted their habit accordingly.

That $5 a week fee adds up to $20-25 a month. While that doesn’t seem like much, that’s about $40-60 in product. And it’s $260 a year, again about $520-600 in product which can’t be ordered now.

Adding even a small fee like that can really add up to tigher orders and other problems, especially since the profit margin on many stores is barely enough to skate by (and the markups aren’t really large enough to allow stellar money to be made). It’s the stupid little straw that could potentially break a lot of smaller stores in the long run.

And I just love how they refer to it as a weekly rate to make it seem like a small fee.

Entertainment street dates are a dumb idea and always have been, but it’s the convention, so whatever. I think comics would benefit a lot from being sold like cars – the dealers and publishers would market the Hell out of this week’s books and discount the Hell out of last week’s books. Of course, that would require the publishers actually treating retailers like adults, which isn’t going to happen, because the publishers are selling to Diamond. Diamond sells to the retailers, and since the retailers own the books they buy from Diamond, they should be able to do whatever they want with them.

But whatever, comics are quickly running down the road to obscurity anyway…. Selling them on Tuesday won’t make a difference in how fast they can get down that road. In the meantime, Diamond should treat the retailers like the adults in the room they are and just give them the books a day early so those poor guys can actually run a business instead of jumping through hoops all day.

I could get them a day later to avoid the $5 fee, but with the high amount of damages and shortages I have, some of my damaged items may be out of stock by the time I get the shipment (a day after most other retailers). Just this past week, 75% of my shipment of X-Men Second Coming #2 was damaged, with no replacements!!

I’m am in favor of the Tuesday release though – I think it would be better for the industry.