Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: diamond, lunar

Comic Book Retailers Share Their Diamond… And Lunar… Stories

In the last few weeks, Bleeding Cool has covered issues that comic book retailers have been suffering from Diamond Comic Distributors delays.

In the last few weeks, Bleeding Cool has covered issues that comic book retailers have been suffering from Diamond Comic Distributors delays caused by the downsizing and closure of their Plattsburgh distribution centre, along with a sizeable number of layoffs to match. And a number of retailers have taken to Bleeding Cool's articles to add their comments. Here is a selection:

roi: Our Diamond order for 11/27 releases was split into 5 boxes. Two boxes arrived days apart, reeking of smoke like they'd been sitting in a burning warehouse. One box had browned and slightly melted bubble wrap inside it. A third box was so damaged at the UPS Memphis location that it was returned to Diamond from UPS instead of continuing on to us. Two boxes still unaccounted for. Diamond had no idea that there was some sort of fire/smokey environment, so it could be that UPS hasn't gotten around to informing customers. I learned about it from tracking the packages.

BJ Price: No clue here. I got an invoice today that shows what should be coming, I suspect, but only the Funko products have a tracking number arriving tomorrow. I have no clue yet when to expect the other invoiced items or when anything else is shipping, including some items I was expecting over a week ago. It feels like they should just shut down invoicing and hit up the bank accounts randomly at varying times for amounts that don't match any one or more invoices we can identify so far until they have this sorted out. I've moved other bills paying to a personal checking account just because I have no clue what Diamond's going to automatically take out or what day it'll occur.

Peter F: I'm a comics retailer that deals with Diamond and has for the last 19 years. I understand this retailer's frustration. The closing of the Plattsburgh location was a total disaster, and Diamond couldn't get their act together logistically. They must have known that their lease was up at this location, you would think they would have figured things out. I suspect they are bleeding money, and that's why this consolidation happened. The shipments for Nov 27th and Dec 4 were a total mess. I was supposed to get 5 boxes last week, and I got 3 on Monday, 1 on Tuesday and 1 on Wednesday, and I had no clue when this order actually was showing up. I had to call the freight company to find out. I have moved almost everything away from them as quickly as I could. They can't be trusted to get us retailers our product on time. The cost of freight is through the roof, and damaged books are normal for them, as I had a few titles last week. Next week, Dec 18th books from Diamond will be late again, according to an email they sent out today. Diamond has been done for a while, but the last few weeks have really shown they are completely out of their depth. Other distributors are doing things a lot better than Diamond, and I don't see them around much longer.

Hollow: Our last two shipments both had invoices. Everything was listed as reorders, though, which confused the hell out of my co-worker who was tasked with opening and sorting the boxes. Curious about what tomorrow brings since, according to our freight carrier, we are only supposed to get Lunar (probably from last and this week) and the usual boxes of surprises from Random House. Weird. Our invoices are there and have not disappeared (see pic). They had/have those "Pending this week" faux invoices that usually get deleted once the actual invoice goes live (which for the last three weeks was late, yes, but usually we got them by Friday, IIRC). Can't say that our comics arrive destroyed. Quite the opposite. They improved a lot since losing most of the big publishers. Merch and expensive oversized hardcovers still get damaged quite often, though.

But hey, don't think that Bleeding Cool are just down on Diamond. Not everyone is happy with Lunar either… as one source writes in;

"I've been following your Diamond coverage, but I've been surprised there hasn't been any Lunar coverage. At least 3 stores in SW Pennsylvania have not received their Lunar deliveries on time or at all. Last week, two stores finally got their Lunar deliveries on Wednesday and my LCS didn't get theirs until Thursday. Today, those first two stores only got a small percentage of Lunar stuff. No Absolute Batman. No GI Joe. No Transformers. My own LCS didn't get any Lunar stuff and the assistant manager said they have no idea when they're getting it. "

Now some people above and elsewhere, have asked if Diamond is going bankrupt. That doesn't seem likely. Certainly not now. Diamond is owned by Geppi Family Enterprises, which owns many linked companies, and as Bleeding Cool pointed out, Geppi expanded Alliance Games Distribution to take on much of the slack when it lost its monopoly over the big comic book publishers. DC Comics and Image Comics went exclusive with Lunar, Marvel, IDW, and Tokyopop, and now Boom has gone exclusive with Penguin Random House. And Oni Press, Ahoy Comics, AWA, Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly and more share distribution, non-exclusively. Diamond still acts as a third-party distributor for Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, and more, which, to be fair, has caused many of the problems that stores are currently undergoing. Many stores have stuck with Diamond for third-party distribution because of economies of scale, shipping schedules, and simplicity. It may also be worth considering that Geppi also owns Diamond UK, which still distributes Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, etc, to the UK, which makes up an estimated 10-15% of the direct market. Diamond is downsizing to adjust to the market shift, but it hasn't lost nearly as much business as it might otherwise look.

Merry Christmas, everyone. And give your comic book retailer some slack if they can't quite fill Santa's sack.

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