Posted in: Comics, Comics Chatter | Tagged: diamond, Diamond Comics, Diamond Comics Distributors, lunar distribution

Diamond Comics Is Making Me So Stressed I Can't Sleep

Diamond Comics has retailers pulling their hair out right now, so give your favorite comics retailer a hug when you get your books this week.

In my opinion and experience, Diamond Comics is one of the worst companies to deal with on the retailer's side of things in any industry I've been involved in. That's right, everyone, this is going to be another one of THOSE articles! I manage a comic store in Ohio (if you know, you know), and the news that Diamond was closing down their Plattsburgh warehouse last month gave us pause here, as any time they say things are "going to run more smoothly," or they try new processes, it often means doom and gloom for us. Naturally, this has been a disaster to deal with on the retail side of things. Good thing it is not the holiday shopping season!

Diamond Comics in the Wake of Closing Plattsburgh

A list of specific issues we are having at our store that your local shop may also be dealing with:

1. We pay a fee to get books on Tuesdays from Diamond Comics, so we are prepared to open on release day Wednesday. We are going on four weeks now of books being late.
   They have stopped including invoices in shipments, instead inserting "packing lists" with no information on our cost, retail prices, or discounts.
2. The "my account" tab on their site is where we are supposed to check for our invoices now, which will have them up for the week on "Tuesdays by Noon EST." This has not happened a single time, and in the last two weeks, they have taken that week's invoice down so we cannot view them, and we don't know what we owe them for the week.
3. Their new shipments are all supposed to come at once to cut shipping costs down. We are on week four of getting stuff from them daily and getting charged an excessive amount for shipping.
4. Four weeks in a row of absolutely destroyed books because they started inserting more corner pieces in the boxes, which we told them was a huge mistake. They didn't listen.
5. The "my shipment" section of the site is broken, and we often have no clue when or what is coming any given week now.
6. I get that they consolidated, but they are pushing an insane amount of product out to the stores right now and just shrugging their shoulders. They should stagger the release so as not to overwhelm us with higher weekly bills and we get a chance to breathe/recoup before the next wave hits. Especially with everything going on above.

Look, at the end of the day, the only ones who will read this and nod along and care are fellow retailers. We understand. You guys and gals just want your comics to be there when you get to the store. Diamond Comics is making that very hard for us and your local retailer at the moment. Will they fix it? Maybe, but their track record says that it could be a bit. This week, when you go get your comics, if your comics person looks a little frayed and tired, give them a break. Most of us are dealing with multiple distributors every day, and right now, one of the biggest is causing them nothing but headaches.

And come on, Diamond, get it together. You are not really in a position to be doing things like this right now. We have other options, which you know already. You make it really hard to keep defending you. Why would you decide to make the Plattsburgh move during peak shopping season, with the holidays going on? Why not wait until January/February when it might not be as stressful for everyone? I don't think there's any excuse if it was a leasing thing either, as you would have had months advance notice to make proper preparations. In my opinion, there is no excuse here. Just fix it. I need sleep.

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