Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: diamond, lunar

Diamond Comics Gives Retailers Reasons For Distribution Delays

Diamond Comic Distributors gives retailers reasons for distribution delays, but what's it like on the ground floor? Bleeding Cool asks around.

Bleeding Cool has been covering plenty of comic book retailer and distributor disruption in recent weeks, after Diamond closed their Plattsburgh distributor early. And it's not just Diamond, it has impacted Lunar deliveries too. In continued transparency, Chris Powell, Chief Sales & Service Officer of Diamond's owner Geppi Family Enterprises has written again to retailers today.

"I hope you've entered the new year safe and healthy, ready to tackle 2025. Over the holidays, our focus was on making as much improvement on the issue of timeliness as possible. Since there was no truly new information to share in that period, I was pleased to receive a status update from our Operations team yesterday and to learn of some forward momentum going into this new week. This week, nearly all US retailers were scheduled to receive their product by Wednesday. That's particularly good news considering we lost a day each week due to the holidays. There are some pockets of disruption due to a winter storm, but the shipments leaving our warehouse were on a better pace than they had been in December. This still does not meet our internal goals or retailers' expectations, but we continue to work with the Operations teams to identify changes that may allow us to ship products more consistently."

"Following the recent changes, many of you have had questions about why things haven't shipped from the distribution center as quickly as we or you need them to. Periodicals that we don't receive directly from the various printers (periodicals from publishers who sell to us through other wholesalers) arrive to us over the weekend or as late as Monday for the following week's releases. We deal with a much wider selection of products, both print and non-print, than other distributors and that leads to delayed or misrouted deliveries that must be dealt with before the picking and packing of orders can begin. Retailers who are furthest way from the center are picked first, then the next furthest, then the next, etc. As they are picked, they are packed and then handed off to trucking companies for delivery. Then the process begins again…"

"This process is not working as it needs to, obviously, but modifying it takes time. Ideally, changes would have been planned and tested while we continued to operate as we had been at Plattsburgh. With that no longer an option, we must make changes and test them with live data and shipments while trying to minimize the impact on retailers. We are considering many options, and they will almost certainly involve additional changes from the way we have operated in the past. I assure you, this is still the primary focus for our Operations, Purchasing, and Retailer Services teams and we will keep you in the loop as there are further developments… We appreciate how difficult these changes have been for our retailer partners, and wish very much that we did not have to go through this with you at the busiest time of year. Your patience and positive attitudes throughout this process are very much appreciated and I will continue to reach out as there are changes or progress to share with you."

But what's it like on the ground? Rod Lamberti of Rodman Comics in Ankeny, Iowa tells Bleeding Cool, "The Diamond comic shipment from last week did not arrive today, it is still in Memphis. Zip from Diamond, went to their website I see no tracking or anything for this week's shipment. It was quite the pleasant Monday trying to explain what is going on with Diamond from everyone who asked. On the plus side thankful this week's Transformers I once again ordered through Lunar. The biggest selling title besides Absolute Batman not on hand would really hurt. Diamond what has it been eight weeks of chaos?"

While Jeremy Konrad, a comic store manager in Ohio, told us "Got Diamond with no issues today. Lunar still a mess but they swear it's fixed over the next two weeks."

Legends Comics of Florence, South Carolina reports a "Diamond Comics Update, UPS states Tomorrow, January 8th by 9:00 PM, so Comics should be in store Thursday, we do have DC Comics today."

Gotham City Limit of Jacksonville, Florida tells customers, "looks like Diamond comics may actually be on time this week! I will keep you updated later!"

Pops Collectibles of Louisville, Kentucky adds "Welp, DIAMOND is still being diamond. They have at least packed this weeks books, but they haven't shipped yet. IF they ship today and IF there aren't any weather delays we will hopefully have the books by sometime Friday. We will keep you posted when we have more details. Sorry again for the inconvenience. "

Rainbow Comics, Cards & Collectibles of Lincoln, Nebraska, tells customers, "Diamond Distribution is still behind on shipping, but we got DC!!! Releases tomorrow, 1/8!!!"

Route 66 Comics & Collectibles of Salpulpa, Oklahoma reports, "To all our customers regarding books from publishers distributed by Diamond. These currently include Boom Studios, Zenescope, Dynamite, Massive, etc. For the last 2 months, shipments have been late. When the shipments do arrive, it's a tossup on if they are in acceptable condition to sell. Unfortunately, this week's Diamond shipment, which had a small amount of new books and some replacements, was completely damaged. Every single book. This is making it very difficult to get the titles you want into your hands on time. We want to apologize for that. We are dedicated to getting you the books you want, as quickly and in the best condition as possible."

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