Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Christine Merkler, dcbs, diamond, Instock Trades, lunar

Does DCBS Get Preferential Treatment From Lunar Distribution?

It's a question that has been asked, and Christine Merkler answers it. Does DCBS get preferential treatment from Lunar Distribution?

One of the expressed concerns about Lunar Distribution becoming the major comic book distributor in the USA is that they are the same company as the biggest comics retailers in the USA, DCBS and InstockTrades. And so, not only can they access the data of all their competitors, but they can also secure the best deals, take advantage of stock levels, and use that combination to outperform their competitors. When Image Comics switched from Diamond to Lunar, Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience in San Francisco said "I am extremely disappointed that Image is forcing us to buy our comics from DCBS, the single largest competitor of all retailers everywhere." Of course, without Diamond now, he has little choice.

Christine Merkler, co-owner of Lunar and DCBS, talking to David Harper of Sketchd on the Off Panel Podcast, about that dichotomy and whether or not they give themselves preferential treatment over, say, stock levels. And she was very clear.

"No, they don't. I mean, they get the same email that everybody else gets for solicitations, new product updates. Our entire system is built and based on when you order it.  So, anybody who placed an order by FOC is going to get their books. If something happens, and this does happen every once in a while, where somebody sends an extra carton to
somebody, and we get to the end of the week, and we're like, where's this carton that we thought we had that's not here? And it does happen. DCBS is the one that gets screwed
out of the deal because they're the last one picked every single week. They probably have the least amount of preferential treatment because of where they are in the pick…. DCBS is in the parking lot behind us. They're in a different building, but so they're the last one picked by virtue of the fact that they need it last, you know, they need it last technically.

"And if we run out of anything, they're the ones that kind of bear the brunt of that. And there are times when we have to get back overages from people, and DCBS won't get their stock until those are actually returned. So, we always hope they return them. It is all system-based, and no one in that warehouse… I have 100 to 110 people picking at any given time, and probably three of them on the whole floor even know I own DCBS and Instocktrades, and they don't know anything about the actual stores. They're just there to pick and pack and just do it right."

Whether Brian Hibbs and the like believe her is immaterial, of course. That's the way Christine Merkler is seeing it.

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