DCD To Skip Shipments After X-Mas

Retailer and blogger Chris Butcher unearthed in his latest dealings with Direct Market giant Diamond Comics Distributors that they won't be shipping comics on the week of December 28. They've cited the way that the holidays fall this year that any retailers receiving their shipments via 3-Day UPS would be squeezed during Christmas week in order to get the packages done and then squeezed again during New Year's week in terms of having them delivered, so that all of those stores wouldn't get their material until early January. So they'll skip a week. I don't know that it really means all that much, but thinking about it for a second a few things come to mind. First, it's sort of creepy to have services interrupted, the same way the first time you see a former all-night diner closed you think there's something wrong with the universe. Second, New Comics Day is a spur to get people into the shops and on the Wednesday after Christmas I remember my brother and I being flush with cash from various aunts and uncles and grandparents and spending a bit more than usual. Third, it's not hard to imagine some comics run so up against the edge of disaster that doing without the weekly cash infusion of new comics could be a hardship. Fourth, some stores may resent the fact that they're able to pay for one-day delivery and others aren't and why do they get to decide when the comics are shipped. Fifth, some stores may resent having to rack two weeks worth of comics that next Wednesday, and the loss of business when customers try to match their one week's worth of budget to that two-week shipment. So not an earth-shaking thing, but one to note.