What Am I Not Looking At?
Under normal circumstances I'd be either all caught up on what's happening in the comics I read or I'd at least have the resources in hand to be able to do so. Not so this weekend.
As noted from time to time, for years I've been using Westfield Comics to place monthly orders and, in my case, have them delivered twice per month. While I've occasionally mused that there are almost doubtless better deals to be had out there, the service was sufficiently reliable that the comfort of inertia and fear of the unknown conspired with good old American laziness to keep me from looking around and doing anything about it.
But that was before the dark times. Before DHL.
This weekend I was due for another shipment of comics, which would cover all the items I'd ordered which had hit stores this week and last. Normally, this would have been coming via FedEx, and so normally I'd have had them Saturday or - has happened from time to time - a day earlier. Instead, Thursday I received a nominal tracking link from DHL. Even now, four days later, it shows the same information as it did then -- as if only info concerning a roughly 3 lb package has been sent to them and that's all. No update to tell me it was picked up/left with them and not even a target delivery date.
This is likely a good thing, the extra nudge I needed.
So, now I'm looking at some alternate services.
Impulse Creations offers up to 30% off with theoretically no shipping -- it depends upon what the size of the individual shipment is. Each item comes bagged and boarded, too. Having the comics come in a monthly pack via USPS would seem to offer the best deal, but I'm not sure I want to wait as long as that.
Mail Order Comics offers "Today's comics, yesterday's prices", with some special items offered at 50% or even 75%. The baseline comics discount appears to be 35%. They claim to have been in business for 10 years and appear to have their act well together.
The latter service is currently in the lead.
Under normal circumstances I'd be either all caught up on what's happening in the comics I read or I'd at least have the resources in hand to be able to do so. Not so this weekend.
As noted from time to time, for years I've been using Westfield Comics to place monthly orders and, in my case, have them delivered twice per month. While I've occasionally mused that there are almost doubtless better deals to be had out there, the service was sufficiently reliable that the comfort of inertia and fear of the unknown conspired with good old American laziness to keep me from looking around and doing anything about it.
But that was before the dark times. Before DHL.
This weekend I was due for another shipment of comics, which would cover all the items I'd ordered which had hit stores this week and last. Normally, this would have been coming via FedEx, and so normally I'd have had them Saturday or - has happened from time to time - a day earlier. Instead, Thursday I received a nominal tracking link from DHL. Even now, four days later, it shows the same information as it did then -- as if only info concerning a roughly 3 lb package has been sent to them and that's all. No update to tell me it was picked up/left with them and not even a target delivery date.
This is likely a good thing, the extra nudge I needed.
So, now I'm looking at some alternate services.
Impulse Creations offers up to 30% off with theoretically no shipping -- it depends upon what the size of the individual shipment is. Each item comes bagged and boarded, too. Having the comics come in a monthly pack via USPS would seem to offer the best deal, but I'm not sure I want to wait as long as that.
Mail Order Comics offers "Today's comics, yesterday's prices", with some special items offered at 50% or even 75%. The baseline comics discount appears to be 35%. They claim to have been in business for 10 years and appear to have their act well together.
The latter service is currently in the lead.
Comments
I haven't been able to justify an expensive weekly comix fix while unemployed, and my unemployment has continued very nearly unabated since, well, early May, at this point. (There have been brief interruptions of employment here and there within that time, but for the most part, I've been gainfully useless for months now.) This may be the final impetus needed to kick me off comics forever. The Marvel Universe has already been dead to me for some time, and, well, I find I really don't miss DC that much.
Now, if Alan Moore was to start writing something regularly around the same time I found a regular income again, I might reconsider, and the comics services you note might be worth a follow up, as 35% off strikes me attractive indeed. But as things stand now, well, I may be outta the comix geek biz.
http://www.badgercomics.com/subscriptions.php/osCsid/1ruc4c3j1tkuid5l30gf0ip425
Bunnyman: I'm still finding myself enjoying some titles and am otherwise continuing to chase... nostalgia nuevo, I might call it. I'll try to cover the point when I next (finally) get around to making an entry on comics.
Mark, I took a look at Badger Comics and am still comparing that with the other front-runner. The devil's in the details, but at least initially it appears that Badger offers a better, flat discount, but the specials Mail Order Comics has may nullify some or all of that, and thusfar the latter appears to be easier to use.