The LCS’s that I’ve had pull lists at have said upfront that you have a three month delay to cancelling a title. None of them have stuck to that unless it was an unusual indy that they might have trouble getting rid of. The three I’ve used since college have each been really cool about letting me drop a title immediately. That was before Marvel and DC changed their, though, so their policies may have changed to reflect that.

He doesn’t seem to have any real love of comics anyway. He seems to only want to read 3 books at most and then only when he “feels” like it. Best to move him out of the shop and frankly off the Bendis board too. Why put up with commentary on comics from someone who isn’t even reading them and actively working against comic shops staying in business.

In the old country, he would have been taken out in a field and shot.

When I worked at a different store later, comic sales were dwindling and the shop was in the middle of converting to all manga/anime. We still kept the pull lists though and we still had dedicated customers who came in to pick up their titles. A lot of people ordering Sirius Press titles, or stuff from Diamond’s Adult supplement, but they paid and were generally nice (as long as they didn’t get started talking about their fan-fiction).

The shop I go to currently has never put anything in my pull list that I haven’t asked for, but they’ve left things out tons of times. I signed up just to make sure I’d be getting 52 since I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it there weekly and half of the time they didn’t even pull it for me. Not that it mattered because I dropped the title after Week 13 anyways. It’s been about four or five weeks since I was last in there now, and I was feeling kinda guilty (even though they said they wait 8 weeks, then contact you) but everyone’s comments make me think I should be calling them up frantically, screaming “Please don’t put back my stuff!!!”

Most stores you tell them what you want, they’ll write it down on an index card and they order it for you. You say “Detecitve Comics” and you’ll get every issue of Detective Comics (an annuals) until you say you don’t want it anymore. At that point the store will have to eat the two latest issues they may have ordered, but with FOC that shouldn’t be a problem anymore. You can also ask for specific issues and if they’re available they’ll order one of them too.

If you ask for a monthly book by a publisher without an FOC then they’ll generally agree to “eat” the two issues. Most retailers don’t try to make readers buy books they no longer enjoy. They’ll go on the racks.

It’s typically that informal, but there are some stores that do it differently.

I used to go to stores who would make you buy a copy of Previews as part of their “pull list” membership. You’d give them the Previews book with all of your check marks and you’d hope that they read more than the DC, Marvel, Image and Dark Horse sections. Eventually I learned to include a piece of paper with all of my titles written on it as well – just to make sure the obscure companies got noticed. (One store I used to go to back in the day actually gave free copies of Previews to folks with pulls – it was the only store that always got my pulls right, regardless of how obscure the title I was getting was).

My current store is great – I just tell them what titles I want and they show up in my box. If I ever want to add another one, I just tell ‘em and they add it to the list. If I want to drop one, I just tell them the next time I’m in the store (they don’t even require a 3 month notice on pulls). No muss, no dealing with Diamond’s lousy organization in Previews, and no fuss.

How do you do this now? Do they make you fill out a Diamond sheet? Do you just write down titles. How do they know what books you want?

But they wouldn’t demand I buy it… and I wouldn’t refuse to buy something when I basically entered into an oral contract saying I would.

And I’m in the store pretty much every week (even when I don’t plan on it)… because let’s face it, I’m an addict.

Well said.

As for “stuffing pullboxes” my LCS pulls things I might be interested in based on my pull list. If I don’t want it I don’t have to buy it. When I get my books every week they always ask if everything looks okay before ringing me up and if they miss anything I mention it or if they add something I didn’t ask for I bring it up. I’ve gotten a few books I wanted that I forgot to have pulled that way. I also get a couple things I’m not interested in that way too. They have no problem putting a book back on the shelf if I don’t want it.

The point is communication. That’s all.

“Stick it to the man”? What a fucking piece of shit. “How much money have you given them in the past?” And he got what he paid for. What’s that got to do with anything? I’m royally pissed with everyone supporting this kind of crap. What kind of abnormal brains are we dealing with? Sigh.

“The responsibility lies both with the shop and with the customer, there must be mutual respect.”

Exactly. The shop fucked up with that 18-month wait but the customer is a moron. At the very least, one should have the common sense and courtesy to go to the shop as soon as you know you’re going to stop buying, pay for the comics and cancel everything else. How hard is that? That is, unless you outright want to severe all ties, screw them and move on to another shop or stop buying comics completely. But no, the fucking moron still wants to have “options”.

Subscriptions are really the best way to get us to notice books as wel, especially for small press and indie titles. Every month, someone orders a small press title, and that makes me look at it a second time. More often than not, if ONE person orders it, I’ll order a few extra copies for the shelf. Normally, it ends up selling.

Remember, pre-ordering is the best thing EVAR.

BTW, my tastes in prose books is just as eclectic and I have to special order stuff all the time. It’s a way of life for me and has been for decades.

If you didn’t request it, you don’t have to buy it. Just tell the retailer that, for God’s sake.

My shop has a very very clear policy on its pull lists, including a statement that they can and will cancel your box without notice if you’ve not been in the store for a few months. Saves them from eating it too hard.

I WAS going to click on the link, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around that concept. What the hell?