Jim Crocker of Modern Myths in Northampton, Massachusetts saw retailer Buddy Saunders' comments on content ratings (see 'Buddy Saunders on Comic Ratings') and feels that while they might be appropriate for some retailers, they aren't for him:

I am confused about how Buddy Saunders can assert with a straight face that Lone Star Comics doesn't want to impose their own views on their customers in one sentence and then goes on to explain how they have created their own ratings system (ala Blockbuster) that helps them decide which books they won't sell to whom at the register.

The problem with any ratings system, of course, is that Mr. Saunders' idea of what constitutes 'appropriate' is another retailer's (or publisher's) idea of 'completely unacceptable,' which is yet another retailer's idea of 'Why in the world does this have a label?'  It's a problem I have constantly with Tokyopop's rather arbitrary content labels and especially with Marvel's nearly meaningless age level ratings.

It sounds like he's already found a perfectly workable internal guidance system appropriate to the particular sensibilities of his own region.  I certainly hope he'll share it with other retailers who have similar concerns.  Since I'm not one of them, though, I'll thank him in advance to keep it in his own store where it belongs, and not in mine.