Dave Brzeski of The House on the Borderland in Peterborough, United Kingdom saw the comment by Ilan Strasser on comic retailing (see 'Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose on Comic Retailing') and sent us this Talk Back comment on volume pricing and retailer incentives:

I just read this throwaway comment in the middle of Ilan Strasser's Talk Back on Comic retailing and it gave me pause: 'The issue is the special deals the big boys get beyond lower pricing, which they do deserve due to their volume buying.'

I've never understood this attitude.  I understand that the comic companies and the distributors need to encourage everyone to spend that little bit more, but this has always been the bane of any small retailer trying to compete with just one shop against huge chains.  To say the huge chains 'deserve' the better discount because of their higher buying power astonishes me.  These sorts of deals have always been, and will always be, the leverage used by stronger businesses, be they publishers or retailers who want to cripple any competition before it gets a foothold on the market.  It's a fact of life.  We have to live with it in every commercial market, but I don't have to like it and I don't see why big chain stores 'deserve' a better deal than I do.  Here's to that fantasy level playing field where, the big guys don't get to sell some products for less than the little guys pay for it (the reason we don't even stock anime videos anymore)... where customers don't defect to a larger store, because they have that premium item that we could only get if we tripled our normal order on a book.  I have come to truly loathe the words, 'retailer incentive' in the Diamond catalogue each month.