Paul Stock of Librairie Astro in Montreal, Canada has been following the recent Talk Backs regarding Diamond's "Day Early Delivery" survey (see "Diamond Surveys Tuesday Comics") and joins the discussion.

I was very pleased to see Diamond's announcement/survey on this subject.  Having been mentioned as one of the authors of the procedure, I have a natural interest in the development.  I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that when I first brought up the subject on a retailer board several years back, I got valuable feedback that helped me proceed with my research, as I did when I brought it up here on ICv2 last summer.  Comments on the "appropriate penalty" issue were particularly helpful--not just to me, but apparently to Diamond as well (who were monitoring the discussions).  

So on behalf of myself, and quite probably every other retailer, I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the discussion.  I especially want to express my appreciation of Diamond for the development work they've done, which has to have taken 100 times any effort that I might have put in.  There's so much of the automatic "can't be done" dismissal attitude in this world that it's a real pleasure when you come across someone who's willing to see if change is possible and to take a shot at giving something new a try.

As far as "the best NCD" goes, I'm really not concerned about what New Comic Day is going to be.  We've seen it move around over the years and I've never noticed any impact on sales volume.  NCD receipts level out over a couple of months, be the current NCD Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.  I understand the positions of those who want to synchronize with other media as well as those who want to avoid a head-to-head battle for the consumer dollar.  

The only way to tell is to try the Tuesday on-sale idea and see if there is some sort of dramatic impact.  "Sink or swim" is a pretty dangerous way to test virtually any idea, but my experience with past shifts in NCD (including the period when it was Tuesday) leads me to believe that whatever day it might be will have no impact on weekly sales.  For that matter, I have many customers who show up on Wednesday but the bulk of my 600+ pull/subscription customers tend to come in Thursdays or Fridays.  They choose the day they want and properly so.  They're just people who enjoy this pastime, as habitual as the rest of humanity--ultimately everyone chooses his own weekly cycle.  Who are we to try to push people towards a particular "when" they would most enjoy reading?  It only behooves us to ensure that we have enough of their preferred entertainment available whenever it strikes their fancy to drop in and search of new pleasures.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.