Matt, it’s not a hassle to participate. Participating at the level you suggest (One of each for everyone.) is EXPENSIVE. Adding in “a few long boxes of back issues that you can’t otherwise unload” is EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE, since we paid significantly more per issue on those comics.

There are a couple of other factors to consider here.

The first is the law of diminishing returns. If someone is going to be pleased at getting 40 (or so) free comics, wouldn’t they also be pleased at getting 30? 10? 3? Everyone’s level of being pleased is different. We gave away 3 per person on Saturday, with a bounceback coupon for 3 more free this week. We had a LOT of grateful kids and parents this weekend who were expecting to get 1 free comic book, and were tickled to get 3. Even at 3 per person, I suspect that some of those comics we gave away will go unread, and get tossed away.

The second is expense. Besides the expense of the comics, which I’ve mentioned before, there are the expenses of additional labor, the extra power used during the event to keep the store lit and cool (We’re in Florida and it was in the mid-to-upper 80’s on Saturday.), the cost of fixtures to put the free comics on, Comic Shop News FCBD edition, printing coupons, bags to take the free comics home in… I’m sure you get my point. This is the single most expensive promotion that many retailers participate in all year long.

The third is the devaluing of comics in general. If you can come in and get 40 (or so) free comics once a year, why should you spend any money on comics the rest of the year? FCBD was inspired by Baskin Robbins Free Scoop Day, and I’ll bet there were almost no people writing about how everyone should get a free GALLON of ice cream, or one scoop of each of the 31 flavors, because that’s a better promotion. Something to keep in mind is that BR stopped Free Scoop Day nationally (some local shops still do it) years ago. As it turned out, giving away free ice cream didn’t actually increase sales of ice cream at BR. I saw a lot of faces this FCBD that I remember from last year’s FCBD, but never came back any other time during the year.

I want to add that I really enjoy participating in FCBD, and I think overall it has been a successful marketing effort to get new readers into comic stores. We gave away comics to about 400 people on Saturday, and yesterday alone, 16 of our “Come back for 3 more free comics” coupons have come back. A few of those folks were actually new to comics this weekend.

This is a fun business to work in, and everyone needs to remember both parts of that. “Fun” AND “Business”. There are many people, customers and store owners alike, that forget one or the other, and end up leaving the industry altogether.

If we can work together to help this industry expand further into the mainstream, then maybe some day it will be big enough to support every store being able to afford giving one of everything to people on FCBD.

Then again, if the industry were that big, we wouldn’t need FCBD to begin with.

(huh. I wasn’t planning on writing a whole freaking article…)

What I like about FCBD is it does seem to bring in tons of families (I neve rknow if they are new or current customers- I wonder what the retailer sense is) and it gives retailers a reason to market themselves with the wind of a national campaign at their backs- both of which were once goals that seemed far fetched. I like how each retailer is kind of a test market for the promotion. I just hope on retailer forums they’re matching stories about what works and what doesn’t.

Even if FCBD preaches to the converted in the current customer base, it’s still not a bad idea for shops to see it as a customer appreciate day to drive traffic to the store and try clearing out some old stock.

If the dealer decides to reward the regular customer, fine. But for the regular customer to think he is entitled to anything is self-centered. To then steal some is sad. And to threaten to attack another poster is also sad. Rob really did nothing wrong here.

If I had a list of all the Las Vegas stores, I’d would have probably walked in every one and gave every retailer a free preview copy just for celebrating.

Finally got that out of my system after three years in limbo.

~

Coat

EDIT: I have removed the childish posts here from both parties.

A local comicbook store was carrying every title from the FCBD list. I knew I would not be able to acquire all of the titles by trekking around town to every comicbook store, as I had done in previous years. (And yes, even the dungy, dusty, long boxes on shelves stores that still exist.)

Gordon Lee had been arrested for handing out a FCBD title. Would the store accept a personal check, made out to the CBLDF, in exchange for them pulling one copy of everything they carried? They did.

And, yes, I shopped at the four stores I visited, getting extra copies for my friends and strangers on the subway!

All the shops had good discounts on back issues and GNs throughout the entire day.
One had a few comic artists signing work and doing (free) sketches.

I would be okay with a system that allowed me to pick up a few FCBs for free, and then more for a small price. That would still sound reasonable.

Retailers should make the most of FCBD to encourage return visits. The free cake and comics thing is a good start, but FCBD isn’t Halloween, it’s an industry sponsored promotional event.

I know retailers pay for the “free” comics, and I stand by my reasoning: Limiting comics doesn’t help anyone, least of all the retailers. If it’s such a hassle to participate, then don’t. Or supplement with a few long boxes of back issues that you can’t otherwise unload. Work with me, people!

The store I went to that limited copies had no fewer than four employees standing around the Free Comics table to make sure no one made off with more than three…surely the cost of having those employees essentially stand around and do nothing could be better spent on, um, obtaining more “free” comics? This wasn’t one of those struggling retail outfits that you want to see succeed–this is a local chain of stores with a spiffy new location we’re talking about here.

BTW, I did partner with my LCS to purchase some of the kid-friendly FCBD titles to give away at my school this week, along with a letter to parents encouraging them to allow their kids to read comics as part of their summer fun reading.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I stopped in at the school for just a few minutes (I work there part time and today is the other person’s turn to work in the library) and was confronted by an irate mother who demanded to know why her 3rd grader was being allowed to borrow and read Bone instead of “good chapter books” like the Hardy Boys. Huh? So we talked for a few minutes, and I managed to convince her that she could work a compromise with her son and “reward” him for reading a chapter book with a graphic novel. Whew!

We retailers have to BUY the “FREE” comics before we can give them away.

Maybe Tony Stark can afford to give away an unlimited number to all comers, but those of us that are living in the real world can’t.