Blog @ Canadian Geek

Behind The Counter #201 - Loonie Dive

Posted on 2008 under Behind the Counter

Cause we don’t have swans. Get it?
Sorry.

Anyway, for more than a few years, Happy Harbor has gone to the efforts to adjust prices on extremely out-of-whack SRPs on, primarily, trade paperbacks and graphic novels. Just over a year ago, well before the dollar reached par, we decided to follow in the footsteps of our colleagues and friends at Redd Skull in Calgary and began pricing everything based on the exchange rate at the time of billing.

This pricing policy would provide a level playing field, as it were, for the customer and the retailer. Thankfully just about every person accepted the change, realizing at that time things were working quite in their favour and everyone has become comfortable with it since. Occasionally someone will ask why our prices are above cover and we did have one customer who proclaims to have left us for greener pastures. More on them in a moment.

First, to dispel a few misconceptions. Canadian cover prices on comics from American publishers are arbitrary values, adjusted however they feel necessary. A majority of comic companies do not even print Cnd prices on their books but since Marvel and DC do, the majority of books on the shelves appear to be priced at par or only slightly above.

Pricing to retailers for comics is based on the US cover price; so again, the Cnd price plays no part or has any effect. It has been said that Marvel and DC use those prices because there is extra shipping or duty costs involved but that’s not true since we Canadians are billed based on the US price, in US dollars and then converted to Canadian by the distributor (or by Visa/MasterCard).

Marvel and DC have a set system for determining what the Cnd cover price will be…
*snicker*
*snicker*
hee-ha-aha-ha-ha-ha!

Sorry. If they did, it certainly defies logic since it’s not consistent between their comics and graphic novels nor is it reflective of the ever changing rate. Four months after the Cnd dollar was at par, the Big 2 finally dropped their cover prices. Now that the dollar is above the US again for the past several months, they haven’t changed. Nor do they ever, EVER, acknowledge why or how they set the price. It’s a mystery not to be revealed, for some reason.

In the end, it is a bit of a moot point since it’s a “Suggested Retail Price” and not a “Set in Stone” price. Many factors help determine how much something costs and I don’t expect a store in Yellowknife to charge the same for a comic as they would in Toronto with the additional shipping they have to pay. Retailers are free to charge what they want but the original price on the cover is a guide to expectations.

So why do Marvel and DC still print Cnd prices? Well, as small as the market is in Canada, it’s still a good portion of sales and often you try and treat your smaller customers as well as your bigger ones. With the majority of comic shops being small, non-computerized shoppes, having a printed cover price saves them from stickering books. Of course, having the wrong price hurts their bottom line but hey, in an industry where less work is always better, a few cents here and there so you don’t have to sticker anything is a nice trade off.

So, the HH customer who “left” us for lower prices, well, that’s not working out so well for him now. For a bit, with the strong Cnd dollar, most Edmonton stores were charging the US price AND offering the usual file discounts. Were, until the dollar started to weaken again then chain store A cut off all file discounts (HH actually just adjusted discounts accordingly but still honoured the original deals offered to people) and now chain store B has added a 6% surcharge to all of their product. ALL OF IT, no matter how old it is. So, something from 8 months ago, purchased when the dollar was at par, is now 6% more. Something purchased second hand for pennies on the dollar is also subject to the out-of-this-world levy. I would suspect that the customer is beginning to see a potential problem here.

The long range plan is lost for sure. Removal of discounts and surcharges are a decent short-term solution for the company but a hassle for the customer. And what happens when the dollar gets worse and those plans no longer meet the needs of the company? What do you charge it there’s no Cnd price? Who many times do you adjust your surcharge to all of your products?

And while the one defector mentioned that I was just making more money than my competitors and not being customer friendly, I reminded him that our “surplus” went right back into the store in the ways of a greater selection of titles and products, better paid staff who are happier and provide better customer service (even if they don’t get tipped) and also affords us to provide outside events that reach schools, libraries and the community as a whole. Plus, even though our prices on a $2.99 US comic may change from week to week, regular customers always knew what to expect and new customers appreciated our logic.

And certainly no one made an issue when our dollar was worth more than the US and people were getting their books below the SRP.

So what can we expect out of all of this? From HH, more of the same but from other stores, probably a lot of floundering, flopping, customer confusion and dissatisfaction along with the potential alienation of the buying public which is not good for our industry. Hopefully, they’ll change their tune.

Behind The Counter #201 - Loonie Dive

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