Monday, December 5, 2011

Marvel Subscriptions Need an Overhaul

As you many notice in each week's reviews, I always have a section of Old Comics.  The reason for this is I'm a subscriber through Marvel.  I pay around 50% less to get my comics through the mail.  Awesome right?  Well I'm getting to the point with them where I'd rather pay the full price then wait almost two months to get a comic.
I had to wait almost a month and a half to finish Spider-Island (Marvel Comics)

Now before I talk about how this program needs to be changed, it is a great deal.  I can't deny I like getting two books for the price of one.  I'm still a subscriber for a good chunk of my Marvel books (although that number has slowly been dwindling).  In this tough economy, it's easy to sacrifice getting the books on time to have the price be really low.  It's even better with a book like Amazing Spider-Man which is released multiple times a month.

When I started, just with the Amazing Spider-Man, I got books the day they were released or the day after.  This went on for a few months, then books became late.  A week or two isn't that bad.  But then it became a month.  Now it's on average a month and a half to a two months.  This is just unacceptable.  The only thing I can think of that keeps these comics from getting to my house on time is the fact that Marvel charges so little.  They can't be making much money on this, and must be taking a loss of some kind to ship these books.  My suspicions were confirmed when my long time subscription to Deadpool was cut short because the book din't sell as well anymore.  Same with Venom at issue #3.



I love this plan, but I'd like to see Marvel overhaul it.  Maybe we have to pay a little more so that the books arrive more on time.  Instead of a 50% discount, maybe a 35%.  An acceptable arrival date for me would be a week to a week and a half after. In this economy, readers will pay a little more, as long as it is discounted.  Even better, Marvel treats every book like it costs $2.99, so you save even more in some instances.  So let's do the math:

Marvel treats every book like it's $2.99.  So a subscriber pays around $1.50 a book (50% discount).  A 35% discount would put the price at $1.95.  So for 12 issues (what Marvel's standard option is), you'd pay  $23.40 (at the 35% discount).  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  That's a lot better than $35.88 for 12 issues at full price ($2.99).   Customers might even like the program more because they get their comics on time, and still get a discount.

I buy my comics at the same shop every week (Webhead Enterprises in Wakefield, MA....GO BUY STUFF THERE NOW) because I'm part of a discount program.  I have the incentive of savings.  Plus the store is great and has amazing customer service.


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