Why I love mail order

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Today, I got my monthly box of goodies in the mail. The box nearly gave me a hernia. I should have tipped the mailman.

Included inside:

ABSOLUTE HUSH
ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN
DC's THE WORLD'S GREATEST SUPERHEROES
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN HC Volume 6
THE PUNISHER MAX HC Volume 1
V FOR VENDETTA HC
TOM STRONG HC Volume 5
CONAN HC Volume 2

Go ahead -- ask me when I plan to read all this. ::sigh::

-Augie

[dancj]

You weren't kidding when you said you love those hardcovers!

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

The box weighed 34 pounds. It's ridiculous. I'm too lazy to do the research, but that's a decent spread of books across time. These shipments come to me monthly, but not all of those books were scheduled for September, or came out in September, if you know what I mean. Thankfully, the payments were spread out over two or three months.

I cracked open WATCHMEN last night and read Alan Moore's text piece from 1988 about the series. Interesting stuff. The book smells, though. It's got that library book smell thing going. (I hope Eric doesn't take that personally...)

Also looked through HUSH, where the art is beautiful at that larger size. It really opens up Jim Lee's art. The only problem with the bigger page size is that the lettering grows with it. Now, the letters and balloons take up too much of the page. Ah, well, you can't expect everything. Lee's annotations for the series are also included. I imagine those were in WIZARD originally, but I don't remember them. Lots of interesting factoids in there.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

34 LBS? HOT DAMN!!! That's a stack and a half!

I just read the Punisher HC, and it's real good! I'm glad I waited for it. Those Conan HC's are nice too. I've gotta get into those....

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

It also makes me sick about going to the comics shop today to pick up even MORE...

Sometimes, I really do want to get off the treadmill.

Glad to hear the PUNISHER book is good, though. I've been waiting for this one for a loooong time now. I almost broke down and bought the trades not too long ago. Whew.

-Augie

[jameslucasoni]

The box weighed 34 pounds.

The box with nothing in it but my Complete Calvin & Hobbes tipped at almost 27 lbs on the scale...

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

So tempting. . . I have a couple of Amazon gift certificates I could blow on that thing. The entire C&H for about $30? Hmmm...

Have you opened it up yet, James? What do you think of it so far?

-Augie

[matchstick johnny]

I just used a Barnes and Noble online giftcard a few days back and Superman: For Tomorrow Vol 2 was on my doorstep last night when I got home!

I must have the Absolute Batman!

[jameslucasoni]

So tempting. . . I have a couple of Amazon gift certificates I could blow on that thing. The entire C&H for about $30? Hmmm...

Have you opened it up yet, James? What do you think of it so far?

Yeah, I had it delivered to the office so as soon as the box arrived we cracked it open and spent about the next hour in Joe's office passing the books around and "ooooing" and "aaaaaaaaahing." It's a truly impressive package and I feel lucky that I had enough book store gift cards to pay for all but $15 worth.

[torippu]

So tempting. . . I have a couple of Amazon gift certificates I could blow on that thing. The entire C&H for about $30? Hmmm...

Have you opened it up yet, James? What do you think of it so far?

-Augie
I flipped through it at Costco the other night and have to say that the packaging is really, really, nice. Damn thing weighs near a ton, but I'd sure like to get one for myself - how is it that it seems like I'm the only one on this board that doesn't have assorted Amazon or Barnes & Noble book cards lying around waiting to be used? Compared to the old collections, I like the fact that each strip was dated for when it appeared in newspapers.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

I have a trick for Amazon -- I have an Amazon.com credit card. I get points for all purchases on that card and triple points for money spent at Amazon. I put everything I can on my credit card now. Those points add up quickly. =)

-Augie

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

The CALVIN AND HOBBES set is not eligible for free shipping through Amazon. It just weighs too damned much.

CostCo has it cheaper, even after sales tax:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?ec=BC-EC4100-Cat25429&pos=3&whse=BC&topnav=&prodid=11069980

Thankfully, you can load it into a flatbed cart at CostCo and wheel it out to your car. It would be too heavy otherwise.

-Augie

[torippu]

The CALVIN AND HOBBES set is not eligible for free shipping through Amazon. It just weighs too damned much.

CostCo has it cheaper, even after sales tax:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?ec=BC-EC4100-Cat25429&pos=3&whse=BC&topnav=&prodid=11069980

Thankfully, you can load it into a flatbed cart at CostCo and wheel it out to your car. It would be too heavy otherwise.

-Augie
I was real tempted to buy it the other night. I guess one of the advantages of traveling to Portland 3~5 times/month is that I can purchase stuff in Oregon with having to pay the sales tax.

The weight for this collection is definitely an issue as there is no way that I'd ever be able to stuff this into my suitcase or even bother with the hassle of having to schluff it through security at PDX.

I'm definitely going to have to look into this Amazon credit card deal - I had another friend recommend it to me about a year ago but didn't really think about it all that much at that time.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Once I transferred all my usual monthly expenses to this credit card, I was amazed at how many points I could rack up. Plus, by putting more stuff on the card, I hit the ATM less, which means less $1.50 service charges. And since I'm not paying out the cash for certain things, there's more money in the bank to write the check to the credit card company at the end of the month. It all works out beautifully.

Not that I'm getting any richer; I just get a couple of much cheaper things at Amazon once in a while now. Before this, I got nothing back on my credit card.

-Augie

[torippu]

I've recently noticed that putting all of my comic purchases on 1 credit card really does help me keep track of how much I'm spending per month (waaay too much according to my wife!).

Well, it also didn't take too much arm wringing to get me to sign up for the Amazon Visa card (I'd been looking for a new Visa with some sort of value for a while now). I'm hoping that I'll be able to use that "thanks for signing up now here's $20 off your first purchase" certificate for the new Rucka novel being released at the end of the month.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Good job. I've also put all my comics purchases on the credit card. (Well, mail order is done through PayPal, but the weekly visits to the shop are on the card.) I'm keeping a little spreadsheet with my weekly and monthly expenditures to convince myself to spend less. So far, it's working. I feel shame when I put too much on the card. I've managed to put a couple of things back on the shelf this way.

At this point in the year compared to last year, I've bought almost half as many floppies. That feels good. I know I've bought more hardcovers and trades, but let's take this one step at a time, OK? Thanks. =)

-Augie

[dancj]

I hit the ATM less, which means less $1.50 service charges.

You have to pay to use ATMs in America? That's mean. They tried it in Britain and had to quickly reverse the policy because of the public backlash.

To make you feel better, graphic novels are always much cheaper in America. Some of them cost less in dollars on Amazon.com than they do in pounds on Amazon.co.uk. Most of this is the fault of Titan the evil leach book distributors who like to stick big stickers on the back of books and double the price for the privilage!

Dan

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Generally speaking, if you use the ATM of your own bank, you don't have to pay the charge. My problem is that I use a small local bank. They don't have many branches, so I'm always using ATMs of some other bank. Those grab you for the buck-fifty.

I'll gladly take the cheaper books. =)

-Augie

[BronteJD]

You have to pay to use ATMs in America? That's mean. They tried it in Britain and had to quickly reverse the policy because of the public backlash.

To make you feel better, graphic novels are always much cheaper in America. Some of them cost less in dollars on Amazon.com than they do in pounds on Amazon.co.uk. Most of this is the fault of Titan the evil leach book distributors who like to stick big stickers on the back of books and double the price for the privilage!

Dan

We noticed the price differences when we were there over the summer. Didn't stop us from buying a few thing we hadn't physically been able to get a hold of before, though. :)

[BronteJD]

The CALVIN AND HOBBES set is not eligible for free shipping through Amazon. It just weighs too damned much.

CostCo has it cheaper, even after sales tax:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?ec=BC-EC4100-Cat25429&pos=3&whse=BC&topnav=&prodid=11069980

Thankfully, you can load it into a flatbed cart at CostCo and wheel it out to your car. It would be too heavy otherwise.

-Augie

Augie, THANK YOU for this tip.

We got our copy at CostCo last night, for $80. It's even less expensive in the store than online. And hey, no shipping.

Of course, I can't physically LIFT the complete set, but hey. SO worth it.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

You're welcome, P.

I'm torn. I still haven't read all of the FAR SIDE book that came out last year, but then these aren't the types of titles you get because you plan on sitting down with them one afternoon to read the entire thing, right? It's for the library, for longer range reading plans. . .

And, then, there's this $100 bill burning a hole in my pocket that was a gift for something recently, and since CostCo only accepts cash (I don't have an AmEx), it becomes an easy place to burn through money. ;-)

And then I have these stacks of boxed up hardcovers from my recent mail order madness. . .

Of course, Christmas is coming, too.

aAAarrrrggghhh!

-Augie