"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
-Bixby Snyder, future President of the US according to unproduced Robocop II script
We’ve long had dollar comics in the cart as a beckoning siren outside the shop doors, but dollar trade paperback and hardcover books are a rarity for us.
No longer! Our $1 minimum bid auction site is finally up and will be accepting bids until end of Saturday (or whenever I wake up Sunday to shut it down):
https://nerdgrocery.com/auction/
(Aside from being cajoled into letting it happen, Uel has nothing to do with setting up the auction, so reply to this email if you have any questions or problems!)
Unlike most dark pattern-based auctions, here you just enter the price you are happy to pay, and if that’s the highest bid by end of auction, you win at that price. No sniping or countdown-clock shenanigans. No vicious bidding wars where the house is the true winner. Truly we have returned auctions to a more civilized age…
…Except we’ve put one magic box that lets you bid on all books at once — but beware… $3.70 x 180 books = $666. Do you dare succumb to this darkest of patterns?
If you win, you’ll have until 12/31 to pick up and pay for your books. After that, you’ll start seeing them on the bargain cart rotation.
Speaking of picking up books…
If you haven’t come in for a while and have books on hold, come on in!
We also have a few half-price comic patrons who have already paid, yet still have not picked up their books, which makes us think:
they really just wanted to give us money rather than pick up their books
people have money for comics, they just don’t have space for comics
procrastination isn’t just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle choice
This got us thinking… there must be a significant portion of our audience who are actually pretty comfortable paying for comics… and potentially never picking them up!
By the way, Uel actually does that last option for a few customers. Talk to him if you want in on this.
This Week’s Comics
As always, Uel’s weekly roundup and picks are on the YouTube channel. Uel’s pick this week is Ben Marra’s Disciples (preview on Fantagraphics site).
The next post will probably be a roundup of Uel’s holiday picks, but what about your faves? Which books are the ones you’re hoping to get gifted or will gift yourself?