Chuck at MidOhioCon

[joe_collector]

SO you are saying achieving one's "dream" is worth less than having business acumen?

 

So let's say I won a few million on the lottery, and sank the money into my long-time dream of running a BeanieBaby empire. Then years later all my money would be frittered away, I'd be selling over-graded, over-priced Beanies, writing memoirs of my Indiana Jones-type Beanie transactions, and living the dream.... but there's no way in heck that anyone would nominate me for Businessman of the Year.

[shadroch]

SO you are saying achieving one's "dream" is worth less than having business acumen?

 

So let's say I won a few million on the lottery, and sank the money into my long-time dream of running a BeanieBaby empire. Then years later all my money would be frittered away, I'd be selling over-graded, over-priced Beanies, writing memoirs of my Indiana Jones-type Beanie transactions, and living the dream.... but there's no way in heck that anyone would nominate me for Businessman of the Year.

 

 

Yes they might. If you could consistantly sell inferior products at premium prices you would be a god to most

in the business community

Think Chivis Regal. A good scotch,not great. But people pay a premium price because they associate it with success,wealth,fame. Chuck has convinced a niche of the market that a mile high book,any mile high product is somehow connected to the fabled Church collection and that is the mark of a great businessman.

[shadroch]

And Chuck didn't "win a few million bucks in the lottery"

It's not like he was out for a hike and stumbled over the books in the wilderness.Do ya think his involvement in the marketplace way before it was fasionable to be a comic dealer was also a piece of luck? how many potential buyers passed on even looking at the collection before Chuck? does this equate to buying a ticket and sitting on your [!@#%^&^] waiting to win. Chuck was, is and always be a hustler and that is why he got the collection,got a premium price for the collection and twenty-odd years later is still one of the major players in the game.

Let me put it another way.Is Bill Gates a good businessman? Most would say he is a great businessman.

Yet he sold away most of microsoft for less than pennies compared to what it is today.Paul Allen the same thing. Ross Perot.ect,ect.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

[Aman619]

Shad, If I ever a need someone to defend me in the court of public opinion, I hope it wont be you! You state that Chuck is a good businessman because he dupes customers into buying inferior products at inflated prices. And admit Chuck is a hustler.

 

Sheesh! With friends like you, who needs enemies?

 

I assume you are saying these things to agree with what most of know about him and his operation to emphasize what you find admirable about this guy: his business "acumen". Good luck. I dont find anything admirable about this bozo. And I dont think he is as successful as you think.

 

And comparing him to Bill Gates? Cmon, The only comparison is that both of them have guys like you believing in their myths. But comparing Gates' success with Little Chuck's near bankrupt "empire"?? Give me a break. Im no fan of Gates.....but he has achieved on so massive a scale, its (sad, but) amazing. Whats Chuck done? Even in HIS OWN industry he not even a pimple on Geppi's backside!!

 

Look at Chucks latest CBG fairy tales: he was "in" on the ground floor of direct distributing (or was it HIS idea???) If true, Or if he was such a great businessman, Steve Geppi would still be a mailman today.

[shadroch]

Shad, If I ever a need someone to defend me in the court of public opinion, I hope it wont be you! You state that Chuck is a good businessman because he dupes customers into buying inferior products at inflated prices. And admit Chuck is a hustler.

 

Sheesh! With friends like you, who needs enemies?

 

I assume you are saying these things to agree with what most of know about him and his operation to emphasize what you find admirable about this guy: his business "acumen". Good luck. I dont find anything admirable about this bozo. And I dont think he is as successful as you think.

 

And comparing him to Bill Gates? Cmon, The only comparison is that both of them have guys like you believing in their myths. But comparing Gates' success with Little Chuck's near bankrupt "empire"?? Give me a break. Im no fan of Gates.....but he has achieved on so massive a scale, its (sad, but) amazing. Whats Chuck done? Even in HIS OWN industry he not even a pimple on Geppi's backside!!

 

Look at Chucks latest CBG fairy tales: he was "in" on the ground floor of direct distributing (or was it HIS idea???) If true, Or if he was such a great businessman, Steve Geppi would still be a mailman today.

 

Lets get a few things straight here.

What is the purpose of business- I define it as buying low and selling high,maintaining a loyal base and expanding arhead of the curve.Chuck is a master of all of these. Over the years he has repeatedly aquirred collections cheaply, sold them for more than they are worth and convinced the buyers they got a good deal.

He sells two products-comicbooks and himself and does a great job of both.Why do you think he has a column? Because people eat it up.

So he is not as big as Geppi,who is? Geppi is one of the true American success stories. But name me ten dealers with more stock and longevity than Chuck? koch? dolgoff?

Storms? I don't think you can.

If you want to say Chuck was foolish in his youth, that's one thing but to say he has lacked business sense for the last fifteen years or so is simply wrong. There is a huge difference between having cash flow problems and being near bankrupt.

I'm not defending Chucks business practices nor am I a freind of his. Given a chance to run his business I'd make wholesale changes-I disagree with the policies of the great robber barons of the 19th century but admit they were good businessmen

[Aman619]

I suppose one definition of a good businessman would be to use one's wits, wiles, skills and luck to persevere if not succeed for decades in your business of choice. By that definition Chuck is a good businessman. He has survived his ups and downs and is still in business. That seems to be what you mean, right?

 

okay. sure. But even in this business, he is not alone. He just shouts and blabbers way more than the others.

 

Fishler started as a teenager too and is more successful (and liquid) today. Not fair to compare with Bob Storms: he's a part-time dealer. Harley, Joe Vereanealt, Conrad...you name it, plenty of dealers and store owners have done well for 20 plus years like Chuck.....And every single one of THEM , would be far better off than Chuck is today if they started business with the Church collection!!

 

Business is not easy, and surviving is often a victory in itself.....but Chucks talks about himself like he cured cancer, or hunger!

[shadroch]

[Aman619]

 

say what??

[shadroch]

 

say what??

 

 

Don't know what happened there,somewhere thee is a post on a thread it wasn't meant for.

 

You are comparing Chuck to bigtime golden age show dealers. I think that is the wrong comparison. Twenty years ago Chuck saw the diminishing market for golden age and the difficulty in obtaining merchandise and on the fly transformed MH into a subscription/bronze/modern age organization.Maybe 15,000 stores have opened since with the same idea but he remains while almost all the others failed or mutated into something far different than they intended.

[Aman619]

I think Chuck has stated that his goal all along was to open stores with the money he earned from selling comics at shows....because stores were more 'secure' as a business than being a dealer. Ive heard some of these dealers pointing to this decision as a prime example of Chucks flawed business sense.

 

You know, Chucks current back issue empire is fueled by other dealer/retailers willing or needing to sell him long box after long box of books for pennies; and his current ability to overgrade and overcharge for them online to customers around the country. But as we all know, you can only fool people for so long. It would be interesting to see just how many customers who are impressed and grateful to MHC for being able to find and purchase comics they want at all hours of the night and from 1000s of miles away become repeat customers. And how many (like 90% of the posters here) have tried it and wil never return.....

 

You can burn your way through enough potential customers to bring your company to its knees in a few years.

[shadroch]

When I had my stores in the 80s,Marvel reckoned on a 90% turnover of their readers every 18 months and suggested to stores that we expect the same.The demographics are different now but I would think the turnover ratio for new readers is still about the same.As unbelievable as it may seem to many people on this board, there are a whole bunch of people out there that read comics and don't really care if a book listed as NM comes to them in VF/NM or even VF,esp. if they think they are getting a good deal because it was 40% off the listed price.In this day of underordering by local shops and limited backissues,Chuck provides a service many lcal shops have chosen to ignore.Say someone picks up a silver Surfer and finds he likes a guy named thanos. What are the odds his local shop has a compete run of Thanos from the last three years? pretty slim these days. So he turns to chuck and 72 hours(or six weeks) later he has his 36 issues,three of them slightly dinged and one with a small tear.And at 40% off the price listed in the ad.Think Chuck might have a repeat buyer?

[Aman619]

youre right that collectors come in all shapes and sizes and levels of experience from the newbies like you describe to the wizened HG fanatics here on the boards. Certainly the newbies will reorder as long as they perceive its worth whatever it costs to get these "hard to find" comics right away. If they hang around in the hobby, tho, they will learn quick enough better ways to buy them. And Chuck's busuness practices will no longer seem like such a good deal.

 

I dont know where that turnover ratio came from....perhaps back in the day when kids were stll coming into the hobby frequently. I doubt that those numbers still apply. Th eredaership today is mostly the same old getting older crowd.

[shadroch]

Those numbers come from around 1988 when Marvels target audience was 14-16 year old boys. I said I thought the turnover still aplied to NEW reads, not all readers. Chucks modus operatium depends strongly on new blood coming into the pool.

[Aman619]

...as in the "There's a sucker born every minute" variety....

[shadroch]

ah, PT Barnum,now there was a businessman, I think you're starting to catch on. With that I'm headed towards the egress.

[Aman619]

make sure to take a few comics to read in there with ya!

[Darthdiesel]

only chuck would compare ACTION#1 with Origins#1.....

 

[Darthdiesel]

To not have kept the Action 1, Tec 27 and the Cap1 at LEAST is stupendously short-sighted for such a savvy guy.

 

Maybe he knows the truth about warehouses full of these Golden Age keys and how really common these particular hoarded superhero books were?

[Aman619]

wait, Darth, you used CHUCK and THE TRUTH in the same sentence!!??

 

Back to my comparison of Chuck and guys like Fishler. Shad replied that they were not comparable, one being a retailer and the other a dealer. But Chuck started out as a teenage dealer hitchhiking to shows, and LATER chose to take his gains and pour them into retailing, Thiunking stores were the way to go.

 

Steve Fishler also started out as a teenage dealer, and parlayed his early gains into the most successful comics 'dealership' in the business. Course Steve took a limo to his early shows but in this comparison, who made the better decisions with their first round of profits and built the tighter ship, business-wise?

[shadroch]

I really don't know that much bout Metros operarations. I've heard that when vinnie Z came on, it really took off but thats second hand informaton.Maybe Steve is a better businessman than Chuck. Geppi sure is, but I know I would be happy ever to be mentioned even in the same class as either of these two if I still had my store.

Alex Rodriguez is a better shortstop than derek Jeter.

So is Garciaparra. Does this mean jeter is not a good shortstop.

I never said Chuck was the best businessman in Comics, only that he was a good one and had shown considerable savy in the MH2 deal.