Mile High Chuck's place in the hobby

[COI]

[shadroch]

He makes some very valid points, amidst his ramblings. Publishers and wholesalers should not compete with their retail clients for customer dollars. That is not how a healthy market is built or maintained.

 

Not too long ago Tesla Motors tried to sell their cars directly to consumers, and dealerships flipped out. Several lawsuits ensued in various states. This kind of thing happens in other markets, and the backbiting can get pretty serious.

 

Wall St Journal

 

Bloomberg

 

Apples and oranges.

Marvel and the other publishers count on retail shops to bring in the vast majority of their sales,then cuts them out at the biggest event of the year.

Tesla operates without retailers totally.

[ChrisInBaltimore]

He makes some very valid points, amidst his ramblings. Publishers and wholesalers should not compete with their retail clients for customer dollars. That is not how a healthy market is built or maintained.

 

He really should just get someone to proof his statements. I'd think he was a big enough company that he could have a PR guy.

 

Maybe he can get the same guy CGC uses for their PR

[shadroch]

He makes some very valid points, amidst his ramblings. Publishers and wholesalers should not compete with their retail clients for customer dollars. That is not how a healthy market is built or maintained.

 

He really should just get someone to proof his statements. I'd think he was a big enough company that he could have a PR guy.

 

Maybe he can get the same guy CGC uses for their PR

 

 

He certainly could use an editor, or a filter.

[dupont2005]

Marvel and the other publishers count on retail shops to bring in the vast majority of their sales

For now. The writings on the wall. As the comics economy expands into more revenue generated and more units sold per year, the direct market continues to shrink.

 

Not saying the direct market is going to disappear any time soon, but their influence and ability to twist the arm of major publishers is coming to an end.

[Moondog]

He is a major player. Discovered the greatest horde in comicdom. He was also among the earliest of the distributors and for a long time was the largest mail order dealer in the world. Controversial, but easily in the top ten.

 

(thumbs u

[ttfitz]

He wasn't relying on or able to rely on his family for capital.

 

I was just rereading his story of buying the Church collection, and it looks like Dupont was right: Chuck writes, "Because I had lots of old comics, but absolutely no money, I had no choice but to live in a 1963 Chevy Impala, that I borrowed from my parents." See, it was all because his rich parents fronted him that Impala!

[dupont2005]

He wasn't relying on or able to rely on his family for capital.

 

I was just rereading his story of buying the Church collection, and it looks like Dupont was right: Chuck writes, "Because I had lots of old comics, but absolutely no money, I had no choice but to live in a 1963 Chevy Impala, that I borrowed from my parents." See, it was all because his rich parents fronted him that Impala!

This was several years after the teenaged Chuck was setting up tables at conventions and selling enough comics to buy a new car.

[dupont2005]

As far as his place in the hobby, how will the hobby be impacted when he exits?

 

My guess is one less funny newspetter per month, that's about it.

[shadroch]

Dupont wrote

Not saying the direct market is going to disappear any time soon, but their influence and ability to twist the arm of major publishers is coming to an end.

 

 

When did the direct market ever have the ability to twist the arms of the major publishers?

It has, in fact, always been the other way around. Shop owners were pretty much unpaid employees of Marvel and Dc. Especially since the Marvel self distribution fiasco, where everyone is now working for Geppi, who dances to whatever tune Disney requires.

[shadroch]

He wasn't relying on or able to rely on his family for capital.

 

I was just rereading his story of buying the Church collection, and it looks like Dupont was right: Chuck writes, "Because I had lots of old comics, but absolutely no money, I had no choice but to live in a 1963 Chevy Impala, that I borrowed from my parents." See, it was all because his rich parents fronted him that Impala!

This was several years after the teenaged Chuck was setting up tables at conventions and selling enough comics to buy a new car.

 

 

He said he sold enough comics to buy a new car, not that he bought one. He made enough money he could have bought a new car, but he sunk it back into comics. For many years, it didn't matter how much he made at a show, he was always broke afterwards because he used the money to buy inventory. Its how he had four stores by the age of 22. Chuck has always been one of, if not the, hardest workers in the business. Its how he got MH2, its how he got the Dallas Stephans collecton.

What will it take for youi to realize all your perceptions of him are wrong? You've been corrected numerous times already about things you say that are simply wrong. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. They are not entitled to their own set of facts.

[dupont2005]

What I'm saying is a young teenaged kid not even old enough to drive had a comics inventory worth as much as a new car. You don't wonder where that came from? You assume it was teenaged Chuck's genius business savvy that built that when he was in middle school?

 

 

I could be convinced of that, but grown up Chuck's business savvy has me skeptical.

[dupont2005]

When did the direct market ever have the ability to twist the arms of the major publishers?

When digital comics were being sold at the LCS, with the LCS getting a cut. In what world is that beneficial to the publisher or the consumer? Whatever cut the LCS is getting, that could either have been a larger cut for the publisher or a lower price for the consumer.

 

It's long been speculated that the reason publishers don't (didn't) offer day of release digital is to keep the direct market happy. Sounds like arm twisting to me.

[HighStakesComics]

He wasn't relying on or able to rely on his family for capital.

 

I was just rereading his story of buying the Church collection, and it looks like Dupont was right: Chuck writes, "Because I had lots of old comics, but absolutely no money, I had no choice but to live in a 1963 Chevy Impala, that I borrowed from my parents." See, it was all because his rich parents fronted him that Impala!

This was several years after the teenaged Chuck was setting up tables at conventions and selling enough comics to buy a new car.

 

 

He said he sold enough comics to buy a new car, not that he bought one. He made enough money he could have bought a new car, but he sunk it back into comics. For many years, it didn't matter how much he made at a show, he was always broke afterwards because he used the money to buy inventory. Its how he had four stores by the age of 22. Chuck has always been one of, if not the, hardest workers in the business. Its how he got MH2, its how he got the Dallas Stephans collecton.

What will it take for youi to realize all your perceptions of him are wrong? You've been corrected numerous times already about things you say that are simply wrong. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. They are not entitled to their own set of facts.

 

Judging by the pics of that warehouse, Id imagine Chuck is still very heavily invested in comics. Do you think he has a pretty nice personal collection or do you think it's all about the money for him at this point? Has he seen everything there is to see?

 

[dupont2005]

Judging by the pics of that warehouse, Id imagine Chuck is still very heavily invested in comics. Do you think he has a pretty nice personal collection or do you think it's all about the money for him at this point? Has he seen everything there is to see?

I'm thinking possibly for tax reasons his entire "personal" collection is technically inventory. It's probably pretty impressive, probably technically for sale. Maybe not listed on the site, and he probably wants 30X the census value for it all.

 

There's also the possibility it's been used as collateral.

[shadroch]

What I'm saying is a young teenaged kid not even old enough to drive had a comics inventory worth as much as a new car. You don't wonder where that came from? You assume it was teenaged Chuck's genius business savvy that built that when he was in middle school?

 

 

I could be convinced of that, but grown up Chuck's business savvy has me skeptical.

 

Chuck has the largest store in the US, as well as several others, one of the top two mail order/internet operations in the world, employees almost a hundred people and has for years. Question his business savvy all you want.

Let me ask you this. Dallas Stephans shows up in San Diego with a collection he is asking several hundred thousand dollars for. The price might have been ambitious but he had several six figure offers. Instead, Chuck rides away with the whole collection for not a penny down, and you question his business savvy?

 

BTW- I started wheeling and dealing in comics at 13 in 1972, did my first convention at 16, and in my freshman year in college sold my inventory and bought an 18 month old Camaro.

Within a few months I was back in the game, buying two collections of about 3,000 12 and 15 cent books for $400. Sold the AF 15 for $150. Sold Silver Surfer 1-18 for $40, and got half my money back from twenty books.

I borrowed the money from my Aunt and paid her back within a year.

[followtheleader]

He's the one who purchased the Edgar Church collection which ended up establishing Mile High as a legit player. I have no idea what his position was prior to that but at least since then he's been a high roller in GA comics and pottery. He buys by the truck load so he's parlayed his big find to create an established business. He's a nice guy, I've met him a few times.

 

His pricing structure and grading practices have always been questioned but if he continues to sell then he must be doing something right.

 

He's been around forever too. I'm always amazed when I'm reading 70s books with his advertisements in them.

 

He's also huge in the CO area. I'm not surprised he says he does well at the Denver Con. He seems to well liked in the area. Anyone in CO attest to that? When I lived in WY, he seemed to have some clout.

 

Anyone that has endured the comic industry for so long must be somewhat successful and should have a place in the history of the hobby. It is a shame he has sort of tarnished his reputation, but from what the old timers say it has always sort of been that way.

 

I'm from Colorado and my experience is that he's not well liked. But he does have the biggest warehouse I've seen and clearly people are paying to keep it open. It is in a cesspool area, so I'm guessing it's relatively cheap (though near areas are definitely on the rise).

 

Patrick

[shadroch]

What I'm saying is a young teenaged kid not even old enough to drive had a comics inventory worth as much as a new car. You don't wonder where that came from? You assume it was teenaged Chuck's genius business savvy that built that when he was in middle school?

 

 

I could be convinced of that, but grown up Chuck's business savvy has me skeptical.

 

I'm pretty sure when I met Mark Zaid at a local show, he wasn't old enough to drive, yet he and his two friends had a SA collection to die for. Turned out he was friends with one of Stan Goldbergs kids and the artist had given him several boxes on consignment.

The Koch brothers and Gary Dolgorf certainly weren't old enough to drive when they started doing the Phil Seuling shows. Vinny from Metro was a freshman in college when I sold him about two dozen boxes of drek to help him get started.

[HighStakesComics]

I've gotta be honest with you guys. I still buy a lot of books from Mile High. Comiclink is my preferred dealer for graded books and Mile High is where I like to get my raw books. Some stuff is priced high, but if you make a call they will work with you.

[shadroch]

I used to sell them quite a bit. His prices were pretty low, but sometimes I'd get stuff cheap and pass it on to him. At one point, he was paying stupid money for the UK Action Force and Transformers weeklies. Many store owners still get by by sending their excess inventory to either him or Lone Star.