Interesting Garage Sale

[Flee-Marquette]

Last Saturday I was out on my weekly treasure hunt, hitting the local garage

sales and while I didn't find anything earth-shattering, I did meet an interesting

individual. He had piles of old magazines, mostly Good Housekeeping, Progressive

Farmer, Sports Illustrated from the 50's. I wound up buying a few magazines

as well as a Christmas Wish catalog that had a bunch of pages of vintage toy pictures.

In the course of conversation he said he used to deliver magazines to Mom and Pop

stores in the 50's. Naturally I had to ask if that included delivering comics and he said it did.

So I started picking his brain as to the complete procedure of delivering, accounting for sold copies,

handling unsold comics,etc. He seemed suprised someone would be interested and enjoyed

clearing the cobwebs from that period of his life. He told me about storage areas of unsold

comics, but he said they were supposed to rip the covers off. He wished he would have kept

some of them but back then it was just a job. After about 20 minutes I could tell

my patiently waiting wife was ready to go, so I thanked him and told him I would like to hear

more at another time.

I think the chances are pretty slim of those storage rooms still being in existence but

I am going to try to find out. If all I get is more stories of traveling the back roads of the rural

south, filling the spinner racks of small town stores with four-color fantasies then I think I would

be just as happy.

[Ze-man]

Your name suits you well!

 

I think you should go interview the guy if he is willing and post it here.

 

Talk to the guy while he is still around, or else all his stories go with him when he goes.

 

Ze-

[chromium]

Talk to the guy while he is still around, or else all his stories go with him when he goes.

 

Little Ray of Sunshine...

[Ringfinger]

That would be a great find if so.

[richnerd]

When I worked for a local company here my job was to go around and restock the books in all the local K-marts, Kings and a few other retail stores. Our procedure was any book to be taken off the shelf all we needed to do was rip the top cover off and send that back to the publishers for credit.

 

Now most of the books would go back to the dumpster or a few of the stores I visited the ladies that worked there would gather around and beg to get their pick before I trashed them. We never had to keep any or store any of the books so hopefully they didnt run things the way the company I worked for did.

[SolitaireOne]

Our procedure was any book to be taken off the shelf all we needed to do was rip the top cover off and send that back to the publishers for credit.

 

YEP! My 1st job was a Holiday Temp @ a Waldenbooks back in '91. I was able to nab quite a few cool coverless issues here and there as I was usually the one stuck taking out the trash after we closed!

 

I recall some McFarlane SMs, occasionally some #285+ X-Men, even a Wonder-Man #4 w/ Jeff Johnson art; 1st Appearance of Splice

 

 

Coincendently, I now own an original pg. from that Wonder-Man #4 by Johnson.

 

It's the page where Splice is chasing the 90's "Legwarmer-Chick" through the studio backlot and eventually says: "... run around a little more, I like it!"

[Jeffro.]

I think the chances are pretty slim of those storage rooms still being in existence but I am going to try to find out. If all I get is more stories of traveling the back roads of the rural

south, filling the spinner racks of small town stores with four-color fantasies then I think I would

be just as happy.

 

 

I personally would love to hear the stories.

 

However, knowing what I know about some of the people on this board, some *spoon* with no life and nothing better to do would probably troll the thread and totally derail it, claiming it was all made up or some such nonsense.

[Ringfinger]

Ad a child, I bought those coverless beauties for 10 cents each. That is how I started my collection.

[Flee-Marquette]

On the days that he picked up the unsold magazines and took them back

to the warehouse, he would help tear off the covers before they were thrown

in the trash. Before they made it into the dumpster he would pull out the coupons

in all the Ladies Home Journals, Better Housekeepings, etc. Evidently, back then

the grocery stores did not always require you to actually purchase the product in order

to use the coupon. The stores would redeem these coupons for their cash equivalent

because they in turn were reimbursed plus paid a handling fee for each coupon turned

in. You can't do that anymore but back then it was a way for a hard-working stocker

to supplement his income. His co-workers were always curious as to his interest in

the ladies magazines but he managed to keep his little coupon enterprise under wraps.

[skypinkblu]

Last Saturday I was out on my weekly treasure hunt, hitting the local garage

sales and while I didn't find anything earth-shattering, I did meet an interesting

individual. He had piles of old magazines, mostly Good Housekeeping, Progressive

Farmer, Sports Illustrated from the 50's. I wound up buying a few magazines

as well as a Christmas Wish catalog that had a bunch of pages of vintage toy pictures.

In the course of conversation he said he used to deliver magazines to Mom and Pop

stores in the 50's. Naturally I had to ask if that included delivering comics and he said it did.

So I started picking his brain as to the complete procedure of delivering, accounting for sold copies,

handling unsold comics,etc. He seemed suprised someone would be interested and enjoyed

clearing the cobwebs from that period of his life. He told me about storage areas of unsold

comics, but he said they were supposed to rip the covers off. He wished he would have kept

some of them but back then it was just a job. After about 20 minutes I could tell

my patiently waiting wife was ready to go, so I thanked him and told him I would like to hear

more at another time.

I think the chances are pretty slim of those storage rooms still being in existence but

I am going to try to find out. If all I get is more stories of traveling the back roads of the rural

south, filling the spinner racks of small town stores with four-color fantasies then I think I would

be just as happy.

 

A few years ago, a company called Bakerstowne, was selling books from one of those "storage room" on Ebay, actually it was a distributor's warehouse, filled with old comics and magazines, most had purple or blue ink sprayed on them, or had the logos stripped, OR the front covers torn off...I bought a lot of books from them at the time, it was very interesting. I think Lou Kahn (the owner of Bakerstowne) posted a few times on these boards about a new collection he is selling ...TV Guides ...and the books were/are charming, and the find they made, was fantastic, millions of old books:) lots were ruined...but many were not. This was in NY on Long Island:)

[Flee-Marquette]

Well, I was able to talk to this individual again who used to deliver comics in the 50's and I

got some more information. The company he had worked for is no longer in business. I didn't

figure it would be. He had about a 50-mile-radius route that included chain grocery stores such

as Kroger and Piggly Wiggly as well as mom and pop stores. He would be out delivering to the

stores for 4 days (Monday-Thursday). He figured there were 50-100 comic titles that he stocked

per week into spinner racks and newstands. He remembered specifically the publishers Fawcett

and DC, but was sure there were others. He would then bring the unsold comics back to the

warehouse and store them in back rooms. On Fridays, he worked in the warehouse stripping

covers off the comics and magazines and throwing them into big barrels. A truck would come

later in the day and haul them off. I asked him if the truck driver was rebundling them in bags to

sell, but he seemed to feel that they were just going to the dump. The covers were sent back to

account for the unsold copies. On Fridays he would also pull all the coupons from the magazines

and cash them in. He said that he made more from the coupons than he did from his salary. He

would also bring home about 50 coverless comics per week to give to his brother in exchange for

doing the yardwork. As his brother got older and grew out of comics he had to bring home the

coverless "adult" magazines to use as bribes.

 

When he would arrive at the chain grocery stores, he had to be checked in before he could start

stocking. He would never have to wait because, the sales clerks would always come-a-runnin'.

They knew that if they wanted a particular out-of-date publication, he would just tear off the cover

and give it to them. Before Playboy was readily available, adult publications were usually called

"naturalist" or "health" magazines. He wouldn't stock these titles in most of the stores but he would

carry them with him in the truck. Word got around that he could provide these nudist books and he

had a little side business going. He said some of the older ladies would ask to see them and their

first reaction was usually "Oh dear lord!" followed by "Can you bring me another one next week?"

 

So this was a dead-end as far as finding some hidden cache of old comics. You won't be seeing

the Deliveryman Pedigree collection on Heritage anytime soon. It was however, an interesting look

back at one aspect of the comic book industry. He wished he had kept some of the comics from

those days. I couldn't imagine collecting comics and being able to choose the best copies before

they even hit the newstands. He kind of looked off into space and said "But, who knew?"

[deathlok]

[Jeffro.]

I couldn't imagine collecting comics and being able to choose the best copies before

they even hit the newstands. He kind of looked off into space and said "But, who knew?"

 

Which is why they are worth so much today.

[Flee-Marquette]

 

[mica]

 

I've got one waiting for him to do something crazy enough

[the blob]

i bought a bunch of those bakertown lots (comics +mags). ehhhhh. not so great, but interesting to pick through.