Someone is having problems getting Palladium Product

[Kevin]

Someone is having problems getting Palladium product from his local store.

You might too, so I want to post my response to him as a Murmur for others to see.

I received a Private Message from one of Palladium’s regular customers and fan, in which he expressed his mounting frustration and concern, because his brick and mortar store keeps telling him that they can’t get Fleets of the Three Galaxies because Palladium never shipped it to their distributor, ACD.

I hate to badmouth any of Palladium’s distributors or anybody's retailer/store, but ACD was most definitely sent copies of Fleets of the Three Galaxies when the book first came out, though the numbers were light. ACD is Palladium’s Second largest USA distributor and they can reorder at any time. If a store wants books and tells them, ACD "should" order it. In fact, ACD places a restock order at least once EVERY month, though I don't know if they have reordered Fleets.

Here is my experience when this kind of thing occurs. It's usually one of the following:

1. The distributor is having cash flow problems and rather than admit that, tells the retailer they cannot get the book from the supplier. In this case, the supplier is Palladium Books. Also, sometimes the distributor decides, for whatever reason, that a product will not sell and orders light and doesn’t restock it.

Palladium has the product in stock, did send the product, and have approximately 1900 copies of it in the warehouse waiting to be shipped to whoever wants a copy. Note: ACD does not have cash flow issues because they reorder once or twice a month, and pay their bills on time like clockwork.

Number 2, below, is more often the case (as in 90%).

2a. The store is having cash flow problems or has bad credit with their distributor, and rather than admit that to their customer for fear of looking bad, the retailer or store clerk or manager makes up a story about how they cannot get the product from their distributor.

2b. An alternative version of that is, the distributor has a minimum quantity requirement and the store does not do enough business to get the discount from their distributor. As a result, the retailer is either waiting until they can order enough total RPG products to get the discount -- or -- just blame their distributor so they don' t look bad. Either way, they makes up a story about how they cannot get the book from their distributor (or the manufacturer).

2c. The retailer wants to get a superior discount (55%), but can't on that item for some reason, so he refuses to purchase the item and rather than order it at a lower discount of say 50% or 45%, makes up a story that he cannot get the item from his distributor.

3. The retailer might have a terrible rep at ACD and they should ask to be assigned to somebody else, because Fleets is certainly available for sale!

I can almost guarantee if 2a, 2b or 2c is brought up to the retailer, he'd voice indigination and outrage that I would even suggest such a terrible thing, and might even vow NEVER to order a Palladium product again. Making Palladium the bad guy and preserving his good (or not so good) name.

However, you don't need to confront your retailer or make him look bad. You can tell him the following and if he has an excuse why this doesn't work, you know 2a, 2b or 2c is, indeed, the case.

PLEASE LET YOUR STORES KNOW, if they are having trouble getting Palladium products from their distributors (most stores order from more than one) they can get it from Palladium Books.

Palladium Books will sell a single copy of a book or several copies of various books to "verifiable retailers" (i.e. we need references, a vendor number, a photo of the shop and an active web page, etc.). We sell to retailers at a 40% discount and Palladium pays the shipping. (50% if the store orders several titles in larger quantity).

The only catch is the order must be PRE-PAID via credit card, check or money order (though in the case of the latter two, the check must arrive and clear our bank before we will ship the book/books). PLEASE LET YOUR STORES KNOW ABOUT THIS.

Sadly, my experience has been most stores will NOT place that order.

Why?

Many do not want to be bothered with "special customer orders," which drives me crazy, but customer service seems to be dead most places in the world.

Some retailers want a better discount and refuse to pay 40% or 50%, which, again, I think is crazy. I can't offer more because I'm not going to match or undercut my distributors.

Some retailers just don't have the money. Be kind, these are tough times for many businesses, especially stores.

Other retailers cite past incidents in which a customer orders the book: the store buys it, and the customer never claims it nor pays for it, which sticks the store with a book they may not be able to sell. This argument does NOT stand for me, because I know most fans will "pay in full," in advance, before the store places the order. Palladium ships within 48 hours of the order being paid for, and the store should get the book in 2-7 days after we ship depending on their geographic location.

HOWEVER, I personally know of several stores who make this claim, but the bottom line is they just do not want to take "special orders." Here is one dramatic example. At the old Palladium office, I had a retailer who was literally down the street. We could walk there in 10 minutes, drive there in 2 (and it was 2 minutes driving only because of a trio of traffic lights.) I told the store manager he could call us, place an order, we'd even sign the books if the customer wanted it, and have it to him in 15 minutes. That was NOT acceptable because a) it was only a 50% discount we offered him and b) it was too much hassle to accept special orders and they had a policy against it. The unspoken part of that being, I suspect, was if they took Palladium special orders, they felt they would have to do the same for other companies and it was too much trouble. I was floored.

It kills me, but that is more often the case than not.

FYI: If a book is a recent release (came out within the last 18 months!) Palladium has it in stock and all the store or distributor has to do is order it. The end.

Furthemore, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and most other "chain stores" can and will special order Palladium Books titles, and should get them within 2 weeks, often sooner. Spread the word and game on!

I'm posting this so fans know Palladium is doing everything it can to get our products in stores and into the hands of gamers.

Of course, you can also order direct from Palladium Books. In fact, the only reason we sell direct to consumers is because of the flood of complaints were were getting about how gamers could not find our products in some stores.

PLEASE NOTE: There are MANY wonderful, customer service oriented retailers. We know of many, and we appreciate their hard work and effort to support Palladium Books, the gaming hobby, and their customers. If you frequent such an excellent store, PLEASE continue to buy from it. They need your support as much as Palladium does. Game on.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, & Game Designer
Palladium Books®, Inc. – 28 years of RPG Publishing

© Copyright October 6, 2009 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

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