DC to stop shrink wrapping "most" hardcovers
DC Comics announced yesterday in its retailer newsletter Direct Channel #104 that it will stop shrink wrapping most hardcovers beginning in December. Here’s the blurb:
Please note that starting with books arriving in stores in December, DC Comics will no longer shrink-wrap most hardcover titles.
DC will continue to shrink-wrap titles priced at more than $50.00 US, as well as titles that include extra materials such as sell sheets or cards.
This serves two purposes: it reduces packaging which cuts cost and can be promoted as being environmentally friendly. Of course if environment was the concern then the $50+ books would be bare as well. Good stores either have one copy already out of shrink-wrap or will let you open one so potential buyers can peruse the book.
What’s wrong with this strategy is damaged dust jackets. Yes I come from thirty years of comic and book collecting so I like to keep my dust jackets minty fresh; I use Brodart Dust Jacket covers. Shrink-wrap keeps the book sealed and in factory condition.
Of course we could alleviate this entire scenario by eliminating dust jackets entirely. Dark Horse has done a great job on hardcovers without dust jackets: Sin City and Hellboy Library, Grandville, Amazing Screw-On Head to name a few. Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly are almost entirely dust jacket free. Let’s see this trend continue.
Scott VanderPloeg works in I.T. but lives to eat and read. His ramblings can be found blogged at eBabble.
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I completely agree with doing away with dust jackets. As a retailer I find they easily tear when handled, get wrinkled and damaged when customers are flipping through a book. As a book lover I simply prefer the look of a hardcover book without the jacket.