Found a trick for organizing my pull list that saved me 20 minutes every Wednesday

I kept losing track of which issues I had preordered at my local shop in Portland, so I started sorting them by release date in a spreadsheet with color codes. Turns out the shop guy saw my messy stack and showed me how to set up email reminders from their online system. Has anyone else found a way to streamline their weekly pickup routine without just showing up and hoping for the best?

3 comments

3 Comments

wilson.kelly16d ago

Oh man, I gotta go the other way on this one big time. I actually think all that over-planning takes the fun right out of it (and I say this as someone who loves a good system). Half the joy for me is walking into the shop on Wednesday and just letting the stacks of new books surprise me, you know, like a little treasure hunt. Spreadsheets and reminders make it feel like another chore on my to-do list instead of the best part of my week. And honestly, my shop guy always hooks me up with cool variant covers or forgotten back issues when I'm just browsing around, I'd miss that if I was in and out with a pre-order.

the_adam16d ago

Wilson, "letting the stacks surprise me" sounds dangerously close to what I told my dentist about flossing. "I prefer to let the plaque surprise me, doc." But hey, if your shop guy is handing out variant covers like candy while I'm stuck comparing prices on a spreadsheet, maybe I'm the one doing this wrong. Guess I'll just keep pretending my Wednesday routine isn't just a really inefficient way to guarantee I miss out on that one issue everyone's talking about. At least you're having fun, I'm just building a collection one panic buy at a time.

riveradams16d ago

Planning ahead is the only way you actually get what you want, man. Walking in blind means you're at the mercy of whatever sold out before you got there, and that's a bummer way to discover a series you've been following. A little spreadsheet work beats the frustration of missing a key issue and having to hunt it down for double the price later.