I just this week received a mailer from my book club, advertising a calendar that looked amusing. So I went to the club website to buy it. Nuh-uh, they never heard of it. I had to try three different searches before the site would even admit to selling *any* calendars. It looks like they sold this out out before even offering it to me. Thanksabunch, guys! Why do I bother with you, again?
But wait! There's more! I went to my favorite giant online bookstore (where I find myself buying more and more of what I used to get through the book club). They do have it. Oh, not in their own store. But a "marketplace" seller with enough optimism for an air assault battalion is offering one for $150.00+.
I guess that suggests that it's not the club's fault that they can't deliver what they offered.
So, a 2016 calendar is gone, sold out, unavailable...in the previous year. Uh, the end of year N is when people buy calendars for year N+1. It seems this publisher made the same mistake that the candy manufacturers made a few years ago, when they tuned their output so finely that Hallowe'en candy was sold out before Hallowe'en. Last-minute shoppers [raises hand] bought less than they had planned to because there was nothing left. Now calendar publishers are disappearing their wares earlier. Too early, it would seem.
Now, I could understand a publisher running out of seasonal product...if this were 1965. Back then, gearing up for a print run was a gigantic undertaking no matter what. But, you know, in 2015 you have competitors who can print an entire book, bound and covered, on the spot while you wait. Shouldn't small batches be feasible if 1-unit batches are? Did anybody think about that? Are you thinking about it now?
So, bottom line: I'll be doing without a 2016 wall calendar. And remembering this bitter experience as 2017 approaches. Will I even try? Don't miss next year's thrilling? episode.
