Oldest unpaid invoice 10-year anniversary is coming

Fri 6 Sep 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

And since we are optimists we still hope it will be paid! This invoice, no. 145* is for all of …  $29.40. If I get it together I’ll post a scan of it as it is, er, fun (maybe only to me?) to see that it was supposed to be for $32.40, but 1 copy of Judith Berman’s Lord Stink chapbook was misbound. Oh, the thrill of it all!

Since the invoice was only for ~$30, we never bothered following up until 2008 when we tried to tidy up all our unpaid invoices. Most of them are/were for bookstores that take LCRW on consignment (argh, the paperwork!) and it was great to suddenly get all these tiny checks. Invoice no. 145 languished. However, it was not alone!

As you can see below in the pasted in info, this bookstore asked for “a standing order for 5 copies of our chapbooks and LCRW.” Yay! Now we could just ship out 5 copies each time we published a zine or chapbook. Pretty sweet. If said bookstore paid said invoices for zines, etc.

Instead this arrangement lasted exactly 1 issue of LCRW and 2 more chapbooks. Silly me. A couple more unpaid invoices later (unpaid balance: $74.40, ooh!) and we realized we should probably stop sending them stuff.

Come on chaps, pay a zinester!

This is one of the big reasons we love our book distributor, Consortium. They deal with all the shipping out and returns and invoices and credits and reinvoicing and shipping and all that and every day I am grateful I don’t have to do it.

We still send LCRW out to some stores that only pay every 2-3 years, but, hey, they pay. This store never did. But they do order our books from Consortium and from wholesalers.

So we sent them reminders in 2008, 2010, and 2012 (and maybe other times, but that’s what’s written on it), and then I realized that our little oldest unpaid invoice was going to turn 10 years old on September 16, 2013. I can hear it now, 10 more years! 10 more years!

Invoice  00145

September 16, 2003

Title                                                                Price        Quantity    Discount    Total
Foreigners and Other Familiar Faces    $5                 3                 40%        $9
Lord Stink                                                      $5                 1                 40%        $3
Rosetti Song                                                  $5                 3                 40%        $9
LCRW 12                                                        $4                 3                  40%        $5.40
Total                       $29.40

As of now you have a standing order for 5 copies of our chapbooks and LCRW.
Thanks for ordering our books from Ingram or directly from Pathway Book Service.

Invoice  00151
November 8, 2003

Title                        Price        Quantity    Discount    Total
LCRW 12                $5               5                     40%        $15
Total                       $15
Sorry—our new chapbooks have been delayed at the printer. We will get them to you as soon as we get them.

Invoice  00172
December 4, 2003

Title                                  Price        Quantity    Discount    Total
Bittersweet Creek            $5                 5                  40%
Other Cities                       $5                 5                  40%
Total                       $30

At last!

* Not all of invoices number 1 to 144 were paid. A few zine and bookstores closed without paying, c’est la vie. You publishes your zines and you takes your chances!

1/14/15, ETA: Added chapbook links and tidied up the post.

Unpaid invoices? $74.40
Amusement over the years? Priceless. Variable!