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Palladium In Trouble

Started by Zachary The First, April 19, 2006, 08:33:50 PM

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kanegrundar

I still believe that there was some over-exaggeration of the values of what was stolen.  5% of KS' quoted damages is still extremely small.  Couple that with a company with a dubious track record of dealing with fans basically asking for hand-outs and I'm left with a situation that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Don't get me wrong, I don't wish KS ill.  I hope Palladium stays afloat, but I just hope that KS learns a lesson here.  Then again, with the unbelievable outpouring of charity he likely won't.  From the sound of things Palladium isn't out of the woods yet, but I guess we'll see over the coming weeks to months.
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Xavier Lang

Quote from: Zachary The FirstThat's right, Steve Sheiring was an investor. He was also a trusted and a beloved friend for 24 years. An employee for 14. My right hand man.

Ouch.
 

Zachary The First

Quote from: Xavier LangOuch.

I actually said that out loud when I read that.
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Nelly


Cyberzombie

The fact that they got *anything* back is pretty remarkable, actually.  Money embezzled is usually totally gone forever.
 

Zachary The First

Quote from: CyberzombieThe fact that they got *anything* back is pretty remarkable, actually.  Money embezzled is usually totally gone forever.

Sad but true.  In my hometown, we had a guy rip off a bunch of retirees for over $150k, wiping out some of their savings.  I think he had nothing really listed in his name, so they got very little back.  He also served something to the amount of all of 16 days in jail. :mad:
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cnath.rm

I would be interested to know how much in donations they got once they put together a PayPal acct.  I know there wasn't any real way that I could buy a $50 print, and I don't play them, so buying books wasn't really a good option for me, but I could toss a couple bucks into the hat via PP at least.

The college bookstore I work at had a bunch of employee theft 8 years ago or so, and they didn't prosecute it as they didn't want to deal with a full audit. They are a pain, and I don't blame Palladium for not wanting to go that route.
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Zachary The First

Quote from: cnath.rmI would be interested to know how much in donations they got once they put together a PayPal acct.  I know there wasn't any real way that I could buy a $50 print, and I don't play them, so buying books wasn't really a good option for me, but I could toss a couple bucks into the hat via PP at least.

The college bookstore I work at had a bunch of employee theft 8 years ago or so, and they didn't prosecute it as they didn't want to deal with a full audit. They are a pain, and I don't blame Palladium for not wanting to go that route.

It was at $2250 2 days after they put the PP link, I think.  No idea where it is now.  There should be an update fairly soon.
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Basara_549

Lessee - putting my education to work (I was a MAth for teaching HS major - passed all my math courses through Calc III but washed out of the EDU courses)...

11,000 books at an average MRSP of $15 is $165,000. If one assumes 50% of the MSRP cost as the cost of production, 10% as the amount Palladium actually makes on a book, and the other 40% the distributor and retailer margins, then it takes FIVE books (50%/10% = 5) sold to BREAK EVEN - in other words recoup enough profit from normal sales to offset the production cost of ONE stolen book. So, to COVER THE LOSSES from the stolen books, Palladium would have to sell $840,000 books, before actually making a cent of profit. And that's assuming a much HIGHER profit margin per book than most retail and direct-from-manufacturer businesses have, due to tougher competition.

That's one of the reasons shoplifting and employee theft is treated so harshly at retail - if a store is making only 5% on an item, someone stealing one means the store has to sell 19x that item's value to cover the wholesale cost of the stolen item.

And, IIRC, Kane, a lot of the bad record for dealing with fans, especially missing orders and manuscripts, was when STEVE was the one in charge of handling them, and many of the customer calls. The one time I had to call Palladium for an order, it was Steve who talked to me about it.

BTW, for those that were lamenting Rifts: Lemuria being promised, but never released - it was - you guessed it - STEVE writing the book, originally!
 

Settembrini

QuoteBTW, for those that were lamenting Rifts: Lemuria being promised, but never released - it was - you guessed it - STEVE writing the book, originally!

Now this is starting to look like a conspiracy. So at the very least make him write it! In prison!

Seriously, how could someone so close do this kind of stuff? Feeling of being wronged? Just criminal energy? I´m wondering about the motive...
If there can\'t be a TPK against the will of the players it\'s not an RPG.- Pierce Inverarity

Zachary The First

Quote from: SettembriniNow this is starting to look like a conspiracy. So at the very least make him write it! In prison!
 
Seriously, how could someone so close do this kind of stuff? Feeling of being wronged? Just criminal energy? I´m wondering about the motive...

Who knows why people do what they do.  If was just to get out of writing Lemuria, though... :muttering:
 
Seriously, your guess is as good as mine.  Long-standing repressed anger, gambling addiction, a sense of self-entitlement beyond his means--we'll likely never know.  All we'll know is, he sure did piss a lot of folks off.
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Settembrini

QuoteAll we'll know is, he sure did piss a lot of folks off.

Me included. So talking about the future, how´s Arzno? What makes it shine? Is it advancing the Vampire Metaplot?
If there can\'t be a TPK against the will of the players it\'s not an RPG.- Pierce Inverarity

Zachary The First

Quote from: SettembriniMe included. So talking about the future, how´s Arzno? What makes it shine? Is it advancing the Vampire Metaplot?

Arzno...consensus seems to be everyone dislikes the cover, but likes what's inside.  Lotsa techno-wizardy, a good locale that's well-fleshed out, and yeah, the vampires, while not directly related to what you may recall from the machinations in Vampire Kingdoms, have enough to do with it and their own plot aside to keep things lively.
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kanegrundar

Quote from: Basara_549And, IIRC, Kane, a lot of the bad record for dealing with fans, especially missing orders and manuscripts, was when STEVE was the one in charge of handling them, and many of the customer calls. The one time I had to call Palladium for an order, it was Steve who talked to me about it.

BTW, for those that were lamenting Rifts: Lemuria being promised, but never released - it was - you guessed it - STEVE writing the book, originally!
How does one guy get that much responsibility?  Is KS not the micro-manager that he's been reported to be for years now?  On one hand, I feel for KS, but on the other hand this either feels like a "we can blame all the past transgressions and stuff that cost us business on Steve" or just someone that really fucked up running his business.  Friend or not, when you hear the same excuse about screwed up orders time and time and time again, a smart business owner would look into things.

At any rate, whether it was Steve behind all the questionable practices at Palladium or not, he was still the face of the company to many fans (even if few knew they were talking to Steve in particular or not), so any mishaps on his part will carry directly to the company.  It's like when people call Dell's customer service and get shitty service, that bad experience carries onto the company, not just the guy answering the call.
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Basara_549

Steve was not only a close friend of the Siembiedas, he was one of the few people Kevin had let invest in the company. Part of the settlement, in fact, involved Steve relinquishing all interest in the company, as well as everything he had in their retirement system. He was involved with the printing processes, orders, finances, the whole deal. In fact, one of the first tips that something was wrong was some "XMas Grab bag" offers getting temporarily "lost", then being shipped from somewhere other than Palladium. Steve was diverting the payments, then filling the orders with items he'd already stolen, to take the orders "off the books" and be 100% profit for him. This required aquiring additional items which were grab bag exclusives, causing the delay (in some cases months) that would eventually establish the trail back to him.

Kevin has never been as much a micro-manager as people made him out to be. He has been a bit too much of one in terms of being the final editor of a manuscript, but not to the overall extreme as people make it out to be.