Support your independent bookseller
Jan. 23rd, 2009 12:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
msmemory_archiveBut at what price? I'm not sure I'm ready to support my independent bookseller charging me $30 more for a book, plus tax, than Amazon does.
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Date: 2009-01-23 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:47 pm (UTC)(I bought one at Arisia and am very pleased with it. Also, he recommended a smaller size than I would have guessed, and that made me feel svelte. Honestly, when I first saw your mention of it, all I could think was "Where does she find evening gowns for $130?")
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Date: 2009-01-23 05:58 pm (UTC)http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3017254?refsid=183975_1&refcat=0%7e2376776%7e2378685%7e2380947%7e2380968&SourceID=1&SlotID=2&origin=related
But then I'm also thinking about the fun I'd have in Brute Force instead. ;)
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Date: 2009-01-23 06:03 pm (UTC)(I recently bought a floor length evening gown from Igigi.com during the apres Christmas sales, but they seem to have discontinued it, so I can't show off with a handy link. Curses!)
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Date: 2009-01-23 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 06:15 pm (UTC)It reminds me a bit of one of my favorite gowns from TNG, actually -- one which wasn't spacey at all.
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Date: 2009-01-23 06:52 pm (UTC)....Corsets....
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Date: 2009-01-23 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 08:57 pm (UTC)Re: Amazon -- Amazon created their own POD service, which isn't quite as easy to use or as good quality as Lulu. They then insisted that POD authors use their service if they wanted Amazon to sell their books.
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Date: 2009-01-23 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:46 pm (UTC)Do you want to buy a book? That will be $X, either way.
Or do you want to buy a book and buy into the promise of continued service from your local bookseller? That will be $30 in addition to the purchase of a book.
I don't give to charities but I do spend a little more to buy locally when I can. I think it amounts to the same thing for me - voting with my money. I can vote to save the whales once a year, or I can vote to save the booksellers in increments every time I buy a book. Or I can vote to grow my children by putting the money I saved into nutritious food for them (and that is where it is at right now - the kids are higher on my list than both the bookseller and the whales).
No judgment here - I have the same struggle when I buy books and other things. And added to the equation is the fact that it takes about 2 gallons of gas to go to town and back, which often makes mail-order appear to be the more environmentally attractive option. But only if you can overlook the fact that locally, I use my own cloth bag, but Amazon uses brand-new cardboard boxes and plastic wrap.
Locally, you pay more but get instant gratification...assuming it's in stock...and by mail-order you pay less but you wait. Locally, your money stays in the community but you pay tax...mail-order, no tax, but your money goes out of state.
It is such a complicated conundrum. I am sure I am not helping at all. (Oops.)
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Date: 2009-01-23 10:15 pm (UTC)The "continued service from my local bookseller" is just not very valuable to me. Not nearly as valuable as the difference in prices most of the time.
For several months now, I've been buying 90% of my new graphic novels via Amazon. I started doing that when I noticed that a book that retailed for $99, Amazon was offering for about $67 -- *more* than a $30 difference. And free shipping, to boot.
Amazon is, in about 1% of cases, more expensive than my local stores. But the average discount is more like 15%, and it sometimes goes over 40%. My book habit is still large enough that that makes a significant difference in my cash flow.
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Date: 2009-01-23 05:50 pm (UTC)If, on the other hand, I already know I'm looking for a particular book, then I'll give them a chance to be competitive (and immediacy of delivery and lack of shipping charges weigh in their favour), but will not pass up bargains online, just because there's a local source.
And the local shop looses any advantage when they offer to order something for me, because they don't have it on the shelves. If they can't put it in my hands that moment, I'll order it directly, myself, if that means I'll get is faster or cheaper.
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Date: 2009-01-23 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 06:05 pm (UTC)Usually....
Date: 2009-01-23 08:28 pm (UTC)Poison Pen Press, though, has traditionally been my "Achilles heel"...
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Date: 2009-01-24 08:19 pm (UTC)Yeah, evil. Competition is one thing. Competition made the USA great. The WalMarts don't want to compete. They want to annihilate. Walmart envisions a day when you drive along the interstate and there's a huge complex the size of the Pentagon with a "W" on the top, and that's all. They don't want to be the biggest store. They want to be The Store.