Re: monopoly

On Thu, 5 Aug 1999, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> On 8/5/99, Barbara Ruhmann <brruhmann[_at_]ucdavis.edu wrote:
> >
> > I have also discovered (and passed on to other buyers) how to circumvent
> > getting a book published by the Canadian division of a company which has
> > a US division, and consequently can't sell us books, even though the US
> > division does not carry the title.
>
> Publishers must honor their territory obligations. Their obligations
> do not extend to their customers and beyond.

What a very telling statement! "Their obligations do not extend to their *customers* (emphasis mine) and beyond." We are becoming convinced that there are publishers in business to publish, but not to sell. At least in many cases, we feel as though we should be ashamed of ourselves for even considering that we are worthy enough to be allowed to purchase books from them.

> > Sadly, those of us working for independent bookstores have been
> > paying the price for those negotiations. As has been noted several
> > times in the media recently, a number of publishers have been giving
> > online booksellers deep pocket discounts that they are not allowing
> > the traditional "brick-and-mortar" stores. Mom and pop stores,
> > institutional stores, and other non- or small-chain operations are
> > being hit hard, and, if they can't develop workable strategies or
> > additional non-book product lines, are dying. On the bright side,
> > several publishers have already been called to task for their
> > policies, and have, in some cases, been fined heavily for their
> > action. Additionally, more than one publisher has begun to accept
> > prepaid orders only, but when they find out we are NOT one of the
> > chains, quickly allow us to order on a purchase order and be
> > invoiced. It's been a interesting ride...
>
> Jeff Bezos tells that when he was operating from a garage
> and didn't even have a table for packing and shipping, he
> learned to include in his orders enough unavailable books
> to meet minimum requirements.

For a store our size, meeting minimum requirements is rarely a problem, and I work with several distributors (or go to used book companies) if I feel I may not meet a minimum. But no, I am not ordering several thousand of one title. I very well may be ordering several thousand books, however. And for independent stores, or trade book departments of college stores, meeting a minimum is also rarely a problem, unless a store receives a special order from a customer which cannot be combined with a regular full-sized order to a publisher or distributor. The choice then is whether or not to service the customer. Interestingly enough, we had a major chain move into our humble little town (yes, there was quite a fracas -- two independents moved elsewhere), and folks around here learned quickly that if they needed a special book, the chain could order it, but no guarantees, and it would take 4-8 weeks to get it. One of the local stores who chose to stay in business gets books within three days to a week for special order customers. Can we guess which store has the town's greater esteem? Oh, and their patronage has actually grown since the chain came to town.

That still does not make acceptable that any company, no matter what size, has a right to a deeper discount than that published for "regular" customers.

Of course, there is the rumor (I can't claim its veracity, but it's been circulating for awhile) that some of the publishers will pull stock for the chains and online vendors before they'll fill orders for the independents. This is where your "out of stock" and "out of stock indefinitely" statements come from publishers on books that were just published, but are magically available from the chains or the onlines. This was also one of many arguments put forward by the independents when Barnes & Noble attempted to purchase Ingram's.

I think that if you poll most independents, you'll find that all that's wanted is a level playing field. As long as people want "the written word", in whatever format, there's room for all types of vendors -- but only if everyone is treated the same by the industry.

Barb

Barbara Ruhmann
Text Buyer
UCD Bookstore
University of California
2828 Cowell Blvd.
Davis, CA 95616
Phone 530-752-5538
Fax 530-752-4791
e-mail brruhmann[_at_]ucdavis.edu
http://www-bookstore.ucdavis.edu/ Received on Mon Aug 09 1999 - 16:11:44 GMT