4 ms·

Looks like the Amazon price is $16.79, and this customer chose to pay the full MSRP of $27.95 to buy from another store.

• username223 11y ago
  For that same $11, he could have gone to see a movie and bought a pack of gum. Who's to say which is a better deal?
  • doggydogs94 11y ago
    I would say the book is a better use of the $11.
    • lkbm 11y ago
      The $11 wasn't for the book. $16.79 was for the book. The $11 was for the independent bookstore subsidy.
    • askafriend 11y ago
      That's not the point...he can have both the book and the additional items described above.
  • Implicated 11y ago
    A movie for less than $11? Where?
    • cdubzzz 11y ago
      Pretty much anywhere on a Sunday before noon.
    • username223 11y ago
      Most places, as far as I can tell: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/movie-ticket-prices-record-high-2015-summer-blockbusters-1201545600/
  • yummies 11y ago
    perhaps we can consider the $11 an "instant shipping" fee
• abarrettjo 11y ago
  You could argue that these are not actually fungible products, that when buying from the independent store you are also paying for a public good - the existence of independent stores.
  • lemevi 11y ago
    The book is the same where ever you buy it. You could buy the book at Amazon's price and donate the difference to the indie bookstore and the indie store would likely make more from that donation than from you having it bought from their store, and you'd still get Amazon's free shipping.
    • idlewords 11y ago
      Small businesses are generally not set up to accept donations, and it may be significant that the publisher records the sale as having gone through independent channels vs. Amazon. Message board theorizing aside, the best way to support independent businesses is to do business with them.
      • lemevi 11y ago
        For a business to succeed it has to provide value commensurate with the price it charges. If you can buy the books at independent bookstores at substantially lower prices elsewhere and you buy them at the indie anyways solely for the purpose of supporting them then that isn't doing business, that's charity. If your business is actually a charity, consider going non-profit. Non-profit places to get books already exist though, they're called libraries. Independent bookstores sell the same books for more than Amazon so they can't compete as a business and they cannot compete with the state sponsored information access the local library system provides. All that's left is to open up an overpriced coffee bar and serve the hipsters who find the irony of the bookstore's continued existence appealing enough to walk in the door. It's already amazing such stores survived Barnes & Nobles rise during the 90's and early 00's.
  • hakanensari 11y ago
    We could perhaps say the actual experience of shopping is not fungible. Normally, you'd find this person simply go to the indie store rather than showroom whatever multinational. Price here is secondary.
• crabasa 11y ago
  After the $75 gift certificate she actually came out ahead $47.05.
• mc32 11y ago
  Can someone explain the difference between this and not buying, say, locally made shoes, or clothes, rather than clothes made cheaper somewhere else? To me it's the same. You're supporting the people for whom you have some affinity by nationality, ethnicity, history, interaction, geography, etc. However, most people (with few exceptions) don't show the same favor for goods one could argue would benefit the local industry and our society (and also be contrarian to globalization) by buying the more expensively produced local or at least American [or native nation(ality) of shopper] goods? I'm not advocating for either, you do as you choose, but it seems a bit contradictory or maybe people identify more with the bookseller (who is just a middle person) rather then the cobbler or shoemaker, tailor or seamster/seamstress who actually physically make the things themselves.
  • peteretep 11y ago
    I think many people shop "ethically" because: * They don't trust working conditions abroad; Amazon is 'local'-ish labour too. I'm sure I've read online that their working conditions aren't amazing, but it's not a Bangladeshi garment sweat shop who are paying bribes to the local mafia... * They worry about the transportation costs on the environment. There's no particular reason to think that your local bookshop would be any better at reducing environmental impact than Amazon * Means of production and providence are important to people in food products and products made from natural materials - those don't really apply to fungible books that have come from the same producer * Keeping money locally in the community, with the idea that there will be some kind of trickle-down effect, or collateral benefit (like bookshops having reading events for kids) -- this seems to be the only really applicable part here, and I guess each consumer needs to ask if that's worth the extra cash for them
    • mc32 11y ago
      I understand the why [nice rundown]. What I don't understand so much is why people do this in practice for some kids of goods but not others. It's not as if local shoemakers are having a new golden age [Oak Street, excepted], or knifemakers or garment makers (tailors, seamstresses). A shoemaker moreover would have more involvement [manufacture] than a mere "merchant" which is what booksellers are.