Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald
The idea of getting rid of merchandise once the initial rush of sales has faded to make room for what will hopefully be the next product with a rush of sales pervades the entire retail industry. Modern retailers don't give the north end of a southbound furry rodent about the needs of their consumers. All they care about are quick profits. It's called greed.
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Profits are how a business remains in business -- it's not greed, it's what enables them to pay their employees and keep their shareholders and investors happy. And if they
don't have the newest latest book, their competitor will, and then they've lost business. And since physical bookstore only have a finite amount of space, it makes sense that they carry what sells. It's all quite logical.
BUT. I get so frustrated when I walk into a bookstore and can't find a book. I mostly read scifi, and the scifi section of my local bookstores are incredibly small. Nearly every time I go in there, I'm told "well, we can order that for you"... no thanks. I'll just order from Amazon and have it shipped directly to my house. And if I do that, it's just as likely to be a used book, so the publisher still isn't making money off me.
I think Print on Demand (POD) services could really change this. No, I don't want you to order the book for me, but yeah, I'll browse for 15 minutes more while I wait on my book to be printed. Back catalogs would always be available, and they don't need to worry about shelf space.