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Originally Posted by DNSB
The costs for the staff, etc. are not that easily variable or as you phrased it, "chiseled in stone". The majority of the libraries in the province are unionized which makes it much harder for the management to do staff cuts on an ad hoc basis while the costs for the physical plant are a fixed and sunk cost with the number of staff, books, etc. having little effect.
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I was thinking in my last post to say that I hoped any staff cuts, due to automation of library staff jobs, would be by attrition. So I will say it now. I'll also mention that labor contracts are something to consider in the total cost of ownership of an eBook. If moving to eBooks is too rapid, external costs like labor strife will escalate.
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Originally Posted by DNSB
Once again, the prices for library ebooks has nothing to do with Overdrive or any other ebook services supplier. The publishers are the ones setting the price for the ebooks being sold to libraries.
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You are correct, taken literally. However, my understanding is that Overdrive and competitors charge libraries fees in addition to what they pay for individual books. I suppose you may say that this makes it an even more egregious example of gouging than you were previously claiming. But this is why I never claimed that eBooks are cheaper for the library than pbooks. There are lots of hidden costs all around.
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Originally Posted by DNSB
When you head over to your local Ford dealership, do you blame the dealership for Ford's MSRP?
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Strange example.