Good e-Reader Store Advisory

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I'm sorry, but why wouldn't anyone want to buy from Amazon? Amazon IS a reputable retailer that will respond promptly if something goes wrong with a delivery/order and will do what it can to make it right.

I don't get people's irrational hatred of Amazon.

I don't either. I'm just tying to say that its fine with me if people don't want to buy from Amazon. It's no skin off my back. I don't personally care where they buy from. I'm not sure why my post on this has people believing I'm somehow anti-Amazon.

My point was; "You don't want to buy from Amazon? That's fine by me. But why take a risk on fly-by-night online stores that have plenty of negative reviews if you but look first?"

[Apache]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I'm sorry, but why wouldn't anyone want to buy from Amazon? Amazon IS a reputable retailer that will respond promptly if something goes wrong with a delivery/order and will do what it can to make it right.

I don't get people's irrational hatred of Amazon.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I don't either. I'm just tying to say that its fine with me if people don't want to buy from Amazon. It's no skin off my back. I don't personally care where they buy from. I'm not sure why my post on this has people believing I'm somehow anti-Amazon.

My point was; "You don't want to buy from Amazon? That's fine by me. But why take a risk on fly-by-night online stores that have plenty of negative reviews if you but look first?"

I agree. People can buy from whomever they want, but you should at least make sure that they are legit. All large companies are run to make maximum profit. Everything else is secondary. If you aren't going to buy from Amazon because of their business practices, then you are probably going to not want to buy from any other large multinational company. Most have the same business philosophy.
Apache

[Courant]

Originally Posted by Apache

I agree. People can buy from whomever they want, but you should at least make sure that they are legit. All large companies are run to make maximum profit. Everything else is secondary. If you aren't going to buy from Amazon because of their business practices, then you are probably going to not want to buy from any other large multinational company. Most have the same business philosophy.
Apache

Corporations big and small are legally required to priotize shareholder's interests, but large companies and especially ones like Amazon that practically have a monoply are more capable of neglecting profit, especially in the short term. I have seen a lot of people lose money because they ordered a product from a small business that went bust.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Courant

Corporations big and small are legally required to priotize shareholder's interests, ...

How true is this?

Is this for all global jurisdictions?

If a corporation has company bylaws that say they will prioritize environmental concerns, or employee safety, ... does shareholder interests override company bylaws?

I was just curious, so did a quick google.

[John F]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I'm sorry, but why wouldn't anyone want to buy from Amazon? Amazon IS a reputable retailer that will respond promptly if something goes wrong with a delivery/order and will do what it can to make it right.

I don't get people's irrational hatred of Amazon.

How about people who are boycotting Amazon due to DRM practices?

[Gormagon]

What has Amazon to do with the Good E-Reader Store? Nothing. Can we please go back to the topic.
Maybe someone can open a new thread about how evil, good or neutral Amazon really is in one's opinion.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by John F

How about people who are boycotting Amazon due to DRM practices?

There are many cogent reasons to boycott Amazon; it's hardly irrational although I don't boycott it myself. But to carry it to the extent of ordering from a dubious company with a history of stiffing buyers as the only alternative to an Amazon purchase really is nuts. Of the three options -- ignoring one's principles, making an iffy pricey purchase, doing without* -- the second is the only irrational choice.

*This, of course, is an element in a fourth sound strategy: waiting and seeing.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Gormagon

What has Amazon to do with the Good E-Reader Store? Nothing. Can we please go back to the topic.
Maybe someone can open a new thread about how evil, good or neutral Amazon really is in one's opinion.

I merely mentioned Amazon in passing. So far as I can tell, your earlier post was the first to deviate into personal opinions thereof.

[John F]

Originally Posted by issybird

There are many cogent reasons to boycott Amazon; it's hardly irrational although I don't boycott it myself. But to carry it to the extent of ordering from a dubious company with a history of stiffing buyers as the only alternative to an Amazon purchase really is nuts. Of the three options -- ignoring one's principles, making an iffy pricey purchase, doing without* -- the second is the only irrational choice.

*This, of course, is an element in a fourth sound strategy: waiting and seeing.

Sure, but there is usually a sliding scale: how iffy, price, wants.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Courant

Corporations big and small are legally required to priotize shareholder's interests, but large companies and especially ones like Amazon that practically have a monoply are more capable of neglecting profit, especially in the short term. I have seen a lot of people lose money because they ordered a product from a small
business that went bust.

Originally Posted by John F

How true is this?

Is this for all global jurisdictions?

If a corporation has company bylaws that say they will prioritize environmental concerns, or employee safety, ... does shareholder interests override company bylaws?

I was just curious, so did a quick google.

At least in the US, corporations are not legally required to maximize shareholder profits or interests. If they were Costco would be in trouble. Costco places customers and employees over shareholders.

1) Directors and officers owe a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the corporation and its stockholders as a whole, rather than having a strict legal mandate to squeeze out every possible dollar for shareholders

2) Courts give corporate boards a wide amount of freedom under the Business Judgment Rule. As long as a board makes informed, rational decisions without a conflict of interest, judges will not second-guess choices that might lower short-term profits or balance stakeholder interests.

3) A legal obligation to maximize immediate shareholder value does typically trigger in specific situations—such as when a company is up for sale, entering a merger, or undergoing an imminent change of corporate control.

Apache

[theducks]

Originally Posted by John F

How about people who are boycotting Amazon due to DRM practices?

DRM applies to clothing? Yard tools?
I simply stopped buying e-books that I could no longer read on a device of my choice. There are others that do sell books (although some authors I was reading no longer sell me books due to their choice of contract terms)

[Apache]

Originally Posted by theducks

DRM applies to clothing? Yard tools?
I simply stopped buying e-books that I could no longer read on a device of my choice. There are others that do sell books (although some authors I was reading no longer sell me books due to their choice of contract terms)

I do this also. My not buying from a company may not change their operating procedures, but if enough people do so it can. I do not believe this will happen, but it can.
Apache

[John F]

Originally Posted by theducks

DRM applies to clothing? Yard tools?
...

Different strokes for different folks. For example:

Well I remember posting not long ago about how I was going to stop using Amazon altogether as removal of D&T was the last straw for me. I also remember how a lot of comments on that thread amounted to 'you can't live without Amazon, you'll be back' or 'just keep Amazon as you will need it in the future' - surprising how opinions seemed to have changed!

I would guess for most of the world it boils down to convenience, those extra few clicks needed to purchase and read an ebook from another supplier is too much hassle.

I've found getting rid of my Amazon account (6 months ago now) has been easy, I have not missed out on anything, and have been able to purchase everything I've wanted from other places, it can be done

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by John F

How about people who are boycotting Amazon due to DRM practices?

Still no reason for irrational hatred. I no longer buy Amazon books, but I wouldn't be able to keep house without being able to order products from them to have them delivered. I do not drive/have a car.

If you do your research like I did back in 2009, it was very easy to see that they were a walled garden, and I had heard all about the whole 1984 debacle.

So that is what solidified my choice to get a Sony reader, now I have a Kobo. I also scrupulously immediately download all of my books to my pc, so that I never have to worry about them disappearing from the bookstore. The stores even tell you themselves that you should do so. If you didn't take time to read the fine print, or simply decide to be lazy and not do the smart thing that protects your investment in your bought and paid for books that is on you.

I'm sure that EVERY business out there has some kind of practice that you can find to object to and boycott. Businesses are in it to make money, for that matter so are we, I know I didn't work for free!

I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face, so long as the stores provide what I need and I'm will to pay their prices then that's all that matter.

[DNSB]

My main reason for no longer ordering as much from Amazon is simply that on many items, they no longer have a lower price. Delivery is available from pretty much all the major retailers in my area so that is not a consideration.

As for my choice in ereaders, it mostly came down to price. At the time I purchased my first ereader, Kobo has just introduced their ereaders and the pricing was well under Amazon ($149 Cdn comapared to $259 US (~270Cdn) plus I liked the idea of using the open ePub standard. The Nook was never a consideration since B&N never sold them officially in Canada and their announcement of opening a Canadian presence proved to be vapourware.

Oddly, shortly after that introduction, Amazon introduced their new Kindle 2 WiFi for $139 US and B&N introduced their WiFi only Nook at $149 US. By then, I was pretty much embedded into ePub using Sigil as an editor and calibre for managing my ebook collection.