Local high school hands out 2,100 Kindles to students

[RDaneel54]

If you'd like to hear a couple of interviews with the gentleman running the program for the school, listen to the Kindle Chronicles podcast. About a month ago they had the first interview that discussed how the program was worked out with Amazon. Then last Friday was a follow-up about how it's working out with the teachers, parents and students involved.

I think it's a great idea to keep our children on the cutting edge of technology on all fronts. The school district spent a lot of time on preparing for this and is constantly working with the publishers to ensure the books work on the Kindle.

Dean

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

If you'd like to hear a couple of interviews with the gentleman running the program for the school, listen to the Kindle Chronicles podcast. About a month ago they had the first interview that discussed how the program was worked out with Amazon. Then last Friday was a follow-up about how it's working out with the teachers, parents and students involved.

I think it's a great idea to keep our children on the cutting edge of technology on all fronts. The school district spent a lot of time on preparing for this and is constantly working with the publishers to ensure the books work on the Kindle.

Dean

Did they say why they paid such a high price for each device?

[jbcohen]

Yes, it is true that public schools are considered to be government and therefore do not pay taxes, however there is a but here. 1) Public schools are state government not federal and as such pay federal taxes not state taxes; 2) The school must prove to the merchant that they do not have to pay taxes, its not up to the merchant to police this, the school must provide a Tax ID number that proves that they are tax except (Amazon would then be required to verify that ID Number by loging onto IRS.gov which has a database of all of these numbers.) Private schools are not tax exempt in any way and need to pay the taxes.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Did they say why they paid such a high price for each device?

Uh, they actually got a small discount for each device. I'd say that's pretty standard when you order 2000 or so units. That may seems like a huge number to you, but it's hardly going to get you a 50% discount on a device that is obviously already selling with at razor-thin margins. They are what, half the cost of what they were 6-12 months ago?

Not to mention that $175 will get you what, 3 textbooks? Maybe 4?

Keep in mind that Amazon apparently is doing a few custom tasks for the school, including preventing students from changing the accounts of the devices

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Uh, they actually got a small discount for each device. I'd say that's pretty standard when you order 2000 or so units. That may seems like a huge number to you, but it's hardly going to get you a 50% discount on a device that is obviously already selling with at razor-thin margins. They are what, half the cost of what they were 6-12 months ago?

Not to mention that $175 will get you what, 3 textbooks? Maybe 4?

Keep in mind that Amazon apparently is doing a few custom tasks for the school, including preventing students from changing the accounts of the devices

A 10.8% discount is not much. It should've been larger.

[corona]

Another pedagogical gimmick. No wonder learning is in such bad shape.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

A 10.8% discount is not much. It should've been larger.

Dude. Seriously. 2500 units, with at best one sale like that per year, is not a lot of units. 10% is a decent discount.

And again, back in June 2010 -- you know, 3 months before news of this got out -- a Kindle 2 was still $260.

Sure it'd be great if we lived in a world where you could get a 50% discount for buying more than 20 widgets, but that's not how the real world typically works. Sorry.

[SpiderMatt]

And economy of scale only works up to a point. Amazon is not going to sell below cost and I would not expect or want them to.

[eGeezer]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

...Amazon is not going to sell below cost and I would not expect or want them to.

Uh-huh. Yep. We all believe $139 is waaaaaay above cost.

There can't be any doubt in any intelligent person's mind that Amazon was contemplating the price drop for more that a full week its the announcement, and most probably well before 3 months ago, so there is really no reason a more significant discount couldn't have resulted.

Certainly not 50%, but 20% would have made them look pretty good at the time, and not so predatory now.

I don't even bother to go look at a "sale" of 10% because it is a token offer. Worthwhile if you were thinking of buying, anyway, but nothing to warrant a waste gas or energy just for its own sake.

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by eGeezer

Uh-huh. Yep. We all believe $139 is waaaaaay above cost.

Who is this "we?" As far as I can tell, not a lot of people believe Amazon is making huge profits off the hardware right now.

Plus, if you really think the only costs for an item are what a teardown website claims, then clearly you've never run a business. Even though Amazon doesn't have to pay a retailer, it does have to pay taxes, inventory, shipping, support, warranty repairs, marketing, advertising and so forth.

Originally Posted by eGeezer

There can't be any doubt in any intelligent person's mind that Amazon was contemplating the price drop for more that a full week its the announcement....

Considering that Amazon made the announcement a few hours after B&N dropped the price of the Nook, there's plenty of reason to doubt it.

Nor does that really matter. If I'm selling a widget, and someone wants a one-time large order, I'm not going to base a discount price off of what I might charge 3 months down the road.

And again, the price dropped significantly just a few months ago. I'm fairly confident that Amazon's costs did not fall by 50% in the last 3 months....

Originally Posted by eGeezer

I don't even bother to go look at a "sale" of 10% because it is a token offer.

You also don't buy 2,000 Kindles at a single time.

If they saved $15 off of each one, that's a $30,000 discount off the order. I'd say that's pretty significant.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by corona

Another pedagogical gimmick. No wonder learning is in such bad shape.

that's a fairly harsh statement, why do you say that?

[eGeezer]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Who is this "we?" As far as I can tell, not a lot of people believe Amazon is making huge profits off the hardware right now.

Kinda missed the point, there. I guess I shouldn't have attempted humor.
I WAS saying the $139 price is below their cost (and they are making up the losses in ebook sales).

... I'm fairly confident that Amazon's costs did not fall by 50% in the last 3 months....

I never said Amazon's costs EVER fell by ANY amount. I merely suggested that they probably already knew they were considering dropping the prices, and a 20% discount wouldn't have been unreasonable with that in view -- even tho no one else knew it was in the works.

You also don't buy 2,000 Kindles at a single time.

No, I don't. But if as an individual unit buyer I find 10% a worthless discount, then as a large-quantity purchaser I would find it insulting, and really don't see how the sale was ever agreed to, except that like all public officials, they are only spending tax dollars, so its not costing anything to begin with.

If they saved $15 off of each one, that's a $30,000 discount off the order. I'd say that's pretty significant.

On the other hand, using that figure, you assume a retail cost of $150 per unit and I would consider a remaining balance of $270,000 a lot MORE significant.

I'm just saying Amazon would have looked better giving a better discount in light of the probability that Amazon knew the price would be dropping soon.