COST CUTTING!

One of the main reasons is, it cuts down the time an Employee needs to spend in receiving, entering the shipment into the system, calling the customer.. etc.

secondly - refused books. Just about EVERY single store has customer that order books just for the hell of it - thinking they can get it into the “system” Or they THINK they need or want the book.. since they could not actually see the book, as it was not something we carried. THEN telling us, oh, sorry no not the one I want.. - so now I wanna order this one.

Special Orders were more abusive than conducive. Often times customers would order books that were non-returnable to the publishers.. thus leaving us with dead stock.

Now onto the the Dot.Com. It never ceases to amaze me how needy people are. Ideally the dot.com is a perfect idea - but poorly executed. customers still need help ordering books. For some reason, even the most tech savvy of customers still have trouble with ordering.

And then the option to have the book sent to your home or the store. Why? Why do they need to have it sent to the store? @ mine, we have a dozen or so orders that are paid for, but have not been picked up. It boggles the brain.

Borders isn’t a library, dude, it’s a bookstore. It’s behavior like this that causes shops to close down.

They have to go to their father, mother, brother or whoever and borrow their credit card. But it’ s the option, when you ask your mother for 30 for a video game or 30 for 2 of your new favorite CDs. You’ re probably going to go after the video game…

By claiming (patently falsely) that all 700 of them “resigned voluntarily” Borders is trying to make them inelligible to receive Stimulus help. Nice job, Borders!

I really enjoyed my one trip to Powell’s a few years ago, but I didn’t see anyplace where you could sit and look at a book you just grabbed off the shelf. (not counting the rare books room upstairs) I took it to mean that you browsed and then got out, since it was a very crowded Saturday afternoon when I was there and there was lots of patron rotation.

Sure they do. Maybe the people who run the big chain bookstores don’t understand the economics of capitalism since they allow people to spend all day in their stores reading books instead of buying them.

You think that’s what’s gonna happen if Borders fails? Poor deluded little girl. I love mom & pop stores, but a big box failure won’t give them any more footing to prosper and multiply.

People should get used to saying:

“Borders used to be my favorite book store.”

The Barnes & Noble where I worked (I’m now at the home office) strongly encouraged customers to pay in advance for special orders (we matched the online price). We offered free delivery, even to the store, and with the automatic email notice, allowed our special orders clerk to concentrate on institutional orders. (We have two bookcases behind cashwrap dedicated to special orders.) It also is more efficient, as the prepaid special order titles are shipped separately from the general store stock (which can consist of 200 boxes delivered each day).

As one of those crazy booksellers, I did whatever I could to connect a person with a book. I’d call specialized bookstores like the Drama Bookshop or Jim Hanley’s Universe. I’d recommend the public library. I’d suggest foreign language bookstores and cultural centers. I even recommended BOL.com (who once owned part of our website) as a gateway to a plethora of continental languages (sadly, it’s now just Dutch).

My store at Lincoln Center is a special case. We have a neighborhood which is affluent. We have a neighbor (Lincoln Center) which attracts cultured individuals and tourists. Our DVD and Music department is staffed by walking encyclopedias who know the stock and love sharing their expertise with others. (The same can be said of other departments in the store.)

And yes, I and my colleagues grew tired of the regulars who would use us as a library. I never minded a customer who took a book to the cafe, as I knew they were buying SOMETHING. What I couldn’t stand were the researchers who somehow didn’t understand the economics of capitalism (and copyright law).

April 15 is the next doomsday for Borders, as Pershing Square’s loan deadline approaches.

For example, Borders can’t beat online seller or Target/Walmart prices on CDs & DVDs (or piracy), so they’re phasing out multimedia & putting more emphasis on bargain books.

As for special orders, they’ve switched to a system where customers & employees order books from Borders.com (paying upfront). I love it. I’d say at least 70% of people would special order items and never pick them up, which was a waste of time & money.

Now, people pay upfront, eliminating the paranoiacs, as Orwell called them. You can pay cash (whoever helped Steve was wrong), and can have purchases under $25 shipped to your local store for free (over $25 & it’s free shipping anywhere).

The new system’s also driving traffic to Borders’ website (years too late, but still). Too bad Borders.com isn’t priced competitively with other online sellers, as any customer can figure out with a few clicks.

I agree with whoever said it, B&N has a better discount program: more straightforward, easier for the consumer. I also agree that Borders’ selection is too conservative (the manga section’s pitiful), but I’m not sure how a more idiosyncratic collection would translate sales wise.

And, if Borders dies, Mom & Pop stores won’t replace them. Most people just want to spend as little as possible. We’re having the 50% off sale on multimedia, and I’ve heard people calling relatives to price check Amazon, even though everything’s already half price. That’s how it goes.

These are the days of fast falling dominos.

So no we won’t see mom and pop bookshops come back.

As a B&N employee I have to say the closing of any bookstore is never a good thing. I fear the closing of an entire chain may have a future effect on already dismal adult literacy rates.