Slashdot Mirror
The Price of Amazon
An anonymous reader writes "As physical book stores continue to struggle and disappear, the NY Times puts the changing book industry into perspective as a cost of the existence of Amazon. Further, it's a cost that hasn't been fully paid, as other effects of Amazon's ascendancy have yet to be felt. Quoting: 'One consequence of this shift is that soon no one will know what a book's "real" price is. Price will be determined by demand and perhaps by whim. The first seeds of this can be seen in the Justice Department's suit against the leading publishers, who felt that Amazon was pricing their e-books so low that it threatened their viability. The government accused the publishers of colluding to raise prices in an anti-consumer move. Amazon was not a party to the case, but it emerged the big winner.' Economists, publishers, and readers no longer have confidence that a book will cost the same amount this week as it did the last."
Economists, publishers, and readers no longer have confidence that a book will cost the same amount this week as it did the last.
Breaking news: prices of goods change based on supply and demand. Film at 11.
Brick and mortar stores are doing just fine killing themselves on the electronics front.
Just a couple weeks ago i wanted a usb cable. Nothing fancy... a to b. 3 foot.
I wanted it now. So i hit all the stores as i was out that day. they either didn't have it. or in the case of staples... it was $34. thirty four fucking dollars for a 3 foot piece of cable. (not even a monster cable)
After a loud 'FUCK THAT'. I went and got it from newegg. took 2 days total. price. $3 Thats even with state sales tax since newegg has a place in my state.
And places like staples are actually wondering why nobody goes there anymore... they really can't figure it out.
Fail on price? Check. Fail on stock? Check. Fail on service? Check. Fail on convience? Check.
If these phsyical stores wan't to stay open. They're going to have to step up to the plate in a big way on one of those points... But so far... nope. nobody has.
And bookstores are the same. Plus they get to compete with ebooks too. Can i bring my reader to their store and walk out with an ebook loaded? Nope. Fail.
amazon wasn't selling below cost. amazon was selling books at low margin.
The thing is regular bookstores have massive overhead, and old publishers where using that to keep thing artificially inflated. Why does an ebook cost more than a regular book?
You have to pay the writer the same, you have to pay the editor the same, you have to give a publisher their same pie, but you no longer have to pay multiple levels of distribution, shipping, printing, storage, inventory costs. that right there is 20-40% of the price of a book.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.