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Amazon Forbids Crossing State Lines With Rented Textbooks
New submitter Galaga88 writes "In what is probably another attempt to evade charging sales tax, Amazon's terms of use through Warehouse Deals forbids crossing state lines with certain rented textbooks. The penalty for doing so? Retroactive forced purchase of the book. At least it's yours to keep afterwards. 'Some experts believe the policy is another reflection of the extreme lengths to which the company continues to go in order to avoid collecting state sales taxes. But could Amazon’s use restriction and other complicated rental conditions cause problems for students or lead potential textbook renters to take their business elsewhere? It seems like a policy that would be nearly impossible to enforce. But Richard Hershman, vice president of government relations at the National Association of College Stores, points out that if a student has textbooks sent to her home state and ships them back from a different state where she attends college, Amazon could easily note the new shipping location.'"
Unless the textbook is 18-years old. Allowances will be made if you're only two or three years younger than the textbook.
Rumor has it that there are electronic devices that do calculations fast and can be "programmed" to perform repetitive tasks. Soon the day of a clerk manually entering in the correct tax rate from a stack of index cards will be over.