[12797] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Book monopolies was Re: EFF and the T word
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Pat Farrell)
Sun May 29 05:49:39 1994
Date: Sat, 28 May 1994 15:20:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Pat Farrell" <pfarrell@netcom.com>
Reply-To: pfarrell@netcom.com
To: SROTH@ucsvax.ucs.umass.edu, com-priv@psi.com
Seth Rothberg <SROTH@ucsvax.ucs.umass.edu> writes:
> What fun it has been watching this flare build and die. Especially as
> some of the tinder was the misinformed assertion that libraries pay more
> for books and magazines than individuals.
>
> I can't speak for all libraries or about all the materials purchased at
> the public library at which I work, but we buy most of our books from
> Baker & Taylor and receive a substantial discount off the bookstore price.
The key question is not do you get a discount, but is the discount schedule
mandated by some governmental (or cartel) body. I did some consulting to
Baker and Taylor in the early 80s, and then, the prices/rates were
essentially fixed. It didn't matter which distributor you used, you
got the same price.
Is it a surprize then Crown Books offers a 30% discount on best sellers,
especially when the standard discounts to retail outlets is 40%? Can you
say accepting a low margin on some books to build traffic?
Pat
Pat Farrell Grad Student pfarrell@cs.gmu.edu
Department of Computer Science George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
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