Currency Parity and Your Bookstore and You

[leahbobet]

Okay. So twice within the hour today I have seen posts on LJ and/or groups on Facebook* advocating not buying books at Canadian retailers who will not sell at the US cover price. Specifically, going in, demanding that the book be sold at the US price, and trying to pay in US funds at that price** or making other kinds of stink if the clerk says no, or informing them that because they will not accede to your demands, you will purchase at Amazon. Possibly when you had every intention of purchasing at Amazon.

I am here to tell you that there are two broad kinds of activism in this world: those that promote change and those that are an excuse to act like an asshole.

This is the latter.

People have explained this until they're blue in the face (typing fingers):

1) Publishers set prices.
2) The books are sold at a fixed discount from the publisher, through the distributor, to the bookseller. For most of our distributors at the bookstore, that is about 40%. Our profit margin as a business is defined by the rest of the distribution chain.
3) Bookstores, by and large, therefore do not exactly have a huge profit margin. Nobody's in this for the money, even Heather Reisman. She already has some.
4) If you, the customer, do this and were to get your way, the bookstore would be fucked. Its profit margin is set by outside forces, but those same forces don't set the rent it has to pay, staffing hours, hydro, the free food you get when you come to events, toiletpaper, and other necessities.
5) No clerk in Canada is going to say yes to that proposition and you know it.

Therefore?

This is not efficient activism, it's looking around to be nasty to people who can't hit back.

If your sensibilities as a customer are actually outraged at the lack of parity between Canadian and American prices on all kinds of goods at the moment (and yes, there is a degree to which they should be), here is what you should do to actually make a difference:

1) Write your MP a strongly worded letter saying that, as a constituent, you are not happy with how this government is enforcing your right to pay fair prices for product.
2) Write the publishers and say the same, as it is they who set the prices.
3) If you were planning on just buying online anyway? Just do it and that's all. Don't go into a store to pick on someone who you know has no say in the decision. If you held food in front of a cat and snatched it away, having never intended to feed it, they would pick you up for animal abuse. It's not okay for people behind counters either.
4) Consider, while this situation hopefully corrects, that there are things you get from a bookstore that you don't get online: the ability to browse, to be put on the trail of new authors or books. Expert opinion. That trick we do where you give me three authors you like and I find you something you've never heard of before, that you will like. Just as people fall down assuming that books are interchangeable commodity products (they aren't), methods of purchase for your books are not interchangeable either.

If you go into a business and pull that act and have not done any of the four above things? Well. You now know what I think of you.

So, in short?

Remember: Activist and Asshole both start with A, but that doesn't make them the same.

*Okay, I heard tell of that, I don't venture into Facebook.
**Won't work.

Comments

[mekkavandexter.livejournal.com]

not being contrary, but a couple comic book stores here sell the graphic novel/trade collections at the US cover price due to the disparity, I assume they *must* make money, but I always wondered how.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- the difference is that comics are mostly supplied through Diamond, who does not take returns. So when a comics store has bought something from a distributor (the one distributor who does comics), they have bought it for good. It's sell it (at whatever price) or have it sit forever.

Because with book distributors there is the longstanding ability to return stock, a lot of a bookstore's business model is tied up in credit with the distributors. So...purchasing is done under the assumption that one can always return what doesn't sell within the time period the distributor allows for that format, not under the assumption that it's yours for good.

It makes more financial sense for a comics store to do this and move the inventory, even if they're taking a hit on the profit margin, than a bookstore. A bookstore can just return the damn things for full value, and has done their ordering back a year ago so that they have enough stock on hand that selling it at 77% of the cover price they bought it at would seriously, seriously hurt.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Having run a store for 17 years before the career change, I would never do that to a clerk. That said, Canadian stores have to find some way to compete with online stores in the US or those customers who are internet-savvy will take their money elsewhere.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Here's an earlier discussion in which an editor of a major publisher points fingers at Canada's government for being the problem.

http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/921850.html

(If you can't see it, I will go unlock when I get home tonight)

Note that up until the early 2000s, the Canadian cover price often worked out to less than the US cover price.

Honest, I am not colonizing your LJ

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I'd completely forgotten the part where if you buy Canadian, the author's share is cut in two.

Re: Honest, I am not colonizing your LJ

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Is it? This I haven't heard.

Re: Honest, I am not colonizing your LJ

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

For some historical reason [1], a lot of authors get, say, 10% royalties in the US and 5% for books sold in Canada. This can be renegotiated, if the agent thinks of/is aware of it.

1: A reason that was explained to me, although apparently not one that I recall.

Re: Honest, I am not colonizing your LJ

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

...interesting. I will file that away for if/when I get a novel contract.

Re: Honest, I am not colonizing your LJ

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Rob Sawyer is one author who has it renegotiated, I expect, and he would probably know the reason why reduced royalties for books sold in Canada became common practice. At least, he seems to pay close attention to the business of being a writer.

Re: Honest, I am not colonizing your LJ

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I think I shall inquire with him next time he's in the store, then.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that's The Gummint, personally. I mean yes, I do expect a bit of a price disparity because the publisher has to cover shipping across borders, tariffs, and warehousing with a Canadian distributor. But I think there are definite advantages to having a Canadian distributor, with Canadian offices and Canadian reps. Our Fenn and Random House reps know this market cold. So I am somewhat sympathetic and willing to pay a little more to cover that.

Some are coming down. Random House has given us higher discounts on a batch of their titles with the proviso that we pass along the discount, but it's only by about 5-10%. So really the most we can mark something down is $1.50 under that.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

What tariffs apply to books? Mulroney applied the GST to books, apparently hoping that discouraging literacy would keep the PCs in power longer [1], but I thought the FTA removed tariffs and duties on books imported from the US.

1: I assume much the same logic was why when the US did something annoying with softwood, the Chin-That-Walks slapped the FST on imported books in retaliation.

I am at a loss as to why they thought applying it to feminine hygiene products would be a good idea, unless Wilson wanted what happened when he explained that such goods are not necessities to happen.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I am at a loss as to why they thought applying it to feminine hygiene products would be a good idea, unless Wilson wanted what happened when he explained that such goods are not necessities to happen.

Aheh.

I am likely mistaken re: the tariffs thing -- I was under the impression there were import duties, but you're right, FTA would cancel that out.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Well, online stores anywhere. The reason I always give for why people should show up in my store instead of an online store is that we know the stock cold. Amazon can give you logarithmic recommendations, but we can give you good recommendations based on knowledge of the field. *g*

I'm not objecting to a necessity to compete. I'm objecting to people coming into stores just to be dicks.

[delta-november.livejournal.com]

"Algorithmic," I think. :)

Heh. I have a sudden desire to construct a steampunk book-vending machine full of logarithmic cams with a Nixie tube ISBN display. It will sell only H.G. Wells.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Yup. Misspoke (mistyped?), sorry.

And were you to do this, I would wholeheartedly 1) support that and 2) buy one for all my friends. *g*

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

One coping mechanism is to focus on books that US suppliers have no or poor access to [1], specifically British books. As far as I know, we get quite a deal on UK imports because Canadians would not pay the prices the British do for books. Also, I think the fallout from the collapse of GDS has settled and lines that were temporarily without a Canadian distributor now have made new deals.

1: Although there is Trafalgar Square Publishing, once of Vermont and now of Chicago.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- we do a steady trade in authors like Banks and Tom Holt and in Orbit editions, and it's a great help.

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

"I think the fallout from the collapse of GDS has settled and lines that were temporarily without a Canadian distributor now have made new deals."

Y'know, I'm not so sure about this. I'd love to see numbers on how most publishers are doing pre and post GDS. 'Course, that's impossible, but I'm mighty curious all the same.

Von

[retrobabble.livejournal.com]

Huh, I never assumed going elsewhere; I thought it was simply time for a reminder to get to the keyboards and start writing to the publishers.

Including me. :)

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hee. Well yes, that is #2.

Some people are being less logical about it.

[katallen.livejournal.com]

And then there's the probability that some prices will be dictated by deals made many months ago and a change in the exchange rate won't make any difference. (As a not exactly relevant example, last winter gas pirces in the UK were hiked up because of deals made during the summer... although the price of gas had fallen considerably in the intervening months).

And if people are trying to pay in US funds, are they taking into account the commission fees for a shop converting those funds? People seem to have the odd idea that once into a till money turns into electrons, but a shop has to collect that cash and transport it to a bank -- in a form the bank will accept. There are some shops in the UK accept euros because they have special banking arrangements -- mostly because they're heavily into airports or have branches abroad, but nothing a bank does for a business is free.

And, so far as Amazon goes, possibly US Canadian credit card transactions don't have an attached fee, but the majority of credit cards in the UK charge currency conversion fees or simply have a conversion rate which is slightly higher/lower than the market's -- like paypal. So there's the possibility of the Amazon price being exactly the same in both currencies, but the credit card billing amount *not* being entirely equivalent anyhow.

I get more annoyed by *Amazon* hiking prices up for no reason but that their postage prices are exhorbitant, so directly ordering the book at the cheaper price from the US doesn't save as much money as it should (and since Amazon must be importing in bulk... they really can't justify mark ups that appear to have them sending each book to the UK as if it were going media mail in it's own box). Err, yes... that does irk me :)

Yes, sometimes yelling at the man standing next to you is the right knee-jerk reaction to having your arm jostled and your drink spilled... but if he stumbled against you because the local rugby club are doing a conga on his toes...

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

And if people are trying to pay in US funds, are they taking into account the commission fees for a shop converting those funds? People seem to have the odd idea that once into a till money turns into electrons, but a shop has to collect that cash and transport it to a bank

I think the problem is that people do not care what happens in the shop once they're not the centre of attention in it, nor do they want to.

[katallen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Golden Goose syndrome and entitlement issues mix poorly.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

A more pressing issue is that US currency isn't legal tender in Canada. Canadian merchants will accept it but they are under no obligation to do so.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Aren't the Canadian and American dollars equivalent now?

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

They're at parity, yes. That's what's causing all this bullshit.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. Sorry, my brain wasn't working right for a moment.

It's amazing the number of ways Bush's presidency has managed to screw up people's lives... not even Canadian bookstores are safe!

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

The currency parity in and of itself is not a bad thing. It'll be a lot better once prices are adjusted and we're actually not paying so much for goods and services. That'll rock pretty hard.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Except for those of us who freelance for American companies, in which case it's like having taken a 1/3rd pay cut.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yes. Used to be selling a story pro would take care of my bills for a month and a half, and that is no longer. But I won't mind that so hard if the purchasing power equalizes out.

[noizangel.livejournal.com]

I heard on CBC about a class action suit over cars; the difference there is they won't sell you a car in the US if you're from Canada. Or you can't get insured. Or something. Also: cars cost about 7000 dollars more here.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I think if the dollar stays this way there will indeed be changes. And there should be.

I just don't need people coming to my workplace to be jerks in the meantime because someone on the internet thought it'd be cool. :p

[mmarques.livejournal.com]

I love going to Bakka and getting recommendations. Was there last weekend and bought a book on msagarra's recommendation.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) That's what we hope to provide as the value-added, and it's nice to hear that it's worthwhile for people.

[cszego.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear!

Upthread, James Nicoll referred to the Big Darn Truth that until a couple years ago, the prices were very much in Canada's favour. From 2000-2003ish, a book that was 7.99 US and 9.99 Cdn was a steal on home territory. No one complained then.

Of course, bookstores still made only 40%. Sadly, currency rates don't affect our margin.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Upthread, James Nicoll referred to the Big Darn Truth that until a couple years ago, the prices were very much in Canada's favour.

I think having US producers give us a substantial discount for the honour of selling goods to Canadians is only fair.

I think most people do not automatically run currency conversions in their head, just like most people don't keep track of the Consumer Price Index. I am scarred for life by having taken economics in university and run an import-oriented business.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

For example, I know that the CPI is about five times higher now than in the early 1970s and that MMPK book prices are roughly twelve times what they were when I began buying books*, which means that books got more expensive than most other goods, relatively speaking.

At the same time, I know that that a 23" Quasar colour TV would run you about $500.00 (or ~670 MMPKs) in 1970, which is $2500.00 in current money. You can find something roughly the same down at Zehrs for less than $200.00, except the Zehrs model will have extras that didn't exist in 1970**. Consumer electronics are cheap.

* Book price inflation in the 1970s was particularly brutal: 75 cents (and if you were lucky and ran across an older MMPK, even as low as 50 cents) at the beginning of the decade and about $2.50 by the end of the 1970s.

** My TV is roughly 30 years old and apparently immortal as well being bulletproof on four of its sides, and the lack of places to plug in a dvd player has been an issue in the past.

[ex-fandrogy.livejournal.com]

Is there a way to tape up some of this post (or at least the sentiment of it) near the counter, to discourage general asshattery? Perhaps along with relevant addresses and phone numbers (ie MP's, publishers)?

I mean, a sign won't dissuade the true crazies, but it's at least something you can point to instead of explaining the same thing over and over.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I don't mind doing the asshattery-discouraging verbally, where I can state it in polite and concerned tones that will defuse the situation. We only did a sign once, and it said something like:

1) We don't sell maps/textbooks/new age/etc. etc.
2) We don't know when the next George R.R. Martin is coming out
3) Do not ask these questions.

We thought it was funny so it lasted a day or two, but really it wasn't that polite, and so we took it down.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Back in the dawn of time, Bakka had a sign that said something like "Although we have never seen Monty Python, we have heard all of their routines. Please do not read portions of The Complete Monty Python out loud in the store."

This would have been around the time that the store had a fairly unfriendly cat, one who was happy to demonstrate to me that it did not consider me a friend.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It's probably a bad idea to go out of the store's way to draw attention to the discrepancy between US and Canadian pricing.