Comments on: Gift Cards

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:15:24 +0000

Every card is different, with different rules and different procedures. I’m going back to checks and avoid these problems, even if some think the cards are less “tacky” or something.

By: ellroon

ellroon — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 05:53:39 +0000

Some gift cards don’t keep track of what is on it, so I’ve started keeping the last receipt wrapped around it in my wallet. I think Borders allows you to use the gift cards as money in that you can use the coupons and specials with them. I don’t think they expire within a year, but am not sure because I always use the card within a few months. (Bought my xmas books with them this year: Valerie Plame’s book, Naomi Wolfe: The End of America, Naomi Klein: the Shock Doctrine)

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:27:33 +0000

Bezerkly is definitely different in a lot of ways. I have a nephew who graduated from UC Berkeley and I’ve been there a few times. They support independent stores, where most cities don’t.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:21:21 +0000

Well, I actually think before Borders & B&N came in to markets like Pittsburgh, the big discount chains like Atlantic Books and mall-store B. Dalton and Waldenbooks were practically all there were, and those were considerably worse. There’s still a couple good local bookstores around there, I remember a Mystery Bookstore in a little town called Oakmont. Lots of local nooks in different neighborhoods, anyhow.

Berkeley’s different in a lot of ways. Completely different, really. The idea of corporate culture is uniformity, that Pittsburgh and Berkeley should look the same is absurd.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:46:52 +0000

I don’t mind paying more for service, but most of these chains charge more for less.

Walden was eaten by Borders and is tied to Amazon.com, but they moved everything to Pensacola after a Booksamillion moved in and discounted prices for several months. Now Booksamillion charges full retail.

We do have a used bookstore, but it caters to the tourists. It was a good place to find Canadian books when we had a significant number of “Snowbirds”, but the Hedgemony has destroyed that.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:05:06 +0000

As a huge bibliophile and a graduate student in a discipline that runs on the printed word, I’ve gotta say I tend to prefer the online merchants to the locals. We had an independent bookstore in this town for a lot of years–and it folded the instant Barnes & Noble opened a small retail store clear on the other side of town, and Borders opened a larger one across the street from that B&N store. Didn’t even wait around to see if it could compete.

I tend to suspect that it couldn’t have, because I could never find anything I really wanted in that independent store anyway. They had a lot of whatever was most popular at the moment, but no real depth. The local B&N store is more oriented toward music and videos than books, so I hardly ever go in there–but I buy a ton of stuff from B&N online and happily pay the $25 membership fee each year, since I routinely save four or five times that much when I buy my textbooks or research materials.

I avoid Amazon because I don’t care for their joke of a privacy policy. However, Amazon’s foreign affiliates are about the only game in town if I want to buy French or German or Canadian books that I can’t get in this country. (And that happens fairly often.)

I don’t care for Borders online that much, since it’s effectively store-based. But I do patronize the local Borders from time to time. What I’d really like is a good used book store. We’ve had a couple over the years, but they’ve never been able to stay afloat–probably because they’ve been located too far away from the university for it to be convenient for students to get there. (I can recall at least two or three used bookstores within walking distance of campus in both Urbana-Champaign and Boulder, not to mention Hyde Park in Chicago.) But still, I doubt they’d be able to compete with the network at Alibris or ABEbooks. Bottom line–if I need the book, I’ll go where it’s most convenient to get it, and at a price I consider reasonable. If that’s a local emporium, great. If not, fine.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 06:13:27 +0000

I’m glad to hear it, because I’m really disheartened by the thought that all people want is low price or coffee shops when they go to a bookstore.

It’s nice to walk in and have someone you recognize tell you they have something you will probably be interested in looking at, if not buying. Or going to the register and having them reach under the counter and hand you another book that they saved for you because they knew you would come looking for it.

The BookchaiNs can kiss my grits.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 05:52:41 +0000

Here in Berkeley, a Bookstore chaiN opened across the street from a local bookseller, and failed. The local bookseller remains in business.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:40:08 +0000

I was spoiled by the Amazon procedure where you just dump it into your account and use it as necessary. What was really annoying is that I avoided book purchases after September and left hints for my Mother to parcel out regarding books I would like but haven’t bought, and I got the cards anyway. The cretins make approximately $8 billion dollars per year with this scheme. It really ticks me off. Most of the books I bought last year were work related and I needed to charge them to business expenses. I am really ticked off as I had a 30 mile round trip to find this out, and at $3.13/gallon even in the Honda that adds up.

I really miss my Walden Books. I got discounts and coupons and book bags and special sales – all kinds of things – and now I’m stuck with this Bookstore ChaiN. The ‘Net has good prices, but I like to browse.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:07:13 +0000

i made the mistake of giving those same gift cards one year. there wasn’t a problem with the expiration date, we’re a bookish family after all, but that internet vs store thingy caused the recipients some aggravation.