Stu Hall's Soup

I’ve worked in a bookstore for about 18 months, which by most people’s measurement is more than a year. But “A Year In Books” sounds better, so I’m sticking with it. Most of the customers who come into the store pass through pleasantly and without incident. We have a few regular customers and they are usually a pleasure to deal with. I enjoy my job, despite it not being a financially rewarding choice.

Okay, so that’s the disclaimer out of the way.

Staring back in to the misty past of 2008 as I began working at a bookstore, I would be surprised on a daily basis at how ill informed customers were about a product (books!) that are a part of everyday life. We’re not selling complicated electrical components, mortgage packages or your next wife. It shouldn’t be painful, but some customers make it so.

We are not Walmart
Just because Walmart sell a few books, does not mean that as a bookstore we sell a few rolls of toilet paper, wholesale packages of diapers or boxes of Rock Band 2 for the XBox 360. While it is true that we sell a selection of journals, bookmarks, chocolates and the odd DVD movies (more on these extra items later) we are a bookstore. We sell books.

It is a bookstore, not the inside of The Tardis
We can hold a certain number of books in our store. This is generally governed by the walls that make up the building. We might try to fit more books into the store, but then there would be no room for customers. I admit that this sometimes seems like a good idea, but it doesn’t make business sense. Once ever year, we “optimise” the store. This means that some sections are going to get larger. Since space is finite, logic dictates that other areas are going to get smaller. It is HEAD OFFICE who decrypt all of the sales statistics and compare this to how much shelf space is assigned to a particular section (see later how our store is not the centre of the universe). Sections that are under performing are going to shrink to make way for sections that do well (but could do better with more stock).

As I said, these changes are based on sales statistics. It is essentially the customers who dictate how much stock we have in a particular genre, by a particular author or of a particular format based on their purchasing decisions. It is painfully common for a customer to come into the store and whinge that we don’t have a particular book by Terry Goodkind. We have half a shelf of his damn books, that’s a very large proportion of shelf space in a small store. It is also very common for customers to come into the store looking for classic literature. We have some. We don’t have much. To repeat my point in simple terms: We only sell what sells. That’s why we’re still in business.

A lack of organisation on your part, does not constitute an emergency on my part
“I want a text book to revise for my nursing exam, I don’t care which but I need it in two days time”. Not going to happen, and don’t try to pretend that this is a surprise or that it’s unreasonable. Ten years ago you would have had to travel to a bookstore and get them to order it which they would do either by mailing or telephoning a request for a book. They would either have to know a suitable book for you, or would have to find it either in a paper catalogue or with the help of someone at the publisher. These days we have online booksellers where you can browse for a book you think is suitable and if you’re lucky you might get it in two days if you pay a premium. You have no excuse for being a lazy arse.

Yes, we have moved the section. No it’s not a conspiracy against you.
This ties in with an earlier section. Numerous customers, particularly older customers, often comment “Oh, you’ve moved such-and-such a section”. I’m convinced that half of these customers have a filing cabinet in their home stuffed with blueprints of our store detailing the precise location of each genre section dating back to 1970. They come into the store having consulted their records and then make their comment about moving sections with a hint of an accusatory tone. As if this is a sleight that you have committed against them personally.

The sections are moved during optimisation. We have to use all of our available shelf space, but we need to not mix sections too much. It’s fine if we have two shelves of a bookcase featuring Religion and another three shelves holding New Age. What becomes unacceptable is mixing True Crime and Religion or Sexuality with Young Readers. Therefore, we have to get creative. We have to move sections around to best fit what Head Office are asking us to do. It takes thought and planning and is the cause of many headaches. We don’t do it just for a laugh in the same way that you don’t do your taxes for a bit of fun. We do it because we’re fitting the books you want into the store in the best way we’re able to. What I’m saying is… it’s your fault.

Books are NOT expensive. You are wrong.

I’ve written this section three times, and each time it comes out far too long. I think I may have to write a more detailed version in the future, but basically: No. Books aren’t expensive.

Authors have to be paid, bearing in mind that even prolific writers take about 6 months to write a book and deserve to be paid for that time. And incidentally, authors take the smallest cut of anyone – a few cents per book.

The cost of the paper is a lot more than you’d think, and so the cost of the actual manufacturing of the book (not including printing) is around about $2.50-$3. I had a guy sat behind me at a baseball game gabbing on about books only costing $1 to make and then “they” make a 300% markup on that, whoever “they” is.

Complete bollocks from start to finish. As I said, it’s more like $3 before the ink hits the paper (depending on pages). Also a 300% markup on their suggested price of $1 is only a $2 markup. If he’s suggesting that everything over $1 is markup, (which it isn’t, for anyone) then it’s more like 700-1300%. Basically, the bloke is a gobshite.

The printing is very expensive and uses printing presses (which have a high setup charge but work out cheaper for big print runs of thousands). The author takes a few cents. The publisher takes a few cents and the rest at this point is spent on marketing, proof-reading, editing, designing the cover and gallery prints.

Even at this point the book isn’t ready for the bookstores. Publishers are publishers - that is their area of expertise. They contract out their distributing, so distributors (companies that store and ship the books to bookstores) take their cut and have their own costs. Finally there are the bookstores (who get about 40% discount on the cover price). They have numerous overheads to pay. You might think it’s easy to make a profit in a bookstore and I think I had enough evidence in my first and second write of this section to convince people otherwise, but now I’m trying to keep it short…. I’ll write more some other time but for now let’s talk coffee.

The markup on coffee is high. The markup on books (especially by the time the book is in a bookstore) is not. It is for this reason that any bookstore with the room to sell coffee will do exactly that. The vast majority of large bookstores have a Starbucks or other coffee chain in their store. It is for exactly the same reason that they sell chocolate, candy and other gift items. It is also for the same reason that I am only earning a little bit over minimum wage and make no commission while someone selling electrical items/cars/jewellery/flowers will usually be making more than I am.

Second hand bookstores work on a different business model. They are essentially selling just the book at more of it’s perceived value as a medium for holding text. They don’t deal with publishers or distributors (customers usually sell books back to them) and the author has already been paid. That is why second hand bookstores don’t typical serve you coffee, or sell you any other “impulse” items.

Stick to sports, asshole - they’re easier to understand.

I can get it for X amount at Walmart/Sears/Zellers/Shoppers Drug Mart!
Buy it from wherever you want to buy it, no bookstore is going to price match against a completely different business model. The majority of merchandise sold in department stores has high markup, which subsidises areas where there is more competition. It is not a new idea for a large store to take a loss on one item in the hope you will buy something else where they will profit. Take a look at how Tesco and Sainsbury’s in The UK sell petrol for 5 Pence less per litre… provided you just spent £50 on groceries.

Department stores only sell the most popular books. I’ll see you back in my store later, when you want something more than a couple of months old. Otherwise, go ahead and buy from Walmart. Without an employee discount, so would I.

Another small point: Bookstores usually have such generous return policies that, in my opinion, it’s completely crazy. They’re essentially libraries with newer stock. Again, I could write a completely separate article about customers who seriously believe it is their human right to return a book a month after buying it and get credit for it, even though consumer law only mandates returns on faulty goods or goods sold unfairly. “Oh, I read the first 100 pages and decided I didn’t like it”. Tough luck, fucknut – you chose it.

I’ll probably write a part two at some point in my life.