http://www.pardonthedisruption.com/2007/12/13/government-idiocy-french-style/ Hosted by Chip Griffin Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:49:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.pardonthedisruption.com/2007/12/13/government-idiocy-french-style/#comment-774 Nadine, Paris France Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:55:27 +0000 http://www.chipgriffin.com.php5-7.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com/2007/12/13/government-idiocy-french-style/#comment-774 FNAC, Amazon's main French competitor, still doesn't charge anything for books, and books only, provided that they are sent to a French address. But I suppose that this may change in view of this recent decision. Independent bookstores are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with e-commerce. I sell my used books through a second-hand website and the buyer pays for the postage, which seems reasonable. When people need the convenience of having something delivered to their door, they are used to pay for it. Maybe not so in America, but this is not America. Putting it all to government is too easy. There are huge commercial interests in this, and Amazon will lose nothing by charging postage (as they did until last year, if I remember correctly). Don't forget that Amazon Marketplace charges fees, per item, not per order. That is quite not right for the consumer, either. FNAC, Amazon’s main French competitor, still doesn’t charge anything for books, and books only, provided that they are sent to a French address. But I suppose that this may change in view of this recent decision. Independent bookstores are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with e-commerce.
I sell my used books through a second-hand website and the buyer pays for the postage, which seems reasonable. When people need the convenience of having something delivered to their door, they are used to pay for it. Maybe not so in America, but this is not America.
Putting it all to government is too easy. There are huge commercial interests in this, and Amazon will lose nothing by charging postage (as they did until last year, if I remember correctly). Don’t forget that Amazon Marketplace charges fees, per item, not per order. That is quite not right for the consumer, either.

]]>