> It seems to me that if the majority
> of major publishers simultaneously
> dropped their paperback prices, that
> that could not but positively affect
> sales more than the negligible
> amounts in Charles' example. Not
> that it could ever happen...
Actually, no, it couldn't -- it would be illegal collusion if
it did
(see the laws on price fixing), and even if it weren't, all
the retailers who carry products other than books would
simply stop carrying books and carry tubes of suntan lotion
or something else instead, since it would give them a better
return on their real estate than the suddenly cheaper books
would. And bookstores that suddenly saw their average sale
drop from ~$8 to ~$2 without a concurrent 4x increase in
sales volume (which I guarantee would not occur -- even if
consumer demand were there, which it wouldn't be, they'd need
almost 4x the shelf space and storage space to hold the extra
volume of merchandise, and where would that extra space come
from overnight?) would go out of business. (As many
bookstores these days are doing even without suddenly having
their prices cut on them.)
It's fun to dream, guys, but let's call it what it is. I
resent the prices of clothing and wish I could buy nice
shirts for $5. I look at prices in New York restaurants and
say to myself, "A sandwich for
$8? That's crazy. $2, maybe. $3, okay. But $8?" I go to the
movies and am horrified to be asked to fork over $11 or $12.
Everything costs too much. But that's life. At least the best
things in life are still free, like happiness, the songs of
birds in the trees, and diamonds, if you rip 'em off
someone's neck and run real fast.
--Charles
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