bricks and mortar

[aamcnamara]

Today, my morning class got out early, so I walked over to the bookstore just across the street from campus. I was looking for matociquala's Chill, though not really expecting to find it. I did not find it. I approached the friendly woman at the desk, who looked it up for me in their database and said, Oh yes, we just put in our last order for the week, but we can have it for you by the middle of next week. It's this much. What's your name? Telephone number?

Just like that, next week, after I have finished my papers and exams, I will have a copy of Chill waiting for me.

So here is my question. It might be a silly question, but I am wholly serious in asking it.

Why don't more people order books through their bookstores?

Okay, yes, Amazon is helpful for small presses, for obscure books, for things which are out of print. And I get that a lot of people in rural areas, in places where there aren't any independent bookstores, etc., don't exactly have this option. That is understandable.

But I am under the impression that, a lot of the time, that is not what Amazon is used for.

Get this, O children of the 21st century: I am putting money into a local independent bookstore. It is just as handy, maybe even more so under my particular circumstances, than ordering it from Amazon or Borders or Barnes & Noble.

And? I did not even have to pay shipping.

Dear people of previous generations: what exactly is it which is so handy about ordering online? Is it just novelty? Do warehouses run out of books a lot? Did I just hit upon a book which happened to be available? What are the factors which made everyone converge suddenly on this option?

The confusion of my generation thanks you.

Comments

[vcmw]

It depends on the bookstore. Several times I ordered nonfiction through the Common Good Books store rather than off the web.

In Chicago, the only new independent bookstore near me made a snobby point about not stocking romance novels. Since I read a lot of romance novels, it would never occur to me to make an effort to give that store my money for books they didn't stock. In general, I make the effort to go physically to places like Dreamhaven - they have new books I want and wouldn't think to order from independent presses.

Or when I lived in Manchester I would order books from Northshire Bookstore (which you would love, I think). I don't order books online very often (2 or 3 times a year), but when I do it's for one of two reasons: the book is a hardcover that won't be discounted in stores, is discounted deeply on Amazon, and would be otherwise out of my budget, or else the book is of a type that my local bookstore has deliberately chosen not to stock, and thus I have no desire to send them my money (and have already had conversations with the staff there about "why don't you stock X" and had them say "because we don't want to" so I know that ordering it won't change their mind).

I rarely order books because there are so many more books I want to read in stock than there are books I can afford anyway.