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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (90062)	3/6/2001 2:56:52 PM
From: benwood	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

I already make my online book orders from borders.com because I live in Washington and the 8.6% takes Amazon out of the running. I wouldn't even order from Borders if the S&H made the purchase impractical (i.e. more expensive). Skeets, you are right that the S&H matters in addition to price. I've nixed plenty of orders based on S&H, and a book club I've belonged to for many years (Book of the Month Club) dramatically lowered it's S&H a couple months ago. I'm sure that wasn't just a kind gesture but a hard-reality business survival decision based on sales (or lack thereof) and customer comments.

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (90062)	3/7/2001 5:26:36 PM
From: starhawke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Sorry a response took so long. Some of us work for a living. Snide <g> <g> What I was trying to say (in a nice way), was that on average - People Are Stupid! Not to mention lazy, careless, and unaccepting of responsibility for their own errors. Do you need any more evidence of that than the stock markets of late? <g> Lots of customers do not pay attention to the Total cost. And fewer still have any awareness of relative cost. Geez, do some looking around EBay, etc. and you will find boneheads bidding more for used merchandise from an unknown source than identical, brand new merchandise from name businesses. Direct empirical evidence informs me that certainly some individuals do pay attention to the details, but sadly they are few and far between. Typical profit center customers (the customers from whom are derived the bulk of profits), by and large are unaffected by fairly minor changes in price, S&H, and taxes, etc. This is not to say that "nobody cares", far from it. It is to say that those who care tend to be, by their very nature, less profitable and therefore 'less desirable' customers at the margin. "all else being equal" - Please, the average consumer is a sheep. And billions upon billions spent on advertising do have an effect upon their behavior. Even the perception of 'better customer service' is what some people are willing to pay premium prices for. (Ridiculous in my estimation, but what are you gonna do.) Arguing perception vs. reality is a nowhere game. I don't shop at Amazon unlessin' I gets me a superhot deal, because of the taxes. But the number of folks who complain about Amazon charging taxes in Washington and 'quote' that "charging taxes on the interet is illegal" is frickin' scary. I say again, people are stupid. And if you cleave to the idea that Amazons business will correlate anywhere near to a supply/demand curve, you be smokin' really good stuff. You are simply giving people way too much credit for smarts. (Friggin' Democrat! <vbg> ) S