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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: July 03, 2002 WebWord Comment -- I'll be on a (much needed) vacation from 4-July-2002 through 11-July-2002. I will have very limited access to email and the web. You might want to visit some of the Hot Sites. That's all for now. Please take care of yourself while I am gone!
Reader Comments...
What am I doing on 4-July-2002 at 7:30 AM EST?
Salomon Smith Barney Highland Park Triathlon ...oh boy! Posted by: John S. Rhodes on July 3, 2002 10:35 PM
More fun and games with the WebWord community. Brought to you by Chris McEvoy. Boom! Top 100 commented items of all time Top commenting members of all time Recent Comments (weekly; mileage may vary)
Want me to manage the site while you're gone, John? I could dig up a plethora of links. :) Posted by: MadMan on July 4, 2002 01:12 AM
How about using this item to post messages about the links that we come up with ? Oh, and I just realised that I've now replicated Johns info about the new stats in the other item , but I have added new info about Jack and his weird email addresses, so maybe thats Ok. Posted by: Mac on July 4, 2002 03:28 AM
Alright, since John seems to have taken off before I posted my comment, I'll ask you nice folks out there. While John is away, would you like me to post useful (IMO) links to this comments page? I'll try and spark some interesting discussion. :) Posted by: MadMan on July 4, 2002 04:02 PM
MadMan, post the interesting links on your own site. Posted by: on July 5, 2002 02:26 PM
I personally am disappointed that MadMan has relegated his chimpanzee photo to a back page. I appreciated the quick chimp access from each of his WebWord posts. Posted by: Jack on July 6, 2002 09:33 PM
This seems to be the free-for-all place for posting right now... Question: have any Amazon customers who had "one-click ordering" disabled noticed it recently reactivated on their account? I disabled it when Amazon debuted the feature, however... Amazon e-mailed me tonight to confirm an order for books I was browsing. Apparently I one-click purchased them instead of placing them on my Wish List. Even though I re-logged into my account within 20 minutes of receiving the e-mail, Amazon will not allow me to cancel the order. Apparently they have people preparing to ship my order at 11:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, so it's too late to cancel. Uh huh. So now I get to reject the order with UPS and/or contest the charges on my credit card. I am no longer an Amazon customer. Goodbye. Posted by: Bob on July 7, 2002 03:06 AM
I had a similarly frustrating experience with Barnes & Noble with a canceled order that was shipped anyway and customer service inquiries that went unanswered or provided incorrect information. I ate the cost. I then realized that I can order books from a local bookstore for usually about the same cost, because the bookstore doesn't charge me shipping. Plus, I support a local business. Posted by: Jack on July 7, 2002 10:18 AM
Jack, I'm genuinely curious because I don't live in the US. Are books in your local bookstores also discounted 10-30% like Amazon? Amazon's internation shipping charges are unbelievably high. $8.99 per shipment and $3.99 per book. And that's just standard shipping. :( Posted by: MadMan on July 7, 2002 02:51 PM
At my local bookstores the books are usually sold at suggested retail price, or a little less, but that still works out OK. I'm a one-or-two-a-month type guy, so that would add up to a lot of online shipping charges. A local bookstore does not charge me shipping, so the Amazon/B&N discount I would get online is almost eliminated. And anyhow, sometimes bookstores do have specials, so I do get a discount. I search for titles online, but then buy local. I'll gladly pay 50 cents or a buck more per book to avoid the numerous hassles and pitfalls of online buying (credit card security, ordering snafus, clueless or nonexistent customer service, horrible return procedures, and having to be home to sign for the UPS delivery). At a bookstore I'm dealing with a real person who doesn't screw around or disregard me. More importantly, we have numerous USED BOOKSTORES. I can browse/preview books and buy at tremendous discounts. Some bookstores are tied into a (?) book network and can order used books that they don't have in stock at the store. In larger U.S. cities there are annual library book sales where tens of thousands of used books are sold for 50 cents or $1. I bought the complete Hitchhiker's Guide series (5 books) for a friend's son for $2.50. MadMan, I'm curious whether it would be cheaper for someone in the U.S. to buy books for you and ship them to you. Posted by: Jack on July 7, 2002 04:43 PM
Jack, it probably would be cheaper that way. You say that the shipping costs cancel out the discounts. Amazon, on the other hand, claim the opposite. See what they wrote to me when I complained about their high international shipping costs. (Scroll down to the last bit.) Posted by: MadMan on July 8, 2002 02:50 PM
Amazon shipping costs aren't exactly trivial in the UK either. The general discount offered on books is 20%, which means that you have to order 3 or more books to actually save any money, and even then you're not talking significant savings. Posted by: Alan Fisher on July 9, 2002 04:07 AM
MM, they can claim anything they want. When I looked at what I was paying, I found that physical bookstores sometimes were 50 cents or a dollar more per book, but not always. With all the other benefits of a physical bookstore, it was a no brainer. IMHO, the charm of online buying is wearing off. The dot-coms that thrive will fall into these categories:
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