Are the books outside the bookstore too cheap to be worth selling?
January 28, 2012 6:46 PM Subscribe
Are chain bookstores hoping that somebody will take the books they leave in their entryways?
Ok, you know how when you go into a Barnes and Noble or some other big chain bookstore, there's always a foyer or an entryway inside the outermost doors, but outside the shoplifting prevention scanners? And there's generally a rack of clearance-priced books out there? Are they expecting those to be stolen or what? Or, phrased less confrontationally: why aren't they more worried about those books being stolen? Does anybody work for one of these places who can clue me in? I'd ask at my local store, but I'm afraid I'd create the wrong impression, and I certainly don't want to test the theory experimentally.
Ok, you know how when you go into a Barnes and Noble or some other big chain bookstore, there's always a foyer or an entryway inside the outermost doors, but outside the shoplifting prevention scanners? And there's generally a rack of clearance-priced books out there? Are they expecting those to be stolen or what? Or, phrased less confrontationally: why aren't they more worried about those books being stolen? Does anybody work for one of these places who can clue me in? I'd ask at my local store, but I'm afraid I'd create the wrong impression, and I certainly don't want to test the theory experimentally.
While I haven't worked in bookstores, I have worked in book publishing. The big box stores often buy quantities of remaindered books and then sell them at extremely low prices (while still gaining a profit). The books that appear on those racks are often remainders of which they've sold as many as possible, so yes, they're trying to clear out that inventory. It is inventory that is so cheap to them they don't mind losing some of it, and they get sales they otherwise wouldn't from people walking in the store.
Beyond remainders, you'll also often find books or kits that are somehow damaged. The only way these are going to sell is off the clearance cart; it's extremely unlikely that anyone would buy them in the store.
In both of these cases, the books are unreturnable to the publisher (as most new books are) because of how they were purchased (the remainders) or because they have been damaged. So, if they don't sell, eventually the bookstore will have to pay to dispose of them. If some books get stolen off the cart, they don't make any money off them, but they don't have to spend any money on disposing of them, either.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:05 PM on January 28, 2012 [3 favorites]
Beyond remainders, you'll also often find books or kits that are somehow damaged. The only way these are going to sell is off the clearance cart; it's extremely unlikely that anyone would buy them in the store.
In both of these cases, the books are unreturnable to the publisher (as most new books are) because of how they were purchased (the remainders) or because they have been damaged. So, if they don't sell, eventually the bookstore will have to pay to dispose of them. If some books get stolen off the cart, they don't make any money off them, but they don't have to spend any money on disposing of them, either.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:05 PM on January 28, 2012 [3 favorites]
(as most new books are)
This should really read "(most new books are returnable if they don't sell)."
posted by ocherdraco at 7:06 PM on January 28, 2012
This should really read "(most new books are returnable if they don't sell)."
posted by ocherdraco at 7:06 PM on January 28, 2012
I certainly wouldn't test the theory experimentally, but I think ocherdraco has it spot on. The books outside a B&N (back when we *HAD* a B&N in my town would only be a buck or two, and they were remainders that had gone out there to die. The next stop would have to be the bin.
I honestly think the prices were so low that if the book interested you AT ALL, the idea of risking going to jail for it rather than stepping inside and paying would be ludicrous, and this too is a sort of "insurance," although I realize some people shoplift for the lolz rather than the value.
posted by randomkeystrike at 7:45 PM on January 28, 2012
I honestly think the prices were so low that if the book interested you AT ALL, the idea of risking going to jail for it rather than stepping inside and paying would be ludicrous, and this too is a sort of "insurance," although I realize some people shoplift for the lolz rather than the value.
posted by randomkeystrike at 7:45 PM on January 28, 2012
Not the asker, but... what does "remainder" mean, in the publishing industry?
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 7:57 PM on January 28, 2012
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 7:57 PM on January 28, 2012
You may also notice that a high percentage of the books on those racks are oversize, and thus more difficult to shoplift compared to normal-sized books.
posted by ErikaB at 7:59 PM on January 28, 2012
posted by ErikaB at 7:59 PM on January 28, 2012
The Wikipedia definition of remaindered books:
Remaindered books are books that are no longer selling well and whose remaining unsold copies are being liquidated by the publisher at greatly reduced prices. While the publisher takes a loss on the sales of these books, they're able to make some money off the sale and clear out space in the warehouses.posted by ocherdraco at 8:03 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Copies of remaindered books are marked by the publisher, distributor or bookseller, to prevent them from being returned. "Remainder marks" have varied over the years, but today most remainders are marked with a stroke with a felt-tipped marker across the top or bottom of the book's pages, near the spine.
Only hardcovers and trade paperbacks (paperback books, often larger than "pocket" paperbacks, sold "to the trade" or directly to sales outlets) are typically remaindered. Mass market paperbacks ("pocket" paperback books sold through a third-party distributor) usually become stripped books rather than remaindered books. A book that might retail for $20 will typically be purchased by someone specializing in remainders for $1 and resold for approximately $5.
When I worked for the Big Box Bookstore the no longer exists, corporate told us what to put where. A lot of what ended up in the foyer was indeed oversized and some of the dregs of the remainders ended up there, too. But who knows why some were put there, it was a lot of the whims of the Home Office.
and as an aside, this made me think of this poem.
posted by bibliogrrl at 8:23 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
and as an aside, this made me think of this poem.
posted by bibliogrrl at 8:23 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The short answer is that shrinkage is factored in and it still makes financial sense to put the cheapest books in the entryway. You should see the Strand in New York; tons of books just sitting out on the Manhattan sidewalk (some of which surely go missing every day). Inventory shrinkage happens no matter how stringent the protections in place, every store balances the cost of security systems against the cost of lost merchandise.
posted by 2bucksplus at 8:35 PM on January 28, 2012
posted by 2bucksplus at 8:35 PM on January 28, 2012
When I worked for the Big Box Bookstore the no longer exists
Hey, fellow traveller. Those books literally cost pennies per copy, and (next to gift & stationery items) were the highest-margin items in the store. As opposed to true remainders, most of that stuff was bargain/import publisher stuff. You could tell when it was markdown stuff or former bestsellers (which were usually given a sexier spot in the store, honestly) because they often still had live security tags in them, which drove *everyone* nuts. The quick answer is that if something had to be stolen we prayed it was those vestibule remainder items.
posted by mintcake! at 9:09 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Hey, fellow traveller. Those books literally cost pennies per copy, and (next to gift & stationery items) were the highest-margin items in the store. As opposed to true remainders, most of that stuff was bargain/import publisher stuff. You could tell when it was markdown stuff or former bestsellers (which were usually given a sexier spot in the store, honestly) because they often still had live security tags in them, which drove *everyone* nuts. The quick answer is that if something had to be stolen we prayed it was those vestibule remainder items.
posted by mintcake! at 9:09 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
My cousin manages at a B&N. When they have books on clearance like that, they eventually go to the "scrap pile" - which means employees can have them, and the rest get trashed. That said, I also think most of the entryway books aren't ones that anyone would want to steal.
posted by DoubleLune at 10:19 PM on January 28, 2012
posted by DoubleLune at 10:19 PM on January 28, 2012
Not the asker, but... what does "remainder" mean, in the publishing industry?
Books that were printed but not sold. Publishers have to guess how many books they think they will sell and when the overestimate, they have the leftovers, remainders, that they then liquidate.
posted by holdkris99 at 10:21 PM on January 28, 2012
Books that were printed but not sold. Publishers have to guess how many books they think they will sell and when the overestimate, they have the leftovers, remainders, that they then liquidate.
posted by holdkris99 at 10:21 PM on January 28, 2012
Are chain bookstores hoping that somebody will take the books they leave in their entryways?
I worked at B&N for about six years. If you had worked there for even three weeks, you would never ask this question. The management of a chain bookstore like B&N never, ever, EVER hopes that anything will be stolen, no matter how worthless it might be. They hope somebody will buy that garbage.
Yes, they know that a certain percentage of inventory is lost due to shrink. But the idea that there is an acceptable percentage of shrink above zero is just totally alien to the mindset of the people who own and operate chain bookstores. They always want the shrink percentage to be lower. No matter what.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 11:59 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
I worked at B&N for about six years. If you had worked there for even three weeks, you would never ask this question. The management of a chain bookstore like B&N never, ever, EVER hopes that anything will be stolen, no matter how worthless it might be. They hope somebody will buy that garbage.
Yes, they know that a certain percentage of inventory is lost due to shrink. But the idea that there is an acceptable percentage of shrink above zero is just totally alien to the mindset of the people who own and operate chain bookstores. They always want the shrink percentage to be lower. No matter what.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 11:59 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Worked at B&N previously. Basically what DoubleLune said.
As someone who has worked at B&N previously, all the stealing I've seen seems to either be cheating with price labels or adding books to a large B&N bag after purchase. That all goes on inside.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 1:35 AM on January 29, 2012
As someone who has worked at B&N previously, all the stealing I've seen seems to either be cheating with price labels or adding books to a large B&N bag after purchase. That all goes on inside.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 1:35 AM on January 29, 2012
Best answer: I work in a book store, but not B&N. It's good advertising space, so something has to go there. Might as well be something that isn't worth much to the company, so it's no loss if it gets stolen.
Stockloss will always happen. In the company I work for, it's assumed that it's the staff that are stealing. Mostly it's customers (heh), but I guess it's better to give them an easy target.
posted by Solomon at 1:36 AM on January 29, 2012
Stockloss will always happen. In the company I work for, it's assumed that it's the staff that are stealing. Mostly it's customers (heh), but I guess it's better to give them an easy target.
posted by Solomon at 1:36 AM on January 29, 2012
Solomon hit it, IMO. These books might catch your eye as you enter, and again as you leave. You might not even consider the remainder bin inside (of which there is one, too).
posted by yclipse at 5:47 AM on January 29, 2012
posted by yclipse at 5:47 AM on January 29, 2012
I have no idea if it is a conscious part of the bookstores' reasoning (although this kind of consumer psychology stuff is increasingly common), but it always strikes me that placing the remaindered books on that side of the boundary created by the detectors prevents them from "polluting" the high-end feel of the main part of the bookstore.
One-dollar books displayed in the same zone as $30 hardbacks would diminish their desirability.
Of course this argument is undermined to the extent that remaindered books are sold within the main store too, though in my local B&N they're very much not sold in the same zone as the main new books being pushed.
posted by oliverburkeman at 6:50 AM on January 29, 2012
One-dollar books displayed in the same zone as $30 hardbacks would diminish their desirability.
Of course this argument is undermined to the extent that remaindered books are sold within the main store too, though in my local B&N they're very much not sold in the same zone as the main new books being pushed.
posted by oliverburkeman at 6:50 AM on January 29, 2012
it always strikes me that placing the remaindered books on that side of the boundary created by the detectors prevents them from "polluting" the high-end feel of the main part of the bookstore.
FWIW, over the last couple of years Red Bookstore existed this philosophy, frustratingly, changed a whole bunch of times. We had higer price-point bargain stuff out there, then utter garbage, then for a while absolutely nothing, then nice-ish G&S stuff. That exact question - "What kind of statement are we trying to make in our vestibules?" - was apparently one that the home office couldn't nail down. Obviously - and like many, many things B&N just gets it - attractive, low-cost, high-margin bargain books are the perfect answer.
One-dollar books displayed in the same zone as $30 hardbacks would diminish their desirability.
The stuff in the entrance tends to be more in the $5-$15 range. $1 books (usually in well-marked sale bins not far from POS, in my experience) don't cut into trade book sales a whit, and they keep you in the store longer so that you reconsider other, more expensive stuff or perhaps a delicious coffee drink. Psychology, indeed.
posted by mintcake! at 7:30 AM on January 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
FWIW, over the last couple of years Red Bookstore existed this philosophy, frustratingly, changed a whole bunch of times. We had higer price-point bargain stuff out there, then utter garbage, then for a while absolutely nothing, then nice-ish G&S stuff. That exact question - "What kind of statement are we trying to make in our vestibules?" - was apparently one that the home office couldn't nail down. Obviously - and like many, many things B&N just gets it - attractive, low-cost, high-margin bargain books are the perfect answer.
One-dollar books displayed in the same zone as $30 hardbacks would diminish their desirability.
The stuff in the entrance tends to be more in the $5-$15 range. $1 books (usually in well-marked sale bins not far from POS, in my experience) don't cut into trade book sales a whit, and they keep you in the store longer so that you reconsider other, more expensive stuff or perhaps a delicious coffee drink. Psychology, indeed.
posted by mintcake! at 7:30 AM on January 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
Best answer: This recent post from a used bookstore owner talks about free books outside as a way of getting people to notice your store, and getting them in the habit of stopping and looking at your display.
If that's the goal, then it almost doesn't matter whether the books eventually get bought or stolen, as long as a decent number of people stop to browse through them while they're there.
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:03 AM on January 29, 2012
If that's the goal, then it almost doesn't matter whether the books eventually get bought or stolen, as long as a decent number of people stop to browse through them while they're there.
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:03 AM on January 29, 2012
Remainder is a book that didn't sell at full price, so the publisher sells it at a deep discount. Some books sold as remainders are really just created as promotional/cheap books. \
posted by theora55 at 12:41 PM on January 29, 2012
posted by theora55 at 12:41 PM on January 29, 2012
As someone who has worked at B&N previously, all the stealing I've seen seems to either be cheating with price labels or adding books to a large B&N bag after purchase. That all goes on inside.
Agree with this. I've worked on and off at bookstores, and I don't think people stealing from those vestibule displays was ever much of a problem. (That's both from observing customers and from maintaining stock on those types of displays.) It's really not that easy to grab something off one of those displays and walk away without being noticed.
posted by BibiRose at 6:41 AM on January 30, 2012
Agree with this. I've worked on and off at bookstores, and I don't think people stealing from those vestibule displays was ever much of a problem. (That's both from observing customers and from maintaining stock on those types of displays.) It's really not that easy to grab something off one of those displays and walk away without being noticed.
posted by BibiRose at 6:41 AM on January 30, 2012
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I'd say they're not entirely concerned about it. If they're clearance-rack merch, generally they haven't sold anyway so if a few disappear, well they weren't selling anyway. Plus, it's not like it's the latest hot-issue hardcover out there either.
Aside from that, I have no clue. Been curious about that myself.
posted by Heretical at 7:02 PM on January 28, 2012