and it will cost them sales as well $$$$$
Looks like Costco’s little stunt backfired big-time.
I agree with this, but I think there is also more to it. There is always a hunger for the truth. There is a unrepresented portion of the U.S. populace interested in learning the truth about the country they live in. Look at the popularity of Limbaugh’s books.
The co-founders of the Issaquah-based retail giant, Jim Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman, both hosted the 44th president in 2012 for fundraisers in their homes. Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have visited Costco stores, and Sinegal spoke at the 2012 Democratic Convention.
The official reason for removal of the book is slow sales, a Costco official [said]. The book had reportedly sold 3,600 copies at Costco, 700 of them [the previous] week.
Costco’s response to inquiries about the issue has been to assert that their motivation for pulling DSouzas book from their shelves was based on sales rather than politics:
Costco is not influenced by political considerations in selecting product for sale in our warehouses or on Costco.com. This includes our selection of books. Our book buyers are solely interested in book sales, and do not favor any political persuasion over another. Recently, after deciding to sell the book “America: Imagine the World Without Her”, beginning on June 1, a decision was made to pull the book from sale on July 1. This decision was based solely on the number of copies sold during that month, and had nothing to do with the content of the book.
Costco is not a book store. Our book shelf space is very limited. We exercise discipline in the best utilization of that limited space based solely on what our members are buying. We can’t carry every title that our members are interested in reading. We are constantly monitoring book sales, and make decisions to pull books off the shelves frequently based on sales volume to make room for other titles. Politics or controversy over content do not influence our decisions.
By the end of the day on 8 July 2014, Costco began adding a paragraph to their standard customer response indicating that they had reversed their position and would be re-stocking D’Souza’s America: Imagine a World Without Her:
After we made the return, a documentary was released about the book. Since then there has been heightened interest by our membership base and brisk sales at locations still in stock. Therefore, we have made the decision to reorder the book.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/dsouza.asp#AGzMOFj63O4xVSV6.99