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Posted on 08/20/2004 8:56:39 AM PDT by pfloyd95
I thought I'd share this with everyone. Please excuse me if I post incorrectly I rarely post here.
This is an e-mail my mother sent after having an interesting experience at a Borders book store. I thought I'd share it with everyone.
Subject: Borders Policy
Borders:
Yesterday, by chance I was in your Eatontown, New Jersey Branch store looking for a book on a particular subject. Not able to find what I was looking for I went to the reference desk. Three clerks were there and in discussion over a book. I waited and none of the clerks turned to me but I heard them say "Unfit for Command". Finally, a clerk asked me if I needed help (I was the only customer at the desk) and I told her what I was looking for. She very kindly escorted me to the bookshelves and I asked her what was the problem about "Unfit for Command" and she told me that a Marketing/PR employee of Borders had been on a radio station and had said that Borders was not carrying this book because it was full of lies. I did ask her if this branch carried it and she had said that the last copy of "Unfit for Command" was sold a few hours earlier and there were no more copies in the store. So I commented to the clerk since when does a bookstore chain make a judgement about the accuracy of a book's contents. This same book is also on the top of the New York Times best seller list. I thought it was their business to sell books and not to be censors. Look at all the copies of books you have by Bill Clinton, Michael Moore, and everyone else of the political left. I do not support any of their anti-American propaganda, however, I go to your store to purchase books that I want to read and have the strength and conviction to be able to withstand the onslaught of left-wing, anti-American propaganda written by these so called authors. I consider these books full of lies but I also have the right to purchase or not purchase these books. I thought bookstore chains were big supporters of freedom of speech. Since when has it become the policy of a bookstore to decide when and what its customers may purchase and read. Since when did Borders decide to go into the censorship business? If I as a consumer can tolerate walking thru aisles of Anti-American propaganda, the least you can do is give me the choice to buy the books that I want to read and not what you have decided politically to make available.
Since when has it become a book seller's policy to decide on what the public can and cannot read? Where in your Mission Statement does it say that Borders will not sell best seller books because it decided it has "lies"? Who made the decision that this book is full of lies? Strange - the one book in just about every category aisle throughout the store that you are pushing is the biggest liar of all "My Life" by Bill Clinton. Isn't he the one who lied before the Starr Commission and finally admitted it in his book?
Acknowledgement is requested of your policy regarding the sale of books.
Let's try this again.
The original allegation was that Borders was not carrying (by policy) because is was 'full of lies'.
If you type in 'borders' into a yahoo search box, then follow the first link, you will find yourself at the Borders home page. Right on the top/front of there home page is an advertisement for this book.
Thats also quite obvious after posters here saying they got it at their Borders retailer.
Therefore, there IS NO POLICY for not selling this book at Borders.
Truth is attained by fact, not passion or opinion.
It's interesting you tag me a Kerry supporter over this.
I suggest you read my posts again and reevaluate.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-255644.html?legacy=cnet
Borders hands online operations to Amazon
This is an article from 2001..
In the local Borders they had a woman reading tarot cards (at $10 a reading). I walked by and said loudly, "See, I didn't die in a mine fire afterall!"
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No, thank you.
I got my copy at a Borders in Woodbury, Minnesota today.
None of the book stores at the Mall of America had it in and told me that it wasn't due until September 1st. This Borders had it on a table right in front.
Go figure.
I'm in Georgia.
I went to Barnes & Noble this morning to buy the book. I went to the same book store that I bought my last Ann Coulter book. I found the Coulter book in the back of the store buried even though it was a best seller. So I assumed this would be the case of Unfit to Command.
I went to the info desk only to be told they were sold out and I could be put on a reserve list. The clerk was quite helpful and actually nice. She said they sold out of the 25 copies they had immediately. A new shipment was due in 5 days. As I thanked her another customer came up asking for the book.
I went over to Waldon Books and was told the same thing.
This book is big.
BTW, Maureen Dowd's book was quite available in both stores. Shelves were stocked.
You can be as condescending as you want, but being pushy and snotty does not make you right. Your interpretation is one scenerio. It isn't the only one. I don't know why you are so passionate and emotional about defending a bookstore. Do you work for them?
I followed your suggestion and read your post history. You are definitely a Kerry supporter.
No, it is a flavor of censorship. It's just not govt. sponsored, therefore it's not actionable in any way (nor should it be, I might add). But it is very definitely a deliberate attempt to suppress certain ideas and thoughts, even if it is a silly and ineffective attempt -- thus it is a form of censorship.
Dispite what you've read in Pravda, I did not die in the cosmodrome fire, either.
BUMP FOR SUPPORT SWIFTVETS AD 2... http://swift2.he.net/~swift2/sellout.mpg
We are shipping it to all stores, and we've told them to place it Front of Store as soon as they receive.
If they are keeping it in the backroom for any reason, they'd be fired.
That's reassuring.
If you send your complaint to Customer Care, they will forward it on to the General Manager and the District Manager, who will take it very seriously. Just don't sound too mad. Make it clear that you were being harrassed.
As you can imagine, it is not in our interest to alienate any of our customers. You may not believe it, but we get even more complaints from the Left when we display prominently the books that they hate.
Just wanted to let you know I was at the Borders on Michigan Ave. in Chicago on Saturday, and I could not find the book anywhere. I must confess I started thinking they buried it on the regular shelf instead of on the new arrivals display. I found a sales girl who told me that "Unfit for Command is our hottest seller right now and we are just plain out." She said they received an e-mail that all Borders stores were backed up on shipment, but would be getting new copies in long before Amazon and their 5-week wait...
Just an FYI...
There was a sign on the door yesterday at the Borders in Oxford Valley Pa. ( Northern Philadelphia suburbs ) that stated that "Unfit for Command" was #1 top seller, and that you should put your name on a reserve list.
Business related question: If the demand is so high, why discount it?
Thanks, but I don't think they are willing to let facts get in the way of their theories. His "shut up" to me was in response to a post that contained an excerpt from the most recent 10-K.
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This would be the wrong moment in history for any institution that wants to be here next year, to publicly associate itself with Senator Hanoi-John Kerry. That dude is going *splat*. The rest of us are going to remember who his friends were. Memo to businesspeople: stay out of the politics.