France approves law stopping Amazon from shipping discounted books for free

[JoHunt]

So Amazon just has to raise its shipping price to €1

French lawmakers have had it up to "here" with Amazon's book-selling tactics and they're not going to take it any more. In a rare alliance, France's ruling Socialist Party and the opposition UMP Party approved a new bill banning the company and other online retailers from shipping discounted books for free. It comes in the form of an amendment to a 32-year-old law that sets the value of new books at fixed prices. Amazon, you see, heavily discounts books, but also ships them at no extra cost, heavily undercutting aggrieved brick-and-mortar retailers. The restriction forces Amazon to cut free shipping for new books sold at reduced prices, but it won't stop French consumers from getting second-hand titles and music pas cher.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/03/a...usaolp00000589

[HarryT]

What is "music pas cher"?

[JoHunt]

Google translates "pas cher" to "inexpensive" (I've edited the post to indicate that these words are a foreign language).

[HarryT]

Thank you - that makes more sense now .

[ApK]

Didn't Apple just get slapped hard by the US government for doing what the French government did: Force retailers to reduce their discounts in order to keep the price of books artificially high?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

Didn't Apple just get slapped hard by the US government for doing what the French government did: Force retailers to reduce their discounts in order to keep the price of books artificially high?

The book market is not a "free market" in many countries - it has legally-enforced price fixing. France, like many other countries, has made the decision that fixed pricing for books benefits society overall by supporting small independent booksellers.

[tubemonkey]

I highly resent that type of meddling from government. But hey, it's their country and they're free to do as they wish.

[HarryT]

I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, I like cheap books from Amazon, but it's an undeniable fact that almost all small independent bookshops in the UK have gone out of business since the abolition of fixed-price books here in 1997.

[tubemonkey]

It doesn't bother me in the least if indies go out of business. If they can't compete against new business models, then adios.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The book market is not a "free market" in many countries - it has legally-enforced price fixing. France, like many other countries, has made the decision that fixed pricing for books benefits society overall by supporting small independent booksellers.

I understand. I just think the proximity of this to the Apple case throws some of the differences in our systems into sharp relief.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

I understand. I just think the proximity of this to the Apple case throws some of the differences in our systems into sharp relief.

There is a fairly large difference between a government doing something for the overall good of society, and a cartel of publishers doing the same thing for financial gain.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, I like cheap books from Amazon, but it's an undeniable fact that almost all small independent bookshops in the UK have gone out of business since the abolition of fixed-price books here in 1997.

In New York, we're seeing a number of physical chain stores topple (as it were), but also the return of a few smaller bookstores. One of the only local businesses that survived the last two storms is a niche used bookstore that opened four years ago and has outlasted the drugstore and restaurant that used to do business beside it.

It specializes in art books and lit. I'd like to take that as a sign.

I don't really see the French government as meddling if the majority who voted for this incarnation want those protections in place. On the nether hind, a band of twits shutting down a house of government over policies which the majority did vote for and killing the flow of government services for everyone -- that I see as meddling.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by joehunt

Google translates "pas cher" to "inexpensive" (I've edited the post to indicate that these words are a foreign language).

Funny that there is no word for "cheap/inexpensive" in French, and you have to revert to "not expensive". I guess it says it all.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There is a fairly large difference between a government doing something for the overall good of society, and a cartel of publishers doing the same thing for financial gain.

I'd have an easier time accepting that if I didn't so firmly believe that most of government (US, at least) is simply doing what big business tells them to do. If I'm right then there's really no difference.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

It doesn't bother me in the least if indies go out of business. If they can't compete against new business models, then adios.

Ditto, somewhat. I'd hate to see the market dwindle to just a few sellers. Big or little, that's not good for consumers. (OTOH I don't see any definite need for brick-and-mortar stores for most items. One exception might be clothing. I, at least, prefer to try my clothes on before I buy them. I don't even think I'd make an exception for food provided quality standards were sufficient-and enforced.)