I've been a major book reader (and book buyer) since I was a teenager. I now have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500+ books on my bookshelf - with plans to buy (and read) many more before I cash in my chips. I would guesstimate that I have purchased an average of five books/month for the past 25 years. Back when I was writing database software for a living, I would routinely buy two [very expensive] software books a month - usually paying full price as out-of-date software books are virtually worthless.

I considered it a godsend when I decided to open an online account with Amazon.com back in 1998 and give Jeff Bezos an opportunity to excel. (Up to that point, most of my book buying was via local brick and mortar booksellers - namely Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million - although I did [gradually] become aware of several "deep discount" booksellers. (Possibly the best discount bookseller I'm aware of is Edward R. Hamilton of Falls Village, Connecticut. If you're patient, you can buy books that were on the bestseller lists a few years ago for anywhere from $3.95 up to $7.95 - plus Mr. Hamilton charges a flat $3.50 shipping charge on every order - regardless of how many books you order.) Mr. Hamilton's offerings, (mostly remainders and store returns), are not as extensive as what is available on Amazon.com; but his low prices more than make up for the paucity of selection. (My estimate is that approximately 25 percent of my books have been purchased from Mr. Hamilton, 40-50 percent from Amazon.com and the rest from other sellers - including Barnes & Noble.)

I'm getting closer and closer to retirement, so I've decided to step up my pace of book buying. I suppose this is simply a Christmas time promotional blitz, but Barnes & Noble has been sending me a steady stream of emails with 20 (and in some cases 25 percent) store coupons - which I have been taking advantage of. (I've also received an occasional buying incentive from Amazon.com, although such offers are not as frequent as the ones I'm receiving from B&N.) I have noticed a "catch" with these Barnes & Noble store offers. You get 20 (or 25) percent off - with your member discount card which costs $25.00/year - but the "discount" only applies to the first (or most expensive) item you choose to buy. You pay full [store] price for any additional books or DVDs you purchase. B&N's strategy is obvious: They're hoping you buy more than a single book (or DVD) once you're in the store - paying full price for all items past the first.

The chief advantage I've noticed with Amazon.com is a wide selection. They have, or can get, just about any book you're interested in; plus generally lower prices - especially when compared to Barnes & Noble. When considering a purchase, I always compare Amazon's price to B&N's price. In many cases the prices are roughly equivalent, but there are also quite a number of books for sale by B&N that are priced substantially higher. (A case in point is the book "Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism" (hardcover) by Jeff Gramm. Amazon's price for this book is [currently] $17.39 while the comparable price at BN.com is $29.99. Ouch! (That's a 42 percent differential.) I've noticed that most of the DVDs I buy are less expensive when purchased from Amazon.com vis-à-vis Barnes & Noble.

So Jeff Bezos's strategy is fairly obvious when it comes to books: He's [temporarily] sacrificing price, (i.e. underselling his competition), in the hopes of gaining market share and eventually driving his competitors out of business. This strategy has already worked with respect to Borders, so Mr. Bezos must figure it's just a matter of time until he vanquishes B&N - and then he's the king of the bookselling mountain.

As a voracious book and DVD buyer I, of course, love low prices; but I'm not sure seeing B&N forced out of business is a necessarily good thing. (If B&N were to file for bankruptcy tomorrow, Amazon's book prices probably wouldn't stay "low" for very long ...) OK, "What's the point of this tl/dr dissertation!?" I can hear some of you screaming.

Tonight I was in my local Barnes & Noble store redeeming another discount store coupon. I asked to speak with the store manager. I told him I currently have ten books on my "To Buy Next" list which (I estimated) would cost in the neighborhood of $175 to $200 - if I paid full price for all ten books. I asked the manager: "What kind of discount could you give me if I agreed to buy all ten books simultaneously?" I was expecting him to say something along the lines of: "We can give you a 20 percent discount - if you agree to buy all ten." (I would follow that up by replying: "OK, that sounds good. Will you also waive shipping costs?") To my utter amazement the store manager replied: "We can't do that." Brief pause ... "If you were buying 50 copies of the same book, we could give you a discount, but not for ten different books." And that was that. Realizing that the store manager's hands were tied - such decisions are probably made at the highest levels of Barnes & Noble management up in New York - I shrugged my shoulders and walked away.

I'm going to contact Amazon.com and make them the same offer. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Bezos recognizes my offer as an opportunity to excel.

What are DVDs?

Not sure what I like more about this post, that it took you until two thousand and seventeen to realize what everyone else knew about Amazon's business model 15 years ago, or that you tried to negotiate with a Barnes & Noble clerk for an ad hoc volume discount. Or that you were even in a Barnes & Noble at all, I mean wtf. I assumed Barnes & Noble were all closed and the storefronts were just liquidation centers. They still sell merchandise? People go in there?

I opened this thread assuming that it would be a link to a prescient 1996 article or something.

Somewhere out there, on some other forum, there is a hilarious thread from a Barnes and Nobles "store manager" describing a bizarro interaction he just had with a strange man wearing an "Impeach Tricky Dick" button.

I thought it was some weird random bump from 10 years ago until I saw the number of replies.

Balancing out a 10 year old post with one from 10 years time:

What are books?

Is this post from 2005?

I enjoyed the OP and after decided to celebrate the post by visiting my local movie house to watch a double feature picture show of "Empire Records" and "Hackers"

Ooh i know this one. Is the answer undercut them by paying no taxes and bringing 3rd world sweatshop conditions back to the 1st world?

I do kind of miss going to the bookstore.

In this thread, I learned Barnes & Noble is still in business.

Is DJ that Alan Foghorn guy?

So many businesses are just barely hanging on because of old people who are slow to change their habits.

Let us know what Bezos says to your offer.

There are still 800 BNs and 260 BAMs

When my grandmother died in like 2005 we discovered she was still renting a phone from AT&T for like $19.95 a month. Not a cell phone, an actual phone. It was an enormous pain figuring out where to send it.

Also I know many lol OLDS that still have @aol.com email addresses.

Old people also do stuff like become passionate supporters of game show hosts who transparently cater to their yearnings for an imagined past, which is fun for everyone involved.

OP, I too like bookstores. I wonder if there'll always be at least some, kind of like how the Kindle hasn't (and likely won't) completely killed the physical book.

Next up: how Henry Ford plans to put the horse & buggy operator out of business.

This internet thing might actually turn out to be a way to make money, whodathunkit

Hay guise, I think this Napster thing might cause problems for Tower Records.

Just wait until Blockbuster shareholders hear about Netflix, gonna be a massive shakeup in that sector, I'm predicting it now.

I went into that Blockbuster and told them I am absolutely not paying the late fee my 18 year late rental of a VHS copy of The Fifth Element. The manager said they didn't have that kind of authority. Emailing Bezos to see if they would waive my late fee if I am ever late returning a streaming video rental. I think video on demand may overtake the B&M video rental shop, these late fees are blatant rip offs.

My favorite part is that he somehow avoided mentioning the way Amazon dodges taxes, which I assumed was going to be point #1.

Of course there will. There are still buggy whip manufacturers.

There's also the bigger question of what is happening to us as a society as we spend ever more time in our hermetically sealed isolation pods that minimize all interaction with the rest of the human race. But that's a question for a better OP.