Mary Esterheld wrote:

>Don Satz wrote:
>
>>I don't enter record stores often any more, but I do like going through
>>the new releases at Borders now and then.  Since Borders always has them
>>sitting in boxes under the shelves, that's where I can be found.
>
>Why do they have the boxes sitting there if you aren't supposed to get into
>them? Are they there for clerks to stock shelves? If they aren't ready for
>the customers, why not leave them in the store room?

Not to come to the defence of Borders here, but it sometimes happens that
stores have their own reasons for doing things the way they do.  Apparently
these CDs already have the security cases on them if I read the original
post correctly.  However, I don't know if the area under the bins is
labeled staff only, as the upper shelves in bookstores often are.  If I
were a manager, I might take the view that if large numbers of people
started rummaging through those boxes, you would have a chaotic situation
in the aisles, but more importantly there may be some order to the product
that would create problems were it disturbed.  Perhaps they've been
inventoried, and if one came up missing from the box there would be
problems.

Another issue about which I expect there will be disagreement is the
philosophy of going to your local emporium to see what's out there, or
perhaps to audition some new CDs, and then buying them on the internet.
There's little doubt about what store managers think about that.  (Related
item:  I once got asked to stop writing down prices in a local liquor
store.  I never went back.) However, I confess to having done it more than
once.  Often I will make some other purchase while there, however, not so
much out of a sense of guilt as out of courtesy.  The cynical attitude
would be--this is an anonymous chain that really doesn't care about the
individual customer, only about sales statistics and balance sheets, and
is eating up all the little guys.  Why shouldn't we let the cybervendors
eat the retail chains? It's Darwinian.  Another way to look at it is that
the corporation has gone to considerable expense to create a pleasant
environment for browsing, on the theory that if you're in a relaxed and
comfortable state you are more likely to get in a buying mood, and what
is more, you will come back.  As a capitalist I don't really see anything
wrong with that.  Every time I buy something I'm contributing to a process
that has helped to better my own standard of living.  The theory behind
fair retail sales is that both sides benefit in the transaction.

I am still a firm believer in getting the best deal you can, however,
which means shopping around.  I'm simply suggesting that there may be an
ethical component to shopping around as well.  If you're in a store and
you see something you want, it's usually more efficient to get it then,
if it isn't outrageously overpriced, than to spend hours looking for the
same item elsewhere.  (This doesn't necessarily apply to refrigerators and
automobiles, of course!) If you're REALLY interested in saving money you
would wait to see if your beloved item shows up as a remainder or cut-out!

I am confused about one thing in the original post, however--if the
poster does "all his buying on the net anymore" how could he have spent
"thousands" over the past year in Borders? Perhaps what he meant was,
having been thus banned, he is NOW doing all his buying on the net.

Chris Bonds