Books, the Canadian Dollar, and You

[syzygy_dw]

Dear Book-Buying Public,

Please stop asking why books in Canada are still so much more expensive than books in the US, even though our dollar is currently worth more. Moreover, stop giving the people behind the counter so much grief about it. There is nothing we can do. We do not set the price of books. Getting mad at us will change nothing.

Just about everything is still more expensive here than in the States. It's just more obvious with books, because the prices are printed on the cover. The Canadian dollar fluctuates too much for us to change the price of books to reflect it. We would have to change the price every day.

Books that are available now are more expensive because the price of the book was fixed long before it was printed. So when you see a book that has a US price of $7.99 and a Canadian price of $10.99, it's because when that book was priced, our dollar was still low. When the store bought that book, it paid the price as it was then. So if the Canadian price was $10.99 retail, that was the price that appeared on the store's invoice, even if the book was ordered last week.

We will not really see a big difference in the price of books until at least the new year, possibly later. The books that are being printed now for spring release will likely reflect the Canadian dollar as it is now, even if it goes down again by the time the book is released.

The rise of the Canadian dollar is not lining the pockets of your average independent bookseller. As a matter of fact, they are actually losing money. In response to customer complaints, small stores are giving out discounts they can't afford. They are making less money for books they paid for when the dollar was low. We are starting to see things change. Some distributors are starting to charge the stores less, meaning the store can charge you less than the price printed on the cover. This is still the exception to the rule. For the most part, if you are paying less than the price printed on the book, it's because the store is accepting the loss. 

Please understand that the people behind the counter share your anger over this. We are not just bookstore employees, we are also book lovers, and this price difference affects us as well.

Thank you,

A Bookstore Employee.

Comments

[laeb.livejournal.com]

Amen.

...I take it it's been exhausting today at work?

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

Oh, honey, you have no idea. At one point, I thought one of the girls was going to go postal (literary?) if another customer asked The Question. When our dollar first matched the US one, people were polite, but curious. They just wanted to know when it was going to happen. Now, we're facing belligerence. It's almost as if people are personally offended that the price of books hasn't come down yet. We've got a discount going, and it's helping to ease tensions, but it's not a long term solution because the store is losing money on this.

All I can say is it's a good thing we don't sell cars. A customer told me today how one of his friends went to buy a car last week, and there was a $15,000 price difference between Canada and the US. And people are yelling at me over two or three bucks!

[laeb.livejournal.com]

*headdesk* People, sometimes, I swear.... *shakes head* Too bad we can't just hang a disclaimer/statement in the window bay and tell the customers to have a look at it--at least those who come to the bookstore can read. Not like those that came to Vanier's grocery store. They didn't all know how to read. But that's beside the point. Fact of the matter is, we have no control over the situation and we're not the only ones trying to figure things out but I can hear them say, "Sucks to be you!" while claiming it's not their problem, but ours. Gah. Thanks heaven that not all of our books have the dual prices on them or else... *shudders* But I'm rambling and I need to hit the bed now, there're university classes to attend tomorrow.

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

I have to say, the vast majority of people are being very cool about this, it's really only a few who are kicking up a fuss. I don't want it to sound like every customer who comes in the store is being difficult, because they're not. I would say one in ten people are asking about the price difference, and of them, another one in ten is being difficult. It's not a lot, really, in the grand scheme of things, but it's enough.