Amazon Books

[Anonymous No.10770500]

One of these just came to my city. What can /lit/ tell me about them?

[Anonymous No.10770503]

>>10770500
they are actually building real life stores now? are they retarded?

[Anonymous No.10770504]

support your locally owned bookstore.

[Anonymous No.10770508]

>>10770504
i would but mine does those serrated edges on every single book so they can fuck off

[Anonymous No.10770517]

>>10770503
nah, but i imagine in some places impulse buy sale volume increases. books most people wouldn't shop for online they might give a chance if it catches their eye, or if they feel carrying it around signals virtue. SJW books, for example. imagine being able to shop amazon by walking around and looking at shelves and seeing shit you didn't know you wanted. that's a bookstore.

[Anonymous No.10770520]

just the idea of being surrounded by books and all that choice makes me slightly anxious and have to take a shit.

[Anonymous No.10770532]

>>10770500
What the fuck.

[Anonymous No.10770534]

>>10770508
>doesn't like deckle
neck yourself

[Anonymous No.10770536]

>>10770503
yeah, this is bullshit
if they are going to just pull this shit I want borders back

[Anonymous No.10770546]

We really are going to become the united states of amazon aren't we

[Anonymous No.10770552]

what are the prices like at these?
>>10770503
>are they retarded
do you think they would make this move if it wasn't in their best interest? similar to the whole foods acquisition, amazon is moving to take over what's left of brick&mortar retail, and this is only the beginning.

[Anonymous No.10770561]

[Anonymous No.10770576]

At least it's "post-classical" architecture with some structural cohesiveness, and not some ugly stone block with random curves.

[Anonymous No.10770585]

>>10770546
Until there's a violent revolt, that is.

[Anonymous No.10770704]

>>10770552
as an amazon stockholder i welcome our new conglomerate overlords

[Anonymous No.10770710]

>>10770704
same

[Anonymous No.10770957]

>>10770704
more like an amazon cockholder

what does jeff bezos' cum taste like nigga?

[Anonymous No.10770971]

>>10770503
>are they retarded?
They're investing in real estate, you idiot.

[Anonymous No.10770986]

>>10770957
tastes like $1500 a share, faggot

[Anonymous No.10770989]

>>10770500
There's one of these in Seattle. There's very little for /lit/ to like there, mostly just popular fiction YA shit that's selling well and memey self help books. Overall the selection is small, comparing it to even an average Barnes and Noble is like comparing 711 to a grocery store.
Also it's cramped and there are WAY too many staff asking "what are you looking for" and shit. Tiny aisles.
Staff demeanor ranged from aggressive to creepy.
Lots of customers browsing, most of whom look like they're STEMfags who don't know any better.

[Anonymous No.10770994]

>>10770536
what was so good about borders? it had a somewhat better selection than b&n and some overpriced cds and a coffee shop part that was always crowded with students.

[Anonymous No.10771008]

>>10770957
>how to spot a seattleite
hate this city but i love this city

[Anonymous No.10771009]

>>10770989
they have one of those at some mall by columbus circle in nyc, but why the fuck would i go all the way up there to buy a fucking book from amazon

[Anonymous No.10771190]

>>10770503

Why shouldn't they? They believe there's an inefficiency in the market that they can fulfill and I don't think that's such a crazy notion. Barnes and Noble is terribly managed so they can't be compared and the other chains aren't big enough to compete with Amazon's economy of scale. They can't afford the smaller profit margins that Amazon can. Amazon also has a massive data advantage the other stores don't. They have this massive online market that tells them exactly what is selling and where so they can more accurately predict what books they need to have in stock. They can also special order or transfer books from their warehouse much cheaper than anyone else.

This meme that bookstores are dying off is a complete meme. The smaller specialized bookstores are thriving.

[Anonymous No.10771191]

>>10771190
>This meme that bookstores are dying off is a complete meme

I'm a cunt for writing that btw

[Anonymous No.10771196]

>>10771008
>that image

[Anonymous No.10771221]

>>10770503

[Anonymous No.10771224]

>>10771190
A small specialized bookstore in a nearby college town is shutting its doors. A college town bookstore, shutting down, it's right next to a coffee shop. Bookstores are dead.

[Anonymous No.10771231]

>>10770503
They probably realized that brick and mortar book stores have actually been doing great in the last 3 years.

[Anonymous No.10771236]

>>10770504
What do you mean?
>>10770534
>deckle
I don't think thats what he's talking about though I really hate deckle books.

[Anonymous No.10771239]

>>10770517
why does everything have to be about virtue signaling and SJWs with you brainlets. you can't talk about ANYTHING without turning it into politics, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous No.10771241]

>>10770576
>Not wanting a library with the front looking like an Alberti pseudogreek temple and having a tholo-like area to read quietly
It sure smells like pleb in here

[Anonymous No.10771242]

>>10770536
>>10770994
boarders sucked major cock, the only thing they did better was their DVD selection which is now completely irrelevant.

[Anonymous No.10771628]

>>10770503
I think you just pick up what stuff you want and it charges your account when you leave the store

[Anonymous No.10771631]

>>10770546
hey it was you burgerclaps who voted for an art of the deal reality tv show host meme

this is what you fuckers deserve

[Anonymous No.10771635]

>>10770957
tastes like being able to move out and pay the bills, faggot

[Anonymous No.10771641]

>>10771242
> tfw i still buy DVDs, a physical form of media which is 20 years old
> tfw I buy the blu-ray afterwards if I really liked it
> tfw Criterion just came to the UK

[Anonymous No.10771642]

>>10771641


i'm nigerian and we still get movies on PSP UMD

[Anonymous No.10771645]

>>10771239
Welcome to 2018, where even /lit/ is a shit board.

[Anonymous No.10771653]

>>10771239
I get tired of it too, anon. I'm a lefty and I don't mind conservatives but I wish we would stop going loggerheads over conspiratorial bullshit. The left needs to learn to stop being so sensitive and that not everything is racist, but the right need to accept that not everyone is out to get them and muh black boogie woogie man this and muh jews that.

[Anonymous No.10772078]

>>10770534
>deliberately damaging books for hipster-cred

[Anonymous No.10772110]

>>10771641

I just exited my Netflix membership because I realised I'd rather spend the £10 on a physical copy of a movie each month instead. DVDs still look great as long as the transfer is done by a capable company (ie Artificial Eye or Criterion).

[Anonymous No.10772114]

>>10772110
>Netflix membership

[Anonymous No.10772138]

>>10772110
My thoughts exactly.
Arrow, Eureka, Artificial Eye/Curzon, Criterion, Third Window Films, Second Run (and there'll be others I'm forgetting) are definitely worthwhile distributors and restorers of films.

[Anonymous No.10772158]

>>10772138

This has nothing to do with books but it's amazing how many good deals you can get in HMV (or Fopp) if you go in on a good day. Amazon prices never seem to drop.

I wish Waterstones did something similar.

[Anonymous No.10772171]

>>10772158
We don't have a HMV in Halifax but Leeds isn't far and I notice Arrow tend to have a good thing going at HMV where you can get 3 blu-rays for about £20 which is ace as usually they'll set you back by a little extra. Never been to a Fopp, there's just never been one in my area, but I notice through facebook that Third Window Films and Arrow have a lot of deals on there too.

[Anonymous No.10772201]

>>10772138
>Third Window Films
What's your favorite film from them?
Fish Story and The Foreign Duck, the Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker were great.

[Anonymous No.10772211]

>>10772201
I love Confessions and Love Exposure but their edition of Tetsuo: Iron Man is gorgeous too.

Glad they're out of financial instability, really looking forward to their releases of Cleopatra and Arabian Nights (which I believe are semi-related to Belladonna of Sadness because they're all made by two legends of Japanese animation doing extremely explicit films instead of the cutesy shit they used to do).

[Anonymous No.10772213]

>>10771239
Welcome to a 4chan world where admins refuse to delete /pol/

[Anonymous No.10772222]

>>10770504
I do. I only but my books from the co-op book store in my city.

[Anonymous No.10772237]

>>10770503
i want same day drone delivery NOW.

[Anonymous No.10772243]

>>10771224
More like the idea of the University student being an intellectual has disappeared. No longer are colleges filled with students who want to learn, thus starting book clubs. They don't want to actually learn anything and hell, when philosophy is not required by some schools. They just want to get a degree and get out to a job. What we need to do is get rid of the notion that jobs require degrees. Even something like accounting or finance or investing didn't require a degree even forty years ago, it was all based on apprenticeships. Yes left universities to those who sought knowledge and were intellectuals. We need that separation between learning/knowledge/intellectualism and job training. Once we get that back things could get better.

[Anonymous No.10772266]

>>10772243
This. We might be on the cusp of a switch back to trade schools in the US, given how outlandishly expensive even public universities have gotten, though the entire edifice of academia is going to fight against that change as much as they can.

[Anonymous No.10772293]

>>10772243
"We must remember that in Roman times a liberal education was the mark of a free man, and training for employment was worthy of slaves only" - Thoreau.

I agree desu. Probably because I'm a salty humanities NEET though.

[Anonymous No.10772299]

>>10772293
also Thoreau was the original neckbeard.

[Anonymous No.10772300]

>>10772243
>>10772266

I'm adamant that students (maybe just people) are turning to identity politics to fill a void that would otherwise have been met with intellectual personal pursuit. I know it's mad to say politics hasn't always been a hallmark of student life but the people interested in politics don't really seem interested at all in the theory behind it; it's become a kind of hobby for them.

Education is in crisis because the people in it are idiots and basically we're fucked.

[Anonymous No.10772323]

>>10772300
I agree, though I also believe this is a function of sending a higher proportion of young adults to university than we ever have before, because so many believe 'it's the gateway to a good job/productive life/etc.'

We've always had a significant number of idiots in society, but we never told them they had to go to university. And for students who need loans, by making student loans 100% guaranteed, we've also made it so that investors don't need to ensure that they're giving loans to smart students who won't piss away the money on bacchanalian frat parties while ignoring academic work.

[Anonymous No.10772361]

>>10772323
If I could, I would dismantle half of the universities in the United States, they're popping up left and right to make money for the board of trustees and presidents.

[Anonymous No.10772438]

>>10770994
it was comfy
i lived 2 min from one and would hang out all the time there

[Anonymous No.10772461]

>>10771224

A "college bookstore" isn't exactly specialized. Think of Christian bookstores.

[Anonymous No.10772563]

>>10772300
It may be that the professors, most of whom didn't get the chance to participate in the cultural revolution of the 60s, are now encouraging their students to attempt a second mostly for it's own sake. The students just like the sense of accomplishment as well as seeing their names in print or their faces on the screen.

[Anonymous No.10772650]

>>10770503
Yeah anon, a millionaire company like amazon is retarded, you nailed it.

[Anonymous No.10772691]

>>10771653
>i’m a lefty
fucking leave now before i find you and hurt you. leftists are NOT human

[Anonymous No.10772710]

at checkout, they put your books into unpadded mailers instead of plastic bags and then bang them against the counter so you can enjoy your "brand new" books

[Anonymous No.10772719]

>>10771642
How is that possible? Is the PSP your go-to multimedia device? My only movie on UMD was The Brothers Grimm.

[Anonymous No.10772730]

>>10772650
>Once something is successful, it will always make wise decisions that allow its success to continue.
Yep, the world definitely always works that way.

[Anonymous No.10772741]

>>10770503
They can easily afford to fuck up once or twice.

[Anonymous No.10772745]

>>10772691
>>>/pol/

[Anonymous No.10772746]

>>10770971
So they are evil.
I already knew that.

[Anonymous No.10772757]

>>10771642
You should really help the avenge the niger delta

[Anonymous No.10772993]

>>10772650
don't mind me

[Anonymous No.10773024]

>>10772993
That's a really comfy desktop, though.

[Anonymous No.10773423]

>tfw the only co-op bookstore near me is filled with hardcore sjw trash who put identity politics above all else
I just want to support a worker owned store, why did the communist movement get taken over by intersectional feminists?

[Anonymous No.10773490]

>>10773423

It seems like the only way to really make money as a small bookstore is to cater to a narrow interest. Bigger chains can afford to buy a variety of books in large quantities which would come at a discounted price from the publishers. Startups just can't compete with the lower prices that bigger stores can afford to offer. It's the same reason small neighborhood grocery stores have been pushed out by Walmart.

[Anonymous No.10773639]

>>10770503
Bezos cannot be stopped.

[Anonymous No.10773645]

>>10773490
>small neighborhood grocery stores have been pushed out by Walmart
A precise point of pain for me. My local grocer sits abandoned, a den for the homeless and drug addicts. It has been this way for over a decade now. I still remember walking to it in my youth to buy sweets during my summer vacations from middle school.

[Anonymous No.10773988]

>>10772730
do you really not understand Amazon's monopolistic business model? It's basically undersell, destroy, absorb, rebrand. They physical stores are novelties, now, but just think for a second HOW they could even be novelties.

[Anonymous No.10774014]

>>10773988
>Amazon's monopolistic business model?

How does Amazon differ from any other company in the free market aside from them offering their products at lower cost than their competitors?

[Anonymous No.10774096]

>>10773988
50 years ago, Sears was as big as Amazon is today. Nothing lasts forever, anon.

[Anonymous No.10774358]

>>10772563

That too. The students I personally know who are involved in politics have way too much time on their hands. None of them have jobs and I think they're turning their own cynicism outwards in order to make themselves feel like more productive people. I'd love to see a study done that correlates mental health issues with activism in student politics.

[Anonymous No.10774365]

>>10774096
b-but muh lord bezos is going to turn us into automatons

[Anonymous No.10774674]

>>10774358
I don't know that that's true. Your anecdotal evidence is strictly the opposite of my own.

[Anonymous No.10774768]

>wanting to support Amazon

Absolutely disgusting. Bezos should be hanged.

[Anonymous No.10774895]

>>10772243

Americans can't handle philosophy which teaches critical thinking. They'd mass suicide after realising what a shithole they live in and just how shitty they are.

[Anonymous No.10774930]

>>10774895
We certainly weren't that way throughout all of our history though. Part of me maintains that it was the Cold War that truly drove the last nail into the coffin but ultimately I blame the Evangelicals. Their philosophy is so pervasive throughout the country that they control it from top to bottom in many areas. All the while demanding a bleached and sterilized world, even though it is incredibly hypocritical.

[Anonymous No.10774933]

>>10774768

Why?

[Anonymous No.10774941]

Books take a little long to get delivered and they come damp, coming from the Amazon and all

[Anonymous No.10774948]

>>10772650
>a millionaire company like amazon

[Anonymous No.10775083]

>>10774930
What is their philosophy? Or do you mean the puritans?
Work don’t ask questions God’s will be done?
Please expand more.
To me the bootstrap meme definitely seems to come from Protestantism.

[Anonymous No.10775147]

>>10772650
Cheeky bastard.

[Anonymous No.10775707]

>>10770503
Dumping, where a company sells a product in a competitive market at a loss. Though the company loses money for each sale, the company hopes to force other competitors out of the market, after which the company would be free to raise prices for a greater profit.

[Anonymous No.10775772]

>>10774096
Sears never had the level of cross-market penetration that Amazon has, nor the technological infrastructure. I doubt they have comparable exchange volume, even considering differences in population etc at peak. Sears also never had an r&d division dedicated to developing new (high) tech that both feeds back into its operations and opens new markets.
Barring global catastrophe, the 'internet' isn't going to disappear or become obsolete. Neither is Amazon.
>>10774014
In a broad sense, no, it does not behave any differently than any growth-oriented enterprise. But yes, it has had and continues to have a fairly, if not quite unique, but unusual strategy.
Remember, their profit rates were extremely marginal for DECADES while they quietly undercut their competition, reinvested the vast majority of their revenue in development and acquisition, and built their brand. This is very long-term stealthing with huge ambition, and demands deft wrangling of a complex of elements. It's been very impressive, abe it's obviously paying off now. Look at stock prices even 5 years ago. I had 10k on hand then for literally whatever and I kicking myself in the head for lacking the foresight.

[Anonymous No.10775778]

>>10775707
They are way past that, they've already gutted their major competitors. This is reimaging.

[Anonymous No.10775801]

>>10775707
why is this allowed

[Anonymous No.10775813]

>>10775801
People became complacent and didn't favor small businesses.

[Anonymous No.10775848]

>>10772213
Don't you understand? If you delete /pol/ where will its userbase go?

[Anonymous No.10775855]

>>10770500
Well, Amazon was originally an online book store so Bezos was probably just feeling nostalgic

[Anonymous No.10775883]

>>10775772
>Sears also never had an r&d division dedicated to developing new (high) tech that both feeds back into its operations and opens new markets.

Sears *literally* sold mail-order homes, and then a line of tools that you could buy to use to assemble the homes, and furniture and furnishings you could use for the homes. Their products created massive markets for other goods that they then helped satisfy with... more of their products.

Amazon is a behemoth right now and will be for the foreseeable future, but it won't be one forever. Nothing lasts forever.

>t. chinua achebe

[Anonymous No.10776229]

>>10770536
Borders sucked. I'm glad chain bookstores went out of business since it led me to explore independently owned bookstores. Used books are a godsend and the employees there actually give a shit.

[Anonymous No.10776315]

This thread and all the LBS stuff really makes me crave my book barn.

[Anonymous No.10776705]

>>10772138
also shout out to my senpai at BFI

[Anonymous No.10776715]

>>10770500
I bet the selection is shit. Brick and mortars do not waste inventory real estate on products that don't move because it means a loss of income over lowbrow trash that plebes flock to en masse.

[Anonymous No.10776733]

>>10776715
Amazon has SO much data that each bookstore is probably stocked with whatever they will sell best/bring in customers (the sort of books people like to discover by browsing around) for each specific location. Not that you’re wrong, it’ll just be bad in a different way.

[Anonymous No.10776752]

>>10770704
Class traitor kulak piece of shit.

[Anonymous No.10776768]

>>10776752
There are so many better arguments to antagonize publicly traded corporations, and you had to appeal to soviet terrorism. Bravo, but this website is 18+.

[Anonymous No.10776825]

>>10775801
it technically isn't legal. There are just so many hurdles one has to jump over to even have a chance of winning an antitrust suit that it no longer becomes very viable to do so.

[Anonymous No.10778571]

>>10771241
Did, I, not say "at least"? You illiterate civilian.
This is a stone-block with RANDOM curves.

[Anonymous No.10778623]

>create online business selling books
>beat all high street competition
>brick stores have to shut down
>you are now the only successful book vendor
>open book stores all over the world
>shut down website
Jeff Bezos playing 4D monopoly

[Anonymous No.10779244]

>>10770546
Amazon class war when?

[Anonymous No.10779359]

>>10775083
Evangelicalism is kind of like a cult-like version of Protestantism (in that there is no well-established institution such as with the Catholic church). It actually started a while ago in America when southern Christians would hold meetings out in the woods while listening to outlandish sermons. One of the first of these types of sermons was "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God": http://www.jonathan-edwards.org/Sinners.pdf

Nowadays Evangelicalism is more or less the same, except now we have a lot of "mega-churches" in rural and suburban areas rather than escapades out in the woods. It is pretty much the reason why so many modern Americans have such outlandish and anti-intellectual beliefs.

Not the guy you responded to, btw.

[Anonymous No.10779382]

>>10779359
This is an extremely stupid post.
Evangelical has no actual meaning, it literally means "gospelist" and all sorts of traditions apply it to themselves. Jonathan Edwards was from New England.

[Anonymous No.10779386]

>>10778571
Honestly brutalism would be ten times more cooler if the buildings were made with some other material instead of dull grey cement.

[Anonymous No.10780073]

>>10779382
For one, I realize that Edwards is Puritan--I kind of implied that American Evangelicism has its roots there. And when I'm talking about "Evangelicism," or "Gospelism" as you call it, I'm referring to the American tradition of Evangelicism, which is what was obviously being discussed here. I am fully aware that other religious groups have used this methodology in the past. It's just that it's very prevalent in modern America.

[Anonymous No.10780134]

>>10780073
>American Evangelicism has its roots there.
but it doesn't really. Jonathan Edward's English Calvinist tradition devolved into liberal mainline Protestantism of the Congregationalist and eventually Unitarian and Unitarian universalist groups. Southern Protestant Christianity (of the deep south at least) comes from the Baptists and Scottish Calvinists (Presbyterians). They appropriated the term evangelical to differentiate themselves from those very same liberal Protestants (including Episcopalians in the Upper South and New England).

[Anonymous No.10780198]

>>10780134
Touché. Honestly, I didn't really know much about that until you pointed it out to me. I was mostly using Edward's sermon as an example of what these Evangelical sermons can be like (as you said, "gospelism" is spread throughout many religious traditions), and suggesting that perhaps this style of preaching could have been adopted by Evangelicals, even if the Puritan tradition didn't directly evolve into the American Evangelical one.

[Anonymous No.10780371]

>>10780198
happy to be of service

[Anonymous No.10780672]

>>10780371
Oh wait, this is bullshit; Congregationalist Puritanism and Baptism actually led to Evangelism, and Unitarianism sprung forth directly from the Protestant Reformation. GTFO.

[Anonymous No.10781039]

>>10780672
you seem confused do I need to make you a chart?

[Anonymous No.10781791]

>>10770989
>Lots of customers browsing, most of whom look like they're STEMfags who don't know any better.
i.e. morbidly curious computer nerds who aren't there for the books.

[Anonymous No.10781913]

>>10770971
It doesn't seem wise from a business perspective unless this isn't a traditional bookstore just like their food shops. Their forte is online selling, cheap prices and the convenience of not having to go to a physical shop is what makes it appealing. Otherwise they become another bookstore and I would rather support others

[Anonymous No.10782518]

>>10780134
>>10779382
EIDF pls go
Your religion is a cancer on America

[Anonymous No.10782681]

>>10782518
my analysis was purely descriptive not normative

[Anonymous No.10782710]

>>10782681
But it's wrong; the fact that it's descriptive is what's scary about it: you're spreading misinformation.

[Anonymous No.10782981]

>>10781913
There will always be a brick & mortar market, and Amazon is moving to completely dominate this space as well. Amazon Books and Whole Foods are just the beginning.

[Anonymous No.10783998]

>>10771631
as if hillary isnt completely bought and paid for

[Anonymous No.10784452]

>>10782710
How so?

[Anonymous No.10785614]

>>10771631
>implying any tentative US president would've opposed this

[Anonymous No.10785628]

>>10775813
>having the luxury to favour any store but the cheapest

check your bougie priv

[Anonymous No.10785715]

>>10770500
jeff bezos stop shilling your shitty site here, let the thread die