From: robin_listas@es.invalid   
      
   On 2025-12-28 14:53, Lars Poulsen wrote:   
   > On 2025-12-28, Carlos E.R.  wrote:   
   >> When I visit Ottawa, I like to go to Chapters, now Indigo. I like to go   
   >> there and peruse English language books. Last time I went there and made   
   >> a list, then went to the counter and said I wanted to buy all those in   
   >> ebook form.   
   >>   
   >> Wow.   
   >> Not possible, you have to do it on the web.   
   >> This is utterly stupid!   
   >>   
   >> It is the bookstore who does the work of showcasing the books and   
   >> convincing me to buy them, and then the money goes to another company   
   >> online?   
   >   
   > The same thing applies to a lot of indpendent storefronts, even for   
   > physical goods. People go to the store to look and feel, then order it   
   > on Amazon for 10-20 % less. But with intangibles like ebooks, it is   
   > harder, because in order to feed the writers and publishers, you need to   
   > manage copy protection. And Amazon has a very large marketshare locked   
   > in to their ecosystem and has enormous power set set terms that give   
   > them an unfair advantage. To make it work, the store probably would need   
   > to be allocated a 15-20% gross margin for the referral. They need to   
   > keep a local storefront with inventory and staff. Amazon just does not   
   > have those expenses. Yes, they have a website, with pictures and text   
   > snippets, but at their scale the costs for that are much less, and they   
   > have externalized the inventory.   
      
   When I buy Spanish books (I'm Spanish) I usually go to "Casa del Libro".   
   They have actual shops, and also a web site that sells the ebooks. A big   
   department store like "El Corte Ingles" also directs to that web when   
   buying ebooks.   
      
   Otherwise, I have a Kobo and buy ebooks from them, which is much easier.   
      
   But if I go to the "Casa del Libro" place and choose some books, I can   
   not go to the counter and have them downloaded or added to my account.   
   That's my complaint.   
      
      
   >   
   > To get the local businesses healthy again, we need to have laws that   
   > help small business. Decades ago, many states implemented laws that   
   > required auto manufacturers to NOT own retail sales operations, and to   
   > set up franchises. In New Jersey, I think you are still not allowed to   
   > fill the gas tank on your car in a gas station, but MUST let an   
   > attendant do it. Yes, today it seems silly, and I am not sure these   
   > particlular laws make sense.Tesla broke the auto franchise model,   
   > and gas pump attendants make no sense in an EV world. But anti-trust   
   > enforcement against Google, Amazon etc makes as much sense as the   
   > breakup of Rockefeller's Standard Oil did.   
      
      
   --   
   Cheers, Carlos.   
   ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)