Comment by maxioatic | Hacker News Reader

Comment by maxioatic | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I love Powell's. I've spent way too many hours in both of their Portland locations (and the old Technical store, RIP) over the last 20+ years. I've lived within walking and biking distance to both the whole time.

That said, these days I buy a majority of my books from Amazon, and have for a while. The simple reason is that for the books I buy most, which are technical in nature, the prices on Amazon are so much better.

For example, on Wednesday, I bought (from Amazon):

- Programming TypeScript

- Effective TypeScript

- JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

- Eloquent JavaScript

(I'm learning TypeScript/JavaScript for work...)

In order, the prices on Amazon vs Powell's:

- $27, $50

- $27, $40

- $52, $70

- $25, $40

totals: $131, $200

I can't justify spending that much more at Powell's, sorry not sorry. If the prices were similar, as in 10%-25%, I would for sure buy them from Powell's, but they rarely are.

Now - what I do buy at Powell's is every other type of book! I'll never buy a regular old paperback off Amazon, or a cookbook, or a travel book, or ... It's the categories of books that I don't spend a lot on, for which I will gladly pay an increased price. I feel this is definitely justified by the experience I get perusing the stores, finding books I never knew I wanted. (Sometimes the books at Powell's aren't more expensive or actually cheaper, especially the used ones).

I used to think this way, going with the cheapest method possible but I now try to buy directly from the publisher or local stores. Not only does it hurt the publisher buying from Amazon, it also diverts the funds to produce the next book. Some of my books have been extremely expensive but these are pennies to the value I find in them and how it improves my career.

^^^ can't emphasize this enough. please don't buy from amazon if you have the means to afford the list price for a book. amazon isn't good for the ecosystem of books for a lot of reasons, but in this instance amazon makes publishers lose money. unfortunately publishers have no choice but to sell on amazon. you gotta vote with your dollars here to help sustain quality publishing.

Something else to be aware of is, with Powell's you're also supporting a union shop that pays its staff pretty well.

No one's pissing in bottles in the back room at Powell's, unless it's for fun.

The union fought hard for that right.

Often I try to buy Manning, Pragmatic Bookshelf, or NoStarch books direct from them. I don't know why O'Reilly seems to be so much cheaper on Amazon though, probably because they have so much volume.

> Some of my books have been extremely expensive but these are pennies to the value I find in them and how it improves my career.

Yeah, this is super valid.

> Some of my books have been extremely expensive but these are pennies to the value I find in them and how it improves my career.

I’m interested in following this tangent!

What are some of those books that were most valuable to you and your career, whether expensive or not?

Here's my counterpoint. Your argument makes 100% sense in the short-term. In the long run, Amazon's strategically thin margins on technical books will disappear when the other vendors are driven out of business, and books across the board will see a price hike.

Amazon doesn't write books. If they raise margins, anyone (including the publisher) can pop up a storefront and promote it on Twitter to the community.

But by that point he might be retired on an island somewhere and that extra 100 saved has turned into 300 due to wise investment choices

In other words, pulled up the ladder behind him? That's pretty rotten.

Ignoring Amazon, my beef is with everything sold at MSRP. Americans don’t have a history of haggling, and most stores’ employees probably aren’t equipped to give you 10% off. I have had luck getting a discount off a new Mac, though usually just enough to cover tax.

If I see an intriguing book in a store I will not hesitate to buy it if it’s 5-10% off. Otherwise I’ll get it on Amazon, probably on Kindle, probably just the sample since my physical backlog is already about 50.

At some point you have to think about what kind of world you want to live in. I want to live in a world in which independent bookstores exist, rather than a world where Amazon has eaten up every other kind of business. Yes it's more expensive but I think of it as an investment.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com