Last week Which?, a Consumer Reports type organization in the United Kingdom, released the results of a survey focusing on customer satisfaction as it relates to online shopping for entertainment products.Abebooks UK lead the field with a rating of "89% for overall satisfaction and were praised for how easy it was to find products on their site." The sample size for AbeBooks was pretty slight at 89 respondents where Amazon UK had 2812 and, the other company that shared the top spot with AbeBooks, Play.com had 416 respondents. Categories included Price, Availability, Delivery and Returns.I would love to see someone...
The Annoying Bookstore Contingent
Over at Bookgasm Rod Lott has posted his list of "The 9 Most Annoying People I Always See at the Bookstore.""I think the real reason behind the booksellers' declining fortunes is due to the people who crap in their public bathrooms. And who sit on the floor in the sci-fi section. And who go there to "study." says Lott.The 9 offenders are:Coffee DrinkersDumpersOverly Eager EmployeesFirst-TimersAisle SittersCouch SittersStudy GroupsHalitosis Checkout GuyOl' WhistlenoseLott deals with each of these in depth.I would add a few others:The Cell Phoners- People who have no clue that their private life is of little interest to fellow...
Forget Face-Out Borders Is Just About Face-Down
Following close on the heels of their recent shady pronouncement that they will be carrying less inventory and altering their display strategy to display more books face-out Borders announced today that they are hiring two Wall Street heavyweights to "explore strategic alternatives, including a sale of all or part of the company". They have also accepted a cash helping from the hedge fund Pershing Capital Advisors (at 12% interest).PersonaNonData has a look at the numbers.The Millions has the face-out issued covered here and here and offers the soundest advice for finding that "strategic alternative." By acknowledging that books are a...
The Ghost Hunters Visit the Library
Jacques J. Benoit, the library custodian at the Clapp Memorial Library in Belchertown, Massachusetts , has being seeing some "strange, unexplained happenings at the library for the past nine years.""At first it was disturbing...It still makes me uneasy at times" says Benoit.What exactly did Benoit witness?-He said he has heard loud noises, like the sound of a bookshelf falling over and then checked and found no bookshelves fallen.-He has heard quiet noises, like the sound of someone flipping through the pages of a book or shuffling through a magazine, and found nobody there.-He had seen a woman walking up the...
Books and Bicycles
The Indianapolis 500 isn't the only prominent wheeled event in Indiana. The Lily Library at the University of Indiana is home to a stunning collection "of books, trade catalogs, periodical literature, photographs, sheet music, manuscripts and ephemera related to the early history of cycling"Their online exhibit features an introduction to the history of cycling with a sampling of their holdings in various cycling categories.The exhibit highlights 5 areas:Early BicyclesBicycle TouringCycling in FictionWomen AwheelCycling MusicWheel away!