Bookstore treats D&D books like Playboy

[Dirigible]

No no, here's sad:
Back when we had the Monstrous Compendium, people would open up the boxed sets and STEAL the monster sheets!
Just the monster sheets!

Hanging's too good for 'em!

As an interesting side note, almost any bookstore in the world will tell you that their most heavily shoplifted section is the religious area, specifically bibles. I can't believe that so many people would steal a book that specifically tells them not to.

I wonder how many copies of Steal This Book were stolen, then?

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

I imagine it's because bestsellers tend to be cheaper (economies of scale) and also available in libraries, easier to borrow from a friend, etc.

Also remember that once you've finished the latest best seller do you tote it around with you once a week to constantly refer to? The incentive to possess the book for the long term is much higher for gaming products. (Bibles as well which could 'explain' that bit.)

 

[Altalazar]

Altalazar,

I'm actually very glad to hear that.

However, I am now puzzled as to why you no longer shop at that bookstore. Are you saying that if you walk up to the counter and say, "I am thinking of buying the Book of Unspeakable Wigglies. Can I see a copy?" that the management will not hand you one?


RC

I no longer shop there for gaming books, no. And having to individually ask for books rather belies the whole concept of "browsing." I'd not know if I'd be interested in the Book of Unspeakable Wigglies without thumbing through it first. Some books I might thumb through for fifteen seconds, others for fifteen minutes. When I went, I'd probably go through every book I hadn't already ordred on Amazon just to take a peek. That gets rather unwieldy if there are ten or so books and they are all behind the counter, such that I can barely even read the titles on the spines (and in some cases I can't read them from the counter). Having to individually ask for each book, then give it back, then ask for more, etc is just too much of a hassle. There are a few other book stores on the other side of town that don't do that, so I just go there if I want to browse, and so this B&N has lost my business. I really don't feel like trying to convince the store manager, either. I'm sure there are plenty of others like me as well who will just silently stop frequenting this bookstore. Mores the pity.

 

[WayneLigon]

Perhaps I'm asking a dumb question, but any reasons why this is? I mean, all stereotypes of Gamers aside (and this thread is doing a bit to foster the bad stereotypes), it's suprising to me that broader-appeal items like bestsellers aren't stolen more. Though perhaps its an issue of scale.

I think because the average bookstore, especially in a mall, is not as well supervised as most gaming stores I've been in. The local B&N doesn't have a theft detection system in place and more often than not there's no-one at the front counter. Not that it would matter a great deal, given how things are arranged. Many is the time that, if I had been so minded, I could have walked out with an armload and no-one would have stopped me.

It may depend on the area, too. Our local B&N, as oppossed to the Books-a-Millions, is located in a shopping area that is right on the edge of 'the wrong side of the tracks'. They are open later than anything else in the area save the upscale restaurants. That made them the place to hang out for all the ratty lower-middle-class teenagers who move in packs and like to sit outside, smoke and all share the one coffee they bought inside. The people I usually see at the gaming section are older teen/young college age and more often than not look like the kind of people I'd cross the street to avoid.

Dunno what specifically it is about the sections, though.

 

[genshou]

We have tagged the books. People will just rip the tags off (tearing out pages or part of the cover if need be) and make off with the books anyway. The tags, to be frank, don't slow anybody down. We find torn up tags (and pieces of books) hidden in corners of the store all the time.

I don't know for sure about the whole insurance thing, but I do know that my store has cut back on raises for all employees (including management) because we're losing so much money. That's another thing that makes me bitter about all this--I can barely meet my rent each month, much less afford the gaming books I want, and yet I know some jerks out there are helping themselves to everything they want.

Sorry. I don't mean to come off as rude, but it does get depressing after a while, people constantly stealing from us. It makes me feel so frustrated and powerless.

Oh, believe me, we understand and I didn't perceive you as rude at all. I try to keep a liberalistic view of humanity (a belief that all people are good-willed by nature), but things like this keep strengthening my cynical side. I know that the majority of customers aren't walking out with books, but it's a high enough percentage to do significant harm...

I browse books at the local Hastings all the time. If they moved the books behind the counter, I have a friend who is a customer service manager (who I'm trying to get into my gaming group so he can learn how to game), so...

See, that's the trick you're all searching for! Make friends with customer service managers at your local stores, and you're set!

 

[genshou]

It's particularly amazing because the Bible is a relatively easy book to receive for free (legally).

Between the LDS church and the Catholic church, it's easy enough to get for free that it's just pathetic for anyone to be stealing a bible. I mean, I know the toll-free number for the LDS church off the top of my head!

 

[genshou]

It sucks but people are easily duped with "The Wizards First Rule".

Wow, it's been a few years since I've seen a reference to The Wizard's First Rule. Unfortunately, it is very true and a lot of what people believe about certain minorities is practically set in stone despite how blatantly the anti- crowd is lying through their teeth...

 

[genshou]

Man, it took working retail for you? I thought it just took driving through rush hour traffic to do that.

-Ashrum

Really? Never took that much work on my part.

 

[Verequus]

Wow, it's been a few years since I've seen a reference to The Wizard's First Rule. Unfortunately, it is very true and a lot of what people believe about certain minorities is practically set in stone despite how blatantly the anti- crowd is lying through their teeth...

What is the "Wizard's First Rule"?

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

See, that's the trick you're all searching for! Make friends with customer service managers at your local stores, and you're set!

Until they meet a girl from Australia online and move there to marry her and work on her dad's cattle station. That's what happened to my gamer customer service manager.