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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2660696" data-attributes="member: 18280">Again, go back to the original post.Altazar admits generally buying from Amazon, and going to that store not for puchase (which he can still do) but for browsing (which is now pretty much precluded).  If most of the rpg book "customers" in the store follow the same example, then theft is hardly necessary to make the store move the books.Let us assume, for a moment, that the store is in business to make money, and is not a lending library.  The store previously supplied a service (ability to browse, and hence make informed purchasing decisions) on the basis of a service = sales model.  Thereafter, customers decided that they liked the service (browsing) but didn't equate the service with any actual value (i.e., the browsing didn't enter the equation when deciding whether or not Amazon was cheaper on the whole).  So, as the service costs the store money in wear and tear as well as in supplying the books, the store withdrew said service.Can you honestly blame them?Conversely, if you were a customer who went in to buy rpg books, and did so on even a semi-regular basis, you probably wouldn't have any trouble asking to see a book (as you know you are not there simply to browse, and as the management knows the same).Of course, smaller publishers require those same brick-and-mortar stores to create a large enough pre-order to offset printing costs.  So, the more you "browse then shop Amazon" the more likely you make it that the local outlet stops carrying rpg materials, and the more likely you make it that smaller companies go under.  Hence, there is less potential material available for you to choose from.PDF format publishing helps keep smaller companies afloat, luckily, but that's still more of a gamble than determining a print run based on pre-orders from actual stores.  This is because (1) you have no idea how many copies you will sell before "going to press" and (2) it is far easier to steal an electronic format book than a print book.  Think shrinkage is a problem in the brick-and-mortar stores?  Imagine how many illegal transfers of the BoVD have occurred since the book's release.Courtesy begets courtesy, and you get what you pay for.RC</blockquote>

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