I discovered the nuttiest thing today. Around the end of the one month, the beginning of the next month, I start checking Chapters on line to see if the book I NEED for the month are in yet. There are a number of NEED books this month but most of them still aren't in the stores. You can check this using the store locator feature. One book on my NEED list was in stock though - The Dream Thief by Shanna Abe. The book store isn't far away and I was out anyway, so I stopped there on the way home, the adrenelin pumping at the thought of my newest purchase. Another book I've been waiting for, Parallel Heat by Dierdre Knight wasn't in Chapters but there were a few copies in their sister store, Smith books - both owned by Indigo. This store was also on the way home so I figured I would stop at Chapters, then at Smith books. Now when I looked The Dream Thief up, it's $24.00 - which while seemingly expensive, is not bad for hardcovers in Canada. But the good thing is it is on sale for 24% off. Add in the 10% discount I get with my Avid Reader card and a $24.00 book becomes $17.33 for a hardcover book. Still rather costly, but acceptable when I NEED this book. I stopped at Chapters, found the book, and looked for the 24% off sticker. It was nowhere on the book. Slightly annoyed, mainly because I knew I wouldn't experience instant gratification on this day, I asked a store clerk about it. She said "No, the price of books in the stores isn't necessarily the same as the books you can buy online. But", she added "If you buy it in the store you don't have to pay for shipping." As we were standing in front of a kiosk at the time, with a big display on it that said "Free shipping with any order over $39.00" I pointed that out to her and asked her if she knew how easy it was to spend $39.00? That's nothing! Then she went on to tell me that they are different. "Huh?" I thought. Chapters book store and Chapters on-line are different? Doesn't make sense to me! There are quite a few books I've been wanting and I've noticed many of them are 9% off when you order online. Most have next day delivery, so the wait isn't too bad. So what is the point of getting them in the stores? So I'm off shortly to sign up for Chapters online. I believe I can come up with a $39 order :)
Let's see - I have The Dream Thief, Parallel Heat, Hot Night (which also has a 24% sticker - I bet it's the same!), Hard Evidence - yep, they will take me $39. And when they come in - mail I can open!
And *sigh* there have been no Zina sightings today. Boy is she gonna be mad at me. 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' ain't nothing compared to a pissed off cat.
'til later
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12 comments:
Ooph, sometimes I hate how much B&M stores won't have sales. I hate Barnes and Noble for that reason and try to go to Waldenbooks if I really want to buy some. At least Waldenbooks has sales. But it's way across town, so I hardly ever get there.
I'm trying to be good about books, but it's very hard. I'm trying to be strong!
Oh, I sooo figured out how this works a while ago. You really do have to comparison shop when buying books nowadays BUT you only get 5% off on-line orders. Still, add 30% to that and it's a steal. I order most of the hardcovers I buy online because you can save so much.
Also, I never have to pay shipping because I make sure to spend my 39 dollars. Not only that, they will ship you items as they arrive and still not charge you shipping. I've had one order have three different origins!!
I don't actually understand why the bookstore doesn't have the same prices. Last Christmas I bought Bob the Calvin and Hobbes set which was 200 bucks in the store but 150 on line!
Not only that, if you collect air miles you can sign onto your air miles site - go to Chapters/Indigo through them and get air miles rewards! You can't do that in the store either.
If it wasn't for my bad habit of ordering books on a Thursday I would have books arriving daily. (If you order too late in the week you don't see the order until next week)
Welcome to the wonderful world of Non-logic ;)
Poor Zina - let's hope she doesn't decide her litter box isn't to her liking.
CindyS
Ugh, that must have been so annoying. You're better then me though. I would have bought one of them and tried to come up with another NEED for online to get it cheaper. I do tend to buy hardcovers more online because they have a better discount then in the stores. But then, I use amazon for those things.
I got that exact same story earlier this year. I went to buy a wedding planner in store. I'd looked it up online before hand to make sure they had it in stock. It was 25% off online. In store, it was full price. And they would NOT give it to me for the same price. So I ordered it online instead. Asshats.
39 dollars? Is what? four books maybe??? That is so easy.
Still rather costly, but acceptable when I NEED this book.
I love how we can rationalize just about everything. :-P
Oh and yes, shopping online and in the store differs greatly but, in the end, it almost always comes out the same since prices online are cheaper but you do have to pay shipping unless they have some sort of offer going. It's all nutty. LOL.
P.S. the dog is gorgeous and so is the cat and I am still jealous of all your books. LOL.
I want to read Hot Night, but I don't want to pay for it. LOL Since when is Shannon McKenna releasing trade size books?
Ames: all her books have been trade size first. I have the first two in trade - then got cheap and waited for MM (good thing that's how I got Out of Control since I didn't really care for it) But after reading a few reveiws of Hot Night I realized that I can't wait for the MM to come out.
Mailyn: yep we are excellent a rationalizing our addiction to books aren't we *chuckle*. I have want books and NEED books. Want books are ones I didn't really plan to get but they are impulse buys or a book that gets good reviews. NEED books are those I planned to months in advance. And it doesn't take much to move a want book over to the NEED book list. And Arthur is a beautiful dog. I shall pass your compliments along to his mom :) As is my own dear princess. And I'm just loving my 'library'. It's been 10 years in collecting and now that I can proudly display it rather than keeping all those poor things in the basement - well - it's just a thrill beyond belief just to go down there and look around!!
Valeen: Makes no sense at all does it. I tried ordering them yesterday but ran into a snag. I've never ordered them online before from Chapters and when I added one to my 'cart' and then went back to do more shopping, the first one disappeared! Then I couldn't remember my password. Then I had to go to class. I'll have to figure it out today 'cause I really do NEED those books!
Mina: It was a battle I tell you! My inate cheapness against my NEED for the book! Odd how I would balk against paying a little more for a book that I really NEED, yet bought a camera 2 days earlier without batting an eye at the price. And I did notice that Parallel Heat is the same price both online and at the other bookstore that is just a couple of blocks from me so I might just have to take a trip over there today - just to take the edge off the craving :)
Cindy: I might not have noticed the difference if it weren't a hardcover and there was such a difference in price. Add to that the fact that I've been checking almost every day to see if it was in and it stuck out like a sore thumb. Once I was alerted, I saw all kinds of MM books that were 9% off online that I bet aren't in the stores. Also nice to learn they ship as they come in! That could mean days of "good" mail to look forward to :)
Nicole: I know about the trying to be good and it being very hard!!!!! I figure I'm destined to failure in this *sad sigh*
Hello Kristie :D
I bet it's their ways to attract more online shoppers :P As Cindy said, if you want to buy hardcovers, online is the best way... 30% on the big ones (the one that usually cost 35$) and 24% off on the small one like Dream Thief. The best thing tho is that you live in Ontario, so it's even faster than poor me, stuck in Quebec *pout* as the warehouse is in Ontario.
However, one thing I don't understand... why isn't there more book sales? I mean, notice that during boxing day, we don't get sales on books... well maybe on hardcovers, but what about paperbacks?
Nath: I know!!! There aren't many booksales at bookstores - and even the ones they do have are generally much older non-romance books!! Every so often the store will have a buy 3 get the 4th for free - but that's rare. And while I'm getting this head of steam up - When the first came out with the Avid Reader card it would be once you spent so much money you would get a $5 discount certificate. Then they did away with that!!! I bitched about it to the cashier when they first got rid of it. It was a good incentive. And the books at Walmart are always 25% off whereas the Avid Reader card only gives you 10% off. Now Chapters has more selection - but still!!! And I feel your pain at having to wait longer than us Ontarians :(
Kristie! Does Ontario Waltmart have a good selection of books? Because my Waltmart only has the MIRA romances of each month and lots of Silhouette and Harlequin... I'm happy that they at least have the Mira, but some more books would be appreciated. The worst tho is that their arrival is always late and so most of the time, i will already have bought the books at indigo/chapters ^^;
Nath: it varies at the different Walmarts. Some have pitiful book sections but thank goodness the one near me has a great book department. In fact a number of times they will carry books there that they don't get in at Chapters or Smith books. And while they seem to get their books in a week or two later than the bookstores, if I can be patient, the prices are much better. They do carry a heck of a lot of Harlequins though. Best place to get those ones.
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