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The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

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Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#341

Post by kbos87 »

eludwig wrote: post #260
phil21 wrote: post #6

I was out shopping 3-4 days before Christmas this year, and happened to be near a Barnes and Noble so figured I'd grab a copy of a magazine I've been wanting to read for a while. Grabbed the magazine, wandered the aisles a bit and picked up another book then went to check out. Basically I was their marketing department's dream - walk-in traffic coming to buy something cheap and specific who made an impulse retail buy…

>>Two cashiers working out of 8 or so possible registers And the worst part about this is that each cashier seems determined to relentlessly pester me with annoying questions at the register! Did I want to join this loyalty program? Did I realize that I could save $5 by signing up for so and so. Do I want to get on the B&N mailing list? Really aggressive questioning. Oh my God. I realize that the cashiers have been o…

JCrew is relentless with this lately. They ask you if you’d like an “email receipt”, which is code for re-subscribing you to their daily barrage of emails. Then they hand you a paper receipt as you walk out.

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#342

Post by yock »

b1daly wrote: post #242
yock wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now, it's definitely sad when people lose their jobs, but that's kind of the devil's bargain we've made with capitalism. It's not so much a "bargain" as it is how we discover which jobs are useful. Capitalism is very efficient at exposing useless labor, and this is a good thing. Having a bunch of humans laboring at jobs no one needs or wants is wasteful.

What is it wasteful of? What if someone working such a job feels better about being alive, because they have a role to fill in a community? Why is having people doing forms of “make work” worse than letting people waste away into despair? Would you feel good about having your aunt thrown to the curb, because she has no marketable skills? The ideas of “efficiency” as they are used in economic theory are very narrow, a…

> Why is having people doing forms of “make work” worse than letting people waste away into despair?

How would you suggest choosing who gets to do the "make work" versus who must toil away at the necessary? How would you suggest compensating those whose work is more vanity than value if no one pays them for their output?

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#343

Post by snarf21 »

LogicX wrote: post #230

Taking a thought from another thread... What if B&N merged with wework? Wework just bought meetup.com - now you have more locations for meetups. B&N often has pretty good locations, and covers areas of the country wework doesn't akready have prescence. There's already a coffee shop built into B&N If you implemented a cashierless checkout process, and had ship from location, you now can compete with Amazon, and the re…

I also think that this is what Staples and Office Max/Depot should do. Turn half of it into small offices and mini conference rooms. People will even pay 10% for the supplies if it means they can just go get them in 10 seconds. They have a lot of economies of scale to take advantage of.

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#344

Post by FussyZeus »

pboutros wrote: post #332
nkrisc wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a company that would keep such an executive on board deserves to fail.

Blaming the executive here makes sense. But saying the "company deserves to fail" ignores the livelihoods of everyone below that person in the hierarchy, who gets fired because mgmt has different incentives than the workers.

Not to mention the fact that so many companies right now have new leadership that didn't build the company and are stuck, like B&N's here, not in a mode to improve the company but a mode to make sure there's as much meat for picking as possible when it eventually goes down in flames.

It seems like the "Old Business" world is just a nest of snakes eating each other until there's just one left to die of starvation.

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#345

Post by wfo »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #337
phil21 wrote: post #6

I was out shopping 3-4 days before Christmas this year, and happened to be near a Barnes and Noble so figured I'd grab a copy of a magazine I've been wanting to read for a while. Grabbed the magazine, wandered the aisles a bit and picked up another book then went to check out. Basically I was their marketing department's dream - walk-in traffic coming to buy something cheap and specific who made an impulse retail buy…

>I put my selections back and walked out the door. Granted it was near peak shopping season - but that was inexcusable. Scaling retail is hard. Especially if you're against "be on call 24/7 for minimum wage without additional on call compensation". They could buy self-checkout terminals, though, but I imagine they don't want assets like that and would rather let the business fail. That's the writing on the wall (if n…

Or, alternately, the company could do what every other company in existence does and what B&N has always done and have people work during what they know will be the busiest time of the year instead of sending everyone home, destroying the company and letting the CEO pocket the savings.

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#346

Post by smelendez »

PaulHoule wrote: post #300
phil21 wrote: post #6

I was out shopping 3-4 days before Christmas this year, and happened to be near a Barnes and Noble so figured I'd grab a copy of a magazine I've been wanting to read for a while. Grabbed the magazine, wandered the aisles a bit and picked up another book then went to check out. Basically I was their marketing department's dream - walk-in traffic coming to buy something cheap and specific who made an impulse retail buy…

When I've gone to Barnes and Noble recently, I've found editions of books in prominent places that were poorly printed. For instance, one hardcover with a fancy binding had very thin/transparent pages to the extent that the text was less legible. Don't get me started about the trade paperbacks that I suspect will have the binding break immediately. I wonder if Barnes and Noble sells reduced quality books the same way…

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. I had the same experience and it made the store seem a bit scammy lately. A lot of the cheaply made books also seemed geared toward older people: they were either about the 1940s-1960s, or were the kinds of public domain classics a grandparent would buy a grandchild (Robinson Crusoe, The Arabian Knights) in outwardly fancy but actually poor quality editions.

It's especially a shame because Barnes & Noble classics editions from 10 or 15 years ago are actually very nice.

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#347

Post by emodendroket »

bluGill wrote: post #320
emodendroket wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all the criticisms one might make of Walmart, being slow to check people out I'd say would be about last on my list.

I don't go into Walmart often, but I've never seen lines deeper than 2 people, other than at the self checkout (one line serves 6+ lanes so a longer line obviously moves faster). Depends on where you live of course.

Yeah, the longest lines I saw were the day I foolishly went right before the Super Bowl, and even then they were moving at a great clip.

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#348

Post by sametmax »

DaveWalk wrote: post #292
joekrill wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I'm not suggesting they tell everyone the company is in dire straits and they are on the verge of getting fired. Just don't willfully lie to them on a daily basis and tell them that things are amazing and their jobs are totally secure. In my scenario, we weren't actively asking questions regularly. But they were offering the (mis)information on an almost daily basis.

In my experience the actual axe coming down is done in a terse, bloodless manner for legal reasons. Up until that point, managers are comfortable being cordial. Managers I've known are terrified about being sued and decide being heartless is the safest option (for the company, and for them).

That's an american point of view, but in France not letting anyone know would actually make your more likely to be sued. Yet they have the same attitude.

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#349

Post by Sangermaine »

frandroid wrote: post #336
mgkimsal wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who thought that was a good idea? A bunch of corporate people who never had to ask someone face to face about buying stupid shit after they've already decided what they want, and a bunch of corporate people who never actually shop at their own stores.

Have you ever heard of "rhetorical questions?"

No, what are they?

Re: The unnecessary demise of Barnes and Noble

#350

Post by lmkg »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #333
nkrisc wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a company that would keep such an executive on board deserves to fail.

The failure of brick and mortar book stores is a net negative to society. Deserves to fail, maybe, but it'll suck when they do.

Unlike the Internet, when a break-and-mortar fails it's not easy for a competitor to break into the space and scoop up their market share. In theory in an efficient market, players that deserve to fail will be replaced and the market as a whole will remain and become stronger. In meatspace, where many things have friction, players that deserve to fail will bring the market down. I also wish it weren't the case, but it's not a market many players are actively trying to enter right now.
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