Woops, Bought a $27 Book
Posted by Cap in Woops, Bought Crap on May 15, 2006 |“Uh, I bought it for my friend for his birthday but I found out he has it already, so yeah—and turns out its the wrong edition anyway…” I stammer out the pathetic lie as I return the $27 book at Barnes & Nobles.
Couple of things to consider.
- As the lie gets more complicated and detailed, the fact that it’s a lie becomes even more apparent.
- The B&N cashier can careless why I’m returning it.
- The real truth, that it’s buyers remorse, or—it’s too flippin’ expensive—would have been just fine.
Flash black to last week.
“Oh snap, the new book from ____ is out!”
“Ack. The queue at the library is over 10 and there’s only 3 copies.”
Went to buy gift certificate for mommy. Suddenly I’m in front of a B&N. “Hey, do you have a copy of ____? I can’t seem to find it.”
After five minutes of searching. “Ah it’s alright, I’ll just come back another time.” Whew. Good thing they don’t have it in stock. Saved!
No joke here, right before I left, the B&N worker stopped me at the door. “Hey, weren’t you looking for ____?”
“Ah you found it! Sweet! Thanks.” Dammit all.
“That’ll be $27.65,” said the cashier.
- $20.76 + shipping at B&N.com
- $16.35 + shipping at Amazon
- $15.53 + $1.40 at Overstock
Free at the library, if I would just have the patience to wait.
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May 15th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
You are weak. :)
May 15th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
that I am
May 15th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
At least you returned it. I read my impulse purchase book, but I think it’s a keeper. I will probably read it again at least 4 more times.
My true confession? I bought a book from B&N online which I already owned and read. I realized that before I opened the package, so I took it to a store for credit. (I always get the free shipping.) I ripped the package right in front of the cashier and happily shopped for another book.
May 16th, 2006 at 4:54 am
I ABSOLUTELY just cannot bring myself to pay, how much are some new hardback books now, upwards of $25.00 - $30.00 for a BOOK! The ones I have bought are off of eBay but usually I just get them from the Library.
May 17th, 2006 at 8:21 am
To declutter my home office, I donated 200 books last year to a library book sale. I have about 100 more that I’d read and kept and about 100 more that I have yet to read. I haven’t paid more than $1 for any of them, and I probably bought about 20 of the 400 at the most. I work for a newspaper and publishers send us books all the time for review. I’ve probably given another 100 easily as gifts over the past 5 years. Journalists make no $, but free books is one perk. Among them: “The Davinci Code.” It sat on the floor of my car for quite some time until a friend asked to read it. This was a few years ago, before anyone had heard of it. I still have yet to read the darn thing.
August 24th, 2006 at 7:15 am
Have you bought used at Amazon.com Marketplace? That’s how I usually get my books. They are near new, I mean, same quality as a used lib book and most of them are. Some as low as $0.01. Of couse, shipping ends up being around $3.45. But that’s still a $3.46 book. I’d say my price range averages between that and $9.00. Cool.