"As a bookseller, I'd like to offer a suggestion: Stop hawking books on Amazon at such drastically slashed prices.... I ask you to think about this now that you have reached a place where you desire to help people.
"You don't have to work through the intermediary of a charity. You can simply raise the price of the books you offer for sale on your site to fair market value. Yes, what I'm asking you to do is no more, or less than to make a profit on your book sales. You might see a drop in how many books you move, but people would continue using your site for the convenience. Surely you must know this is true.
"By implementing this single yet monumental change to your business model, you would remain the most powerful retail site in the country, still generating tremendous profits. But you would give independent neighborhood bookstores a better chance to survive and promote reading culture 'in the here and now.' That would be a lasting legacy."
"You don't have to work through the intermediary of a charity. You can simply raise the price of the books you offer for sale on your site to fair market value. Yes, what I'm asking you to do is no more, or less than to make a profit on your book sales. You might see a drop in how many books you move, but people would continue using your site for the convenience. Surely you must know this is true.
"By implementing this single yet monumental change to your business model, you would remain the most powerful retail site in the country, still generating tremendous profits. But you would give independent neighborhood bookstores a better chance to survive and promote reading culture 'in the here and now.' That would be a lasting legacy."
--B.J. Hegedus, gift buyer & merchandising designer for Vroman's Bookstore and Book Soup, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed
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