Has This Ever Happened To You?

Because this is the second time its happened to me, and Im mad. At a Books-A-Million in North Myrtle Beach, SC, I found, to my excitement, 4 COPIES OF THE ESSENTIAL ATLAS!!!!! I took it to the checkout desk to buy it: and they refused to sell it to me, citing the fact that it was 3 days too early! Well, who could have put the kriffin books on the shelves, then? A few months ago, the same thing happened in Rocky Mount, NC, with Wild Space. So, am I the only one ever confronted with managerial (is that a word?) incompetence?

 

It does happen - many bookstores receive the copies early, but with instructions to shelve them only on the release date (usually a Tuesday, at least in the US). Sometimes someone puts them out anyways, and sometimes the clerk will shrug when they see it wasn't supposed to be out and sell it to you (if they even pay attention to that).

 

Do they have a self-checkout counter?

 

I wouldn't know since my local stores are, unfortunately, competent enough never to put stuff out ahead of the date.

 

I've had almost the opposite happen. The book wasn't even on the shelves yet and I've had employees go into the storage room to find a copy to sell me. One time a nice lady even apologized for making me wait while she found it!

 

Stories of getting told they can't sell it because it's not out yet always surprise me simply because each time I'm amazed the person behind the desk is actually aware of that fact. I always expect it just to be "Oh, it was on a shelf? *reads price tag* Here you go".

Or is what happens when they scan the barcode (or whatever) their computer is flagging it up as not released, or something more automated along those lines? The idea the actual guy in the store is a Star Wars fan who remembers exactly when the book is due out though always amuses me a touch.

 

I'm suprised about stories like this because here in the UK at least i'm pretty sure it counts as false advertising. Which means if they refuse to sell it they're breaking the law.

 

One of the better local book stores often get the books early - and sell them, happily unconcerned about release dates and other pesky stuff. Ah, the advantages of living in a small country very far away...

Of course, occasionally they don't get the books until a month after they've been released. Less fun.

 

Hm, I think this used to happen sometimes at my local bookstore. For some of the LotF novels, I saw them out the weekend before their official release date. Actually bought Inferno like that, though Inferno also was the high point of LotF for me.

Since then, though, haven't seen any Star Wars books out early (and I've been looking and asking just this weekend). Especially for the hardcovers, they seem to be more strict about only putting them out on the official day. I was checking a lot when Mindor was almost out.

Although other stuff (like manga, comics, Star Trek books) seem to pop up early occasionally, don't see early Star Wars books anymore, sadly. And avoiding spoilers is really driving me crazy.

 

What happened was when I took it to the checkout desk, the employee scanned it and the computer alerted him that it was not yet released. He called his manager, telling me that if she wasnt there quickly hed just sell it to me. She came running, however, and apologized to me, checking their Tuesday release date for Star Wars books, finding only Abyss. She asked if I knew when it came out, and I innocently (being the 15-year-old that I am) replied that I had no idea, but there were 3 more on shelf in the store. She told me that she would go to her office and enter her manager overide code. While she was gone, the employee joked with me, saying the code was probably something like, "May the Schwartz be with you". Then the phone rang and he answered it. When he hang up, he informed me that he couldnt sell it to me. I didnt say anything: I just walked out of the store.

 

Nope, this has never happened to me. Quite the opposite, in fact: Bookstores around here typically don't get new SW books or comics until approximately a week after their release date--so I generally have to wait longer than most folks.

I live in South Carolina too! *high fives*

 

Oh dear ... that's really what you would call bad luck ! But at least you guys have these books in stores. I'm from Belgium and Star Wars isn't really the hottest item in town. Sure the toyshops have a limited amount of Hasbro toys but that's it. Every other item, including books and comics, must be bought in special stores. Especially books are very hard to find. When some shops get some books, they are usually sold out after a few days.

So I have to order them online to get these books. I'm fine by that because there are a lot of reliable and great bookstores (if you're lucky, you can get books before the release date). But the downfall of this is that usually I still have to wait a few days before it arrives. I know patience is a virtue but I'm not catholic And I really want 'The Essential Atlas'

I will get 'The Clone Wars: Ultimate Battles' tomorrow or Tuesday though. I'm curious to learn about new things in it!

 

Why is the release date policy so strict for books anyway?

I can see for big release Music CD's and Computer Games these days as those things are ripped and thrown up on the internet which can hurt sales....but people don't exactly rush home with a new book to cut it apart and scan it or transcribe it to share it with people.

 

Meh. I'd say having one's hopes raised, held in limbo, and then dashed is worse than not having them raised at all.

Though if I were the OP, I'd have had them hold the copy. The LAST thing you'd want after this is to go back in on release day to find them all sold out.

 

You're new to this fandom, aren't you?

 

I was just gonna say, "Isnt that what we do?

 

Heh, I remember the 3SA days

 

Depending on your local laws, they could be facing the exact same for not selling it to you when it's out on the shelf.

 

I was really hoping for early arrivals of the Atlas at Chapters this past week. This desire was compounded when I saw that Abyss was already on the shelves, despite having the same release date.

I made a salesperson go to the back and check if they had any in stock. But they didn't. LAME.

 

Yes. An extreme example would be Harry Potter. Can you imagine the advantage a store would have had if they received their shipment of a new Harry Potter novel a week before anyone else and they just started selling them right away? The idea is to keep a level playing field among retailers by having them all start selling the product at the same time.

I've also heard that it improves the chances of a book hitting the bestsellers lists. If copies trickle out early leading up to the official release, it'll detract from the initial surge of sales immediately after the release date. And publishers and authors always want to be able to say that their book debuted as a bestseller.

 

It has never happened to me with BOOKS, but I was one of the ones who had a CVS put out their Episode 3 DVDs the weekend before they should be out. But, of course, couldn't check out with it. Not that it mattered, it was $25 at CVS or $15 at Best Buy 3 days later...

 

If it's anything like where I work it would make no difference the system won't let you sell items before the street date.

 

See, if I saw a book on the shelf early and wanted to read it, I'd be good.

I'd just read it in the store and not worry about purchasing dates.