New Books – No Refunds, No Returns?

Borders chief Greg Josefowicz suggests that it is time to stop the practice of book stores being able to return books they haven’t sold to publishers. “This practice arose during the Great Depression when publishers needed a way to reduce the risk of buying books, so they gave retailers the opportunity to return unsold orders for a full refund. Today, nearly seven decades later, we’re still playing by the same rules. While this certainly offers obvious benefits to companies like Borders, I wonder if it is the best way to run the book business in 2003 and beyond…”